Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to speak about an amazing opportunity for youth in the Deh Cho thanks to NWT Judo Association and the DDEC. As I witnessed in a couple of the schools in the Nahendeh, there is a great deal of excitement growing around this program for the youth. I can say the youth get so excited when they see the instructor in the school.
With the incredible support of the DDEC, the NWT Judo Association has created a judo program for the entire region with fulltime coaches currently in Fort Simpson and Fort Liard with a third on the way for the community of Fort Providence. The goal of this program is to provide kids with physical literacy, build their selfconfidence and, more importantly, have fun. Judo teaches important life skills like how to fall safely and creates a safe environment to physically interact with your peers.
One of the principles of judo is jita kyoei meaning mutual welfare and benefit, and the students are very quick to help each other when learning a particular skill when it is challenging. Not only have we witnessed excitement from the students but numerous teachers in the schools are excited to watch the children participate in class and in many classes, they have participated in classes themselves. To watch the students help their teacher learn to perform a break fall is amazing as they quickly beam with pride getting to play the role of teacher briefly.
The participation in the program is not only free during school hours but the extracurricular programs are as well and is not limited to schoolaged children. Providing children with more than just something to do, but a program with purpose and professional guidance has been a breath of fresh air and creates a lot of happy faces.
In the past year, the NWT Judo Association held regional gatherings in Yellowknife, Fort Simpson and Inuvik from the DDEC taking part in all of these events at no cost to the families of the participants. They also brought two students, one from Yellowknife and one from Fort Liard, to the first ever outside of the territory even. The Edmonton international was the largest judo tournament in Canada in the 20222023 season and the NWT athletes performed incredibly well, returning home with a silver medal. The success and enthusiasm that has been created in the southwest region of the territory is something they hope to recreate in other regions. Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.
Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. The regions with eventual goal of having this program territory wide. They believe strongly that the confidence built in learning judo is transferable, becomes confidence in one area often builds confidence in other aspects of life. As an individual sport, you do not require a team of talented athletes to be successful but the success of one athlete can no doubt inspire the belief in others that can achieve their goals as well, and these goals do not have to be limited to sports.
Mr. Speaker, with the threetime world champion and a twotime Olympic medalist, Yuri Alvear joined the coaching staff this summer, there should be a lot more excitement and headlines in the near future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
