Event date: July 2013

Mark Huizinga

3 Time Olympic Medallist and Sydney 2000 Champion Mark Huizinga made his way to Aberdeen to inspire the next generation of players and coaches showcasing what brought him such success and made him one of the most dominant players of his era.

Mark competed for the Netherlands in no fewer than 4 Olympic Games, winning a very impressive 2 Bronze medals in 1996 and 2004 and the elusive Gold in 2000. He is a 5 Time European Champion and has a very impressive 12 European medals.

The day started with our children's section with Mark taking them through a tough warm-up and straight into the technical stuff. Displaying what he feels are the important throws for juniors to learn and get correct, he showed ouchigari and seoinage before demonstrating and talking through many different techniques in different directions. The kids were hanging on every word and the motivation and inspiration they obtained was fantastic to watch. The session was closed with some autographs and photos as well as a look at the Olympic medals which he very kindly brought with him.

After lunch came the adult's turn, with players coming from all over Scotland to enjoy the experience. Mark took his techniques and explained in detail his thought process behind them all, explaining how they evolved depending on what his opponents were doing at the time and as gripping strategies became more intense. Demonstrating, explaining and also using clips from his competitive career on the projector screen, he showed us how he built each technique up and achieved success in the world's best competitions.

I have no question that he only touched on the tip of the iceberg, but his technical and mental approach to the sport was aw inspiring.

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