European judo senseis make stop at KJK Judo Club while on tour of South Africa

No borders exist for a global community with a shared language expressed in the art of judo.

Treating their judokas to a European feast, KJK Judo Club welcomed two accomplished proponents of the sport. Husband and wife couple, Johannes and Regina Duxbacher, held a training demonstration and talk at the Sport Street dojo, February 23. Coming all the way from Bavaria, the couple were on a tour of South Africa, meeting and greeting the nation’s judo community.

Both are 7th dan senseis with Johannes taking up the sport at 11 years old, and Regina beginning her judo journey at the age of four in Italy. For two hours, the KJK members were transfixed as they had the opportunity to experience new techniques to go with their already stellar training.

“It was a great pleasure to see such an educated judo group in the dojo of Katja and Dirk. Congrats to both of them as they have done a great job to develop these young people,” said Sensei Johannes.

On their travels, the couple have also made stops at the International Judo Federation’s Judo for Peace project and several judocentric projects in Lesotho. Johannes and Regina have a ten-year association with the African continent, using judo to promote a humanitarian message of peace. “This shows what we can do with judo all over the world. We aim to create a just society with our values such as respect, self confidence and gender equity,” said Johannes.

The couple have dedicated their lives to judo and gain great satisfaction from the way the community comes together across the globe. Johannes elaborated, “It is a special kind of sport. All over the world we work together to improve personal skills to resolve personal conflict; that is the roots of judo family. We have felt it here in South Africa as we have been welcomed like friends; it has been a great feeling. Thanks to our judo friends, all the best to all of you. Take care, we wish you have a long judo life.”