It was indeed on May 31, at the dojo, that the Judo-La Pocatière club held the 39th edition of the Gala Excellence-Desjardins after two years of shutdown due to the pandemic.
For the 2021-2022 season, the Judo-La Pocatière club was able to resume its activities with the reduction of health measures. Normally, without the pandemic, the Club would have celebrated the 40th anniversary of the gala in 2021, but this is only postponed for the 2023 edition.
Thus, during this gala evening, several judokas were honored for their performance in different categories.
In the Espoir category, young Joseph Dionne from Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière won first place. In the Progress category, Jules Dufresne of Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies won the trophy attached to it. For the Judo-Technical trophy, for which the young people had to make a free demonstration, it was awarded to Jeanne Laterre of Saint-Pacôme. As for the Rookie of the Year category, the title went to Hubert Dionne from La Pocatière.
Subsequently, Jérémy Lévesque de La Pocatière left with the Persévérance-Desjardins trophy, presented by Ms. Julie Mercier, administrator on the board of directors of the Caisse Desjardins de l’Anse de La Pocatière.
At the level of the competition, the results were counted only on the Avantis Cup held on 1is May, given a tight schedule due to the pandemic. Thus, in the U-8 and U-10 categories, Mavrick Ouellet won the trophy while Clovis Dionne of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière did the same for the U-12 and U-14. As for the Revelation in competition trophy, Honoré Gilbert of Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies was the recipient.
Finally, in the Judoka of the Year category, twelve young people were nominated. The Amisco bronze judoka trophy was won by Eugénie Anctil of Sainte-Louise.
The Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton silver judoka trophy went to Oscar Dufresne of Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies, which was presented to him by Mr. Donald Boucher, representative of the firm. For his part, Étienne Martel from La Pocatière won the Avantis gold judoka of the year title and the trophy was presented to him by Mr. Dany Boucher, director of BMR La Pocatière. This was the first time the gala was held at the dojo itself and, in light of the positive feedback, the experience will be repeated.
