The women started their first training camp in Cologne on January 3rd. The U21s were also invited. By the way, national coach Claudiu Pusa was pleasantly surprised. “The girls were in a very good mood and did a very good job on the mat. There was no sign that the break over Christmas was too long.”
The men trained at the same time in Kienbaum, as did the U21 athletes.
Now the athletes can continue to the Randori course in Kienbaum. From January 24th, the women and men as well as the U21 will be in two groups at the Federal Training Center very close to the new Tesla Giga Factory on the mats. The lighter weight classes start first. Due to the Corona rules, there will be a change after a few days and the second part will be played by the higher classes. The focus is on training competitions, which will be led by the IJF-A referee Katharina Marzok. She will also discuss the new rules of the IJF with the athletes. There was also such a round of talks in Cologne with the DJB referee referee Stephan Bode.
The women are preparing for the Grand Slam in Paris with the training camp. They will start there on February 5th and 6th. “Paris is very important to me,” says Claudiu Pusa. “All the top nations come and if you can get involved in the stress there, then it will be easier in the direction of the European Championship and World Cup. We want to measure ourselves against the top teams.”
The men get in later. “With our training plan, we prioritized the Grand Slam in Tel Aviv two weeks later. It will be our first international competition in 2022,” says national coach Pedro Guedes.
After the Olympics in Tokyo, the national coaches are in the process of setting up the future Paris 2024 team. Experienced and young athletes will be taken into account. Claudiu Pusa is about to present a healthy mix. “I will build a perspective team and also support the younger generation,” is his idea. He is planning three competition phases this year. First the phase up to the European Championships at the end of April in Sofia, Bulgaria. The second phase goes up to the World Championships in Tashkent and the third phase up to the end of the year with the Grand Slam in Tokyo and the Masters in December in Budapest. In addition to the Randori training camps, fitness courses are also planned and, of course, enough recovery time after the corresponding highlights.
