The 14-year-old athlete from the Club de Judo St-Georges, Charline Bourque, originally from St-Alfred, is nominated as“outstanding youth athlete” at the Gala d’excellence de judo Québec which will take place in June.
This competition season, Charline managed to carve out a place for herself on the Quebec team, thus becoming the youngest judoka member of the provincial team and the first Beauceronne to be selected.
It was in April that the young athlete flew west with the Quebec delegation to take part in the Pacific International Judo Tournament (April 17) and at Edmonton International Judo Championship (April 24) where she confirmed her talent by not giving up a defeat in the U16s to win gold in both places. Nearly 1000 participants from all over the world were present.
She also faced the U18s winning a bronze medal in British Columbia and a fourth place finish in Alberta. She will compete at the Canadian Championships in Montreal May 18-22.
Charline was awarded a $1,500 scholarship from the Laurent Duvernay-Tardif Foundation and the Quebec Foundation for Athlete Excellence. A total of 14 young Quebecers are recipients. In addition to highlighting athletic performance, it highlights academic and artistic excellence.
Moreover, the Beauceronne has an academic average of 99% in 3rd secondary (sport-studies at the Polyvalente de Saint-Georges).
The athlete is well surrounded with Martin Beaulieu who has been his coach since 2016 and technical director of the St-Georges judo club. He declares ” she plays to win ». « The maxim “the important thing is to participate” has taken too important a place in our society in the in the sense that it can sometimes take away the desire to perform in our athletes. I always suggest to judokas to go and play to win, and that the result will be what it will be, without judgement. When you play to win, you come out a winner, even in defeat. Charline naturally has this winning reflex,” confirms Mr. Beaulieu. Charline is also perfecting her physical preparation through weightlifting with Alfred Lachance, kinesiologist at Clinique Altitude: “ it’s a privilege to mentor a diamond in the rough like Charline and to see her grow in her sport. She has exceptional physical and intellectual abilities, in addition to having military discipline. Overall, I can’t wait to see what the future holds! »
In addition to competing on the mats, Charline finished in the top ten at the Provincial Weightlifting Championship on April 30 in Montreal.
She will also have the chance to improve her training in Brazil this summer and participate in the biggest tournament in the country.
