Janine Schmitz is one of the greatest judo talents in northern Germany. The woman from Vils first snagged the Bremen state championship title before dusting off bronze at the “North German” and seventh at the German championship.
Bruchhausen-Vilsen – Janine Schmitz is a master at tricking other people: don’t worry, she is not an experienced trickster – the 20-year-old is considered one of the greatest judo talents in northern Germany.
Her competition trainer Björn Terveen even ennobles her as a kind of female “Rocky Balboa”: “Just like Sylvester Stallone in the cult boxing films, Janine knows no pain and keeps going forward. Like Rocky, she only ever knows one direction in battle.”
Schmitz himself smiles a bit about the comparison – but also sees some parallels to the “hard as nails fighter from Philadelphia”: “I like the Rocky films very much. His will and his insensitivity to pain are terrific. That’s how I approach my fights. Even if it hurts, I keep attacking. Sometimes you have to be able to ignore pain to be successful.”
And the trainee networker had plenty of that in 2022. In the U20 age group, the TV Bruchhausen-Vilsen fighter first snatched the Bremen state championship title in the weight class from 78 kg and then qualified for the German championship by winning the bronze medal at the North German Championships in Lutten. Even here Schmitz kept up well, but didn’t seem completely satisfied after her seventh place: “I had a bit of bad luck and had to compete against the German runner-up and the North German champion. Otherwise more would have been possible.”
2023 for TSG Hatten-Sandkrug in the 3rd division at the start
Quite possible, as she recently put the third place in the German Championship in the final of the Schleswig-Holstein “Elephant Cup” in Schwerin’s Kim Thalmann.
The talent of the 20-year-old is unmistakable and probably has a lot to do with her older brother (himself a successful judoka), as Schmitz confirms: “He encouraged me to be on the mat at the age of six. Since then he has been training me every day. Björn looks after me at tournaments, but my brother is responsible for the daily training. He often pushes me really hard, but the constant training with men actually only brings me advantages.”
The woman from Vils actually only meets women at competitions. In the future, however, this will no longer be the case for juniors, but for adults.
From next year at TSG Hatten-Sandkrug in the 3rd division, as her mentor Terveen reports: “We want to build Janine up in peace. She could definitely keep up in the second division, but I think it would be wiser to gradually get used to the level of the women.”
Schmitz still has a lot planned
Schmitz fully agrees with this opinion, but is considering a change of weight class: “The 78 kg are really difficult to keep up with. At the German Championships in Frankfurt/Oder I was weighed at 78.2 kg. I shouldn’t have started at 77.9. I think a weight class lighter – like 73 to 78 kg – suits me better.”
But regardless of the weight class, the “woman without pain” still has big plans for the future. “First of all, I would like to join the state squad,” Schmitz hopes to be nominated soon: “My long-term goals are then the 1st league, qualifying for the German Women’s Championship, and my biggest dream would be to be able to go to the Olympic Games. “
The wearer of the green belt (“but hopefully I’ll have the blue one soon”) grabs the very highest shelf right away. Why not. As the Rocky saga shows, will can often move mountains.
And without a doubt, Janine Schmitz has the necessary will.
