Judo Australia has presented its results for the 2024-2025 financial year and elected two eminent judoka to become Life Members at the Annual General Meeting last Saturday.
Full financials and reports from the various Judo Australia committees and staff are detailed in the 2024-2025 Annual Report.
In electing Victoria’s Janet Lambert and the Northern Territory’s John Bradley as Life Members, the Judo Australia members recognise contributions that have grown and developed Judo on a national basis, benefiting judoka Australia-wide.
Judo Australia also inaugurated the annual Service Award, recognising five members for a life-long commitment to Judo in Australia.
Zel Goldman and Arek Zygmunt from Queensland, Lubomir Petr from New South Wales, and from Victoria, Peter Alway and the late Rodney Cox were identified for their work for the sport.
Following the AGM, Judo Australia hosted a Strategy Session to develop approaches and solutions to key strategies to be tackled in the current and coming financial years.
Janet Lambert
Janet Lambert, 6th Dan, has served the sport for more than 50 years, as an athlete across shiai and kata, coach, club founder, tournament organiser, leader and mentor in women’s judo, kata, and forging bonds with the Kodokan institute.
She has impacted judo on a local basis, founding the Endeavour Hills Judo Club in 1973 and still serving as head coach of that club, while serving Judo Victoria by contributing in a range of positions including Vice President, Treasurer, and as long-serving Committee Member who is still a member of the Committee of Management.
Nationally, her commitment has spread across a range of firsts as a female judo athlete, having won three National titles (open weight division).
She was able to take advantage of the first opportunity for women to compete in judo outside of Australia, winning silver at the OJU Championships in New Zealand in 1975, then joining the 1976 OJU Women’s team that was the first to compete outside of Oceania.
A later European trip included contesting the British Open, competing in five European countries, and perhaps most significantly for Janet’s later work, a visit to the Kodokan where she was one of the first women invited to train in the main dojo.
Janet’s dedication to kata won her a place on the inaugural Australian Kata team, and the opportunity to train on the Kodokan on the way to a World Kata competition in Paris. She would to on to represent Australia at the World Championships four times, and choosing to specialise in the Goshin Jutsu and Ju No Kata after having mastered all of the Kodokan Kata.
Janet was instrumental in organising a visit to Melbourne by the late Professor Daigo Sensei 10th dan, the technical head of the Kodokan, to lead a Kata seminar that demonstrated Australia’s commitment to kata and helped forge a stronger relationship with the Kodokan.
Janet Lambert (nee Yardsley) is still building Australian judo across Shiai and Kata as a referee, kata judge, coach, and, as Judo Victoria president Daniel Kelly points out in her nomination, an outstanding but modest judoka who epitomises the values of Judo.
John Bradley
John Bradley, 5th Dan, not only dedicated his life to grow and guide Judo in the Northern Territory, but worked to connect Territorian judoka with the national judo community, and ensure that athletes in the NT could enjoy the same opportunities as those elsewhere.
Having begun studying judo in 1958 while serving in the British RAF, John migrated to Darwin in 1964.
The judo community was small, with competition often coming from visiting Japanese fishing crews. John was able to continue to train in both shiai and kata, achieving his Sho Dan in 1973. Two years later he would found the RAAF Base Judo Club, which would operate for 15 years.
In 1988, he established the Marrara Judo Club, now one of the states leading ‘4 star’ rated clubs. John would serve as head coach at Marrara for many years before transitioning to a mentoring role, while continuing to provide leadership, technical expertise, and support for coaches and athletes alike.
As President of Judo Northern Territory during the developmental period in the 1980s, he would be instrumental in securing full membership of Judo Australia in 1988 to ensure the Territory had an equal voice to other states at the federal table. He would then go on to serve in a variety of National roles, including National Coaching Accreditation Coordinator, Technical Director, Tournament Director, Chair of the National Awards Committee, and ultimately, Vice President of Judo Australia.
John – now aged 86 – has only recently retired as the Chair of the NT Grading Committee, and officiating as a referee at tournaments.
His contribution is nationally significant because of his success in tackling the unique challenges to developing a sport in a remote and geographically isolated region. “His leadership created pathways Territory athletes to train, compete and achieve at National level – opportunities that might otherwise not have existed,” said Karen Pain, chair of the Judo NT Board of Directors.
His contribution is magnified byt the work of the athletes and officials he has mentored and coached, including Sue Gardiner, Andrew Laporte, Bradley Fong, Kelly Fong and Shane Rigby.
“Through these athletes and officials, John’s legacy has reached well beyond the Northern Territory, contributing to the strength of judo across Australia.”
