A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
BALWYN JUDO CLUB

The BALWYN JUDO CLUB was founded in 1960 by Brian Boys (the famous squash player and coach) and James Maccormick MBE, Shodan, at the Balwyn Squash Courts in Weston Street, Balwyn (now, alas, no more). James also designed the Club Mon (badge) shown in all our page headers and described below.

James also founded the Monash University Judo Club in 1961, before moving to Canada. He has now returned to Australia and resides in Brisbane close to the hallowed site of Dr Ross, the founder of Australian Judo.

See our Photographs page for images from the history of the Balwyn Judo Club.

OUR INSTRUCTORS

The first instructor: James Maccormick.

The second instructor: Dismas (Jim) Seitel.
Jim was a German trained judoka who came to Australia to work in 1959.   He took over as coach of Balwyn in 1962.   During his time in Australia he won the Australian Championships in his weight division twice, and was recently awarded the Judo Federation of Australia's Champions Recognition Black Belt and Certificate No 13 .   Jim returned to Germany in 1969 and lives in the town of Augsburg in Bavaria.   Jim has been written up twice in the Frieberg newspapers.
Articles: 15 December 2005 and 11 January 2006.

During this period, additional classes in self-defence were conducted by Dr (now Prof) Robert Burton and junior classes by Barry Thompson

The current coach: Rodney Cox
Rodney  represented Monash University at intervarsity contests before coming under the instruction of Jim Seitel at Balwyn.   He assisted with the junior instruction from 1965 and achieved black belt just after Jim returned to Germany and has been the instructor at Balwyn ever since.   Rodney is also founder of the Hawthorn Judo Club.

Currently assisting with coaching is Ian Gillies, who is the club's longest standing member.

OUR PAST DOJOS

Balwyn Squash Courts, 1A Weston Street, Balwyn

The Club was established here.   The original buildings (the Squash Courts)
were demolished in about 1980 and photographs from that time have not,
so far, been found.   Excellent change rooms, secure mat storage and an
amazing rubber-sprung floor.   We changed from home-made roll-up mats
to Japanese Tatami in the mid 70s.   The public nature of the venue
ensured a large membership.
 

Greythorn Primary School Hall, Greythorn Road, Balwyn North, about 1980

There was difficulty in finding a hall which was a suitable size and which
had secure storage space for mats, as well as being within our price range.
This was a nice hall but change rooms and mat security were a difficulty.

Deepdene Scout Hall, Whitehorse Road, Deepdene, about 1982

We kept looking for a suitable hall, and found the Deepdene Scout Hall.
It was not too expensive and had good mat storage.   Change-rooms and
toilets left a little to be desired, but it was generally very convenient.   We
changed from Japanese Tatami to a light European Tatami substitute not long
after moving here.
We had to leave when the scout group expanded and needed the hall on most
weeknights.  

Deepdene Uniting Church Hall, Nungerner Street, Balwyn, about 1989

This was a very well maintained hall, probably a little too good for the
rough and tumble of judo.   Mat storage and change rooms were a problem.
We kept looking for a hall which would suit us and not worry the owners
with possible damage.   Demolished about 2013

Kew East Uniting Church Small Hall, 146 Normanby Road, Kew East, about 1990

This was a great hall.   Good mat storage and easy to set up.   No
proper change rooms and toilets were separate in the main building next
door.   With brick walls, little damage could be done.   This hall is now used
by the church as offices, so we were relocated to the main building.

Kew East  Uniting Church, 142 Normanby Road, Kew East, November 2014

Our current venue.   We are in the main church hall, next door to our
previous location.   The main hall is entered from the right side of the entry
courtyard.   Toilets/change-rooms for both male and female are in the
building and easily accessible.   Mat storage and set-up is a little more
difficult, but not too bad.   We were able to increase the mat size to 40
tatami (the size of the Kodokan in 1887), which is limited by the storage
 space
 

OUR BADGE (mon)

Our logo or badge, called a mon in Japanese, is also a legacy of James Maccormick

There are four parts to the badge:

The red sword (katana) representing fighting spirit

The fan for coolness under pressure

Balwyn - our club

The Japanese calligraphy for Judo: JU   = flexibility, gentleness

                                                     DO = way, philosophy