He was thirteen years old when he stepped on a tatami mat for the first time with Pierre Roudanès, his teacher and founder of PJU Passage Judo University.
“At 13, I showed no natural aptitude for sport and it was while looking for a wrestling club that didn’t exist that I fell back on judo without any real conviction” begins Loïc before continuing with a smile. : “for two or three years, I didn’t bring down anyone! I didn’t have any performances, but the atmosphere, the friends, meant that I returned every year to the PJU!”
Parisian life (or almost)
Loïc then progressed a lot and at the age of 19, he served as a partner to pass his 4th dan to Thierry de Redon who had taken over from Pierre Roudanès a few years earlier, and spoke to him about his desire to teach. The latter encouraged him to go to Paris to continue his training. He will finally land in Chaumont-en-Vexin and in this club he will prepare for his 2nd dan and he will obtain it by winning his five fights for direct validation!
Loïc resumes his narration: “I called Thierry de Redon, at that time very busy with his professional activities, to tell him the news, and I heard him answer me: ‘You come down, we’re waiting for you, you take my place!” Loïc was a pawn, he resigned, packed his suitcase and returned to the country.
The return of the child prodigy
To show their confidence in him, the leaders of the PJU signed him a permanent contract from the outset. Cash! He officially becomes the coach of PJU. “Then, it was by passing my BP GEPS sports educator exam that I realized that I am no longer just a competitor, that judo will take its place in my life” he confesses, and in training he will meet Eloy Rodriguez, another high-level judoka, with whom he will become friends.
Towards the land of the rising sun
“In 2023, during a professional coaching course, I met Eloy again, now a coach in Pau, who offered me a pole: “Are we going to Japan?” The league offered a teacher training course and This is how we found ourselves, Eloy, Thierry and I, in April and May 2024 for a week in Tenri (a world-famous judo city) and two others in Tokyo. Every morning they trained with the “sensei” (masters), all former world champions, Shinji Hosokawa, Takamasa Anai and Jōshirō Maruyama, a lord…
The Passage dojo
In his club, alongside its president Joachim Hauterive, Loïc strives to offer each practitioner the judo that suits them, performances, but not only that! That said, in terms of performance, we are not left out, 4 cadets in the Coupe de France 2 years ago, each year new black belts, a judoka in the junior pole last year and 3 this season!
Loïc is a 4th dan black belt (they can be counted on the fingers of one hand in Lot-et-Garonne) and is preparing for his 5th dan, he likes to point out that grade is personal, judo is in truth much more than that : “I have been a coach for ten years and I can see myself doing judo until I retire, judo is for life”.
