Featured Player - Calvin Knoester                     

Height: 152 cm

Weight: -42 kg

Birthday: 14/3/1996

Born: Johannesburg, South Africa

First started judo: Age 3

Strengths: Ne-waza (ground work). My uchimata and tomoenage attacks are becoming more effective but recently I have won most of my fights with counter attacks.

Favourite Food: Tinned Soup and mom's roast beef

Drink: Water - always has been

Favourite Music: Easy listening music

Favourite Player: My favourite player is Toshihioko Koga from Japan. He fought in the under 78 kg division and was Olympic and World Champion. I can watch the uchimata of Inoue (Japan) over and over and never get tired of it. Currently the best newaza specialist is Paischer from Austria. I like his attitude to judo as well as his transition from tachiwaza to newaza.

Goals for the future: My biggest goal is to reach the Olympics but on the way there I have other small goals such as being picked for the NTID Team and to represent Australia at the Junior Worlds. Winning next years' nationals would be awesome!

Judo Highlights: The best highlight was winning the 2008 Nationals and standing on the podium. The other recent major highlight was going to South Africa for the South African International Open in 2007 as a member of the "Kano Killer" team. We went with 9 players and came back with 11 medals. The competition there is huge with over 1300 players competing over 6 days. They were very tough and fit..

We went to a game reserve afterwards and were charged by a bull elephant! No amount of judo could defend yourself against one of them. Luckily the driver knew how to reverse at high speed. There was a smell in our bus for quite some time...

Greatest Influence: My greatest influence is my coach (who happens to be my dad). He has coached me to many gold medals and hopefully the Olympic gold medal in the near future. He is hard on me but I love it. He has lots of experience and teaches us cool stuff.

Other sports: I have done swimming (competitive). Currently I am on a Rugby scholarship at my school and was on the podium (bronze) for the 2009 Kayaking nationals (sprint).

Celebrity I would most like to meet: The Celebrity/Sports Star I would most like to meet is Matt Giteau (Wallaby Fly-Half) because he seems to have an interesting personality. Also Professor Jigoro Kano - our club is named after him and he would have been great to talk to.

What made you take up judo? I began Judo because my dad (coach) had a class at the Pre-School I was at in South Africa and it looked like a lot of fun so I joined up with a group of my friends. It was on during 'blanky time' (sleep time) and way more fun.

Why do you enjoy judo? I enjoy judo because it is a load of fun and I get to tour with my mates and have a good time.

What was your most memorable moment? My most memorable moment was standing on the podium at the Nationals in 2008 with the gold medal around my neck (it was pretty heavy).

What is your favourite judo technique? My favourtie judo technique is yoko-tomoe nage. It is a fast strong attack. I also can't wait to turn 16 so I can be allowed to use strangles and armlocks in competition!

Any hobbies? Kicking around a rugby ball, having fun with mates, getting out and doing something like fishing and playing the new UFC game on PS3.

What are your goals for 2009/10? My goal for now is to go to the Queensland Open and the Nationals next year and win both.

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