Caleb Bond admitted he was nervous.
He had reason to be. It was one of the first times the five-year-old judoka from the Prince George Judo Club competed in front of a big crowd, such as the one gathered in the bleachers at the P.G. Judo Open Saturday at the Northern Sport Centre.
Despite the big crowd at the tournament, Bond's PGJC teammate Oskar Dewar, 6, said he wasn't on pins and needles.
"I like to compete because I like to get better and better," said Dewar, who's competed in judo for the last three years.
"I like it because I get to spend a lot of energy on it," added Bond, a two-year competitor himself.
After their matches, where they "both got ties," they, like the rest of their novice boys and girls competitors, stood on the podium in the gymnasium and received medallions from Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond.
Proud parents and grandparents took photos.
Caleb Bond and Dewar were among 140 athletes from nine different clubs at the one-day tournament.
"For a lot of athletes, this is their first time competing outside their club," said organizer Aline Strasdin, head coach of the PGJC. "For them it's like the world championships. They take it very seriously."
The benefits of competing at regional tournaments such as the PG Open, on the same mats as the Canada Winter Games, a legacy from the February tournament, are enormous, said Strasdin.
"For the little kids (novice white and yellow belts), a: they learn the rules of competition," she said, adding some may find the pressure of competing in front of so many people a little intimidating, but then some find it's the same as competing in their club.
Athletes with their orange belts and higher used the meet as training for the Western Canadian and national championships.
Others, the more experienced provincially and nationally-ranked athletes from Prince George refereed the novice matches.
Athletes from the three Prince George clubs - North Capital Judo, Hart Judo Academy and Prince George Judo - as well as those from Williams Lake, Dawson Creek, Smithers, Grande Prairie, Kokoro (100 Mile House), Dawson Creek and Victoria.
