Club History

• The University of Tasmania Judo Club was established in April 1954 and became a member of Sports Council in May of that year
• There were several instructors in the early years, including Lyall Bradshaw, Faye Williams, Noel Williams, Graham Newbury and Maurice Appleyard. From 1964 until 1969, the instructor was Jeff Pitcher
• Tim Waters became the main instructor until 1978. Instruction was passed to Ken Walker, then Michael Briers and for a short period in the late 1980’s (after Walker and Briers had moved interstate), judo instruction was provided on a shared basis, between Maurice Appleyard, Robert Wedd and Pat Rafferty.
• Milos Kovacik arrived from Sydney in 1990, and took over the instruction of the club until 2012
• The university judo dojo, is, in effect, the oldest martial arts club in Tasmania, and is the oldest, continually-surviving University judo club in Australia. (Queensland Uni. pre-dates Tasmania by a year or so, but has not survived continuously since)
• Currently, club coaching is under the tuition of chief instructor Peter Creef (Shodan) and Les Vincent (Shodan)