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Stepping on to the judo mat can give a person a huge adrenalin rush as they get set to battle one-on-one against a fierce competitor.<\/p>\n
But for Rashad Chin, the feeling of adrenalin is something he experiences on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
When he\u2019s not trying to throw his opponent on the mat and score big points, he\u2019s doing his best to save lives and bring people back to strong health as an emergency-room doctor at the University of Alberta Hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the hardest question for me to answer because I enjoy both so much,\u201d Dr. Chin said. \u201cIt\u2019s a different type of adrenalin and I wouldn\u2019t give up either of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cStepping on the mat and competing, you\u2019re in the spotlight. There\u2019s nobody there to back you up and you have to rely on everything you learned in training, and I love going against a competitor that is out to beat you.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the emergency room, the stakes are high, but I love that feeling of being able to help someone who may be fighting for their life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Chin won the silver medal in the senior men\u2019s brown- and black-belt 60 kg division at the Edmonton International Judo Championships at West Edmonton Mall on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been involved with judo for 25 years. He trains and teaches students at the Kodokwai Judo Club in west Edmonton.<\/p>\n
In the past, he\u2019s helped organize disaster relief efforts in the Philippines, Haiti and Pakistan.<\/p>\n
So how does an ER doctor in one of the busiest hospitals in the province find the time to still compete in judo at a high level?<\/p>\n
\u201cTime is demanding on everyone. But things that are important in your life, you have to make time for them,\u201d said Dr. Chin, who finished medical school in 2008 and his residency at the U of A hospital in 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as you prioritize your time properly, you can find ways to make time for things that are important in your life and judo is one of them for me. It gives me that stress relief away from the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been doing judo for so many years now that I think that many of the qualities that make someone excel in life, I learned from judo. Hard work, dedication and learning how to win and be a champion, but also learn to come back stronger after you\u2019ve been beaten.\u201d<\/p>\n
While his career as a doctor has taken him around the world, so has judo. He\u2019s won back-to-back silver medals at the last two Canadian senior national championships and he recently won bronze at the Pan-American Championships.<\/p>\n
When he was younger, he competed in tournaments in Spain, Korea, Europe, the United States and South America.<\/p>\n
He won junior nationals in 1998 and in \u201999 he won gold at the Canada Winter Games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like ages ago, but I still enjoy it. I have so many fond memories of competing,\u201d said Dr. Chin. \u201cI probably could\u2019ve reached different levels in judo, but I didn\u2019t have enough time to dedicate to it to get somewhere like the Olympics because it\u2019s so demanding. But it never crossed my mind to give up judo completely.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a sport that will be with me for all my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
CHASING THE DREAM<\/p>\n
Fort Saskatchewan\u2019s Alexandra Gagnon has dreams of being one of the best female judo athletes one day, and the 16-year-old is pulling out all the stops to try and accomplish that dream \u2014 even if it means moving away from home.<\/p>\n
She relocated to Lethbridge this year to take part in Judo Canada\u2019s first-ever Regional Training Centre and she\u2019s getting the opportunity to learn from some of Canada\u2019s best judo athletes and instructors.<\/p>\n
She had a very productive weekend at the 2016 Edmonton International Judo Championships, earning a gold medal in the U-18 category and silver in the 54 kg senior women\u2019s division.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thankful for the opportunities I\u2019ve been given,\u201d said Gagnon. \u201cI\u2019m living with Lorraine Methot, who is one of the best athletes to come out of Judo Canada, and she\u2019s really helped mentor me and help me with the transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot of responsibility this year being on my own, but I\u2019ve always been that independent person. My whole focus is on school and judo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gagnon is the youngest athlete to train out of the regional centre. This is the first year that the centre has been operating, and it\u2019s the largest of its kind in Western Canada.<\/p>\n
She has participated in four junior national championships, winning a bronze medal her first time there.<\/p>\n
She hopes to compete in her first senior national championship this year, and the competition she faced on Sunday included many of the top senior level competitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompeting at the senior level is a pretty new experience for me, but I\u2019m really happy with my performance today even though I wasn\u2019t able to come out on top, I beat some of the girls that train out of the national training centre out of Quebec and have won senior nationals before,\u201d said Gagnon, who lost to Quebec\u2019s Camelia Pitsilis in the gold-medal match.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a big year for me. I\u2019m shooting for a U-18 national championship gold medal, and I would like to get on the podium for senior nationals.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoving away from home was a hard decision, but it was something I knew I needed to do to get to that next level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gagnon also received the Stephanie Kerr Award for hard work, dedication and spirit. Kerr, who was from Edmonton, was an outstanding judo athlete who died in a car accident in 2005.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing given an award like that \u2026 I know the impact she made on judo here in Edmonton and her passing was tragic,\u201d said Gagnon. \u201cAnd it really hit home for me being an Edmonton girl.\u201d<\/p>\n
jason.hills77@yahoo.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stepping on to the judo mat can give a person a huge adrenalin rush as they get set to battle one-on-one against a fierce competitor. But for Rashad Chin, the feeling of adrenalin is something he experiences on a daily basis. When he\u2019s not trying to throw his opponent on the mat and score big(…)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/judoalberta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/judoalberta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/judoalberta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/judoalberta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/judoalberta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/judoalberta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3050,"href":"https:\/\/judoalberta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3049\/revisions\/3050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/judoalberta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/judoalberta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/judoalberta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}