Students savour chance to jump into judo

FORGET sitting in class all day, Dripstone Middle School are getting physical through a martial arts subject

Dripstone Middle School teacher Emma Fisher is one of only four women across Australia to be an accredited Level 1 judo instructor.

FORGET sitting in class all day, Dripstone Middle School are getting physical through a martial arts subject.

The northern suburbs school is believed to be only a handful of schools across Australia and the only school in the NT to offer judo as a subject.

Dripstone Middle School teacher and judo instructor Emma Fisher teaches about 150 students a semester.

In September, after three months of study she became only the fourth Australian woman to get an international standing as a Level 1 Judo Instructor.

She said the school course was a great outlet for students.

“In a lot of cases it does help students who have difficulty in other classes,” she said.

“It is quite physical.

“And it teaches them discipline.”

She said students also learnt the core values of the sport — respect, honesty, integrity, friendship, discipline, politeness and courage — as well as self defence moves.

The program has been running since 2007.

Students Imma Claire Elivera and Alex Pham participated in the class.

Imma Claire has been learning the sport for the past three years.

“It’s a good way to learn discipline and gain confidence and make new friends and also learn self-defence,” she said.

Alex said he enjoyed the subject so much he joined the after school program.