Fourteen-year-old Gabe Paterson doesn't have to engage his 42-year-old dad James in hand-to-hand combat very often.
But when he does, he usually comes out on top.
James is nearly twice the size of his son but technique most often trumps brute strength in judo and Gabe knows his way around a dojo. He's been a regular at the Hart Judo Academy since he was seven and has steadily progressed under the watchful eye of his uncle, Hart Academy sensei Bruce Kamstra.
This has been a breakthrough season for Gabe. He stepped up his training and reeled in unprecedented results. It started in November when he went to Montreal for the Quebec Open and won two of his four matches and then went 2-2 the following weekend in Toronto at a bigger tournament, the Ontario Open. That set the stage for his gold-medal performance in February at the B.C. Winter Games in Kamloops, where he won the minus 50-kilogram class in the under-16 tournament.
"You can always get better but I think I did pretty good this season and really it comes from the training," he said. "Seeing all my fellow teammates doing well and getting to travel and meet new people, it's fun to put the work in and see what you get.
"Winter Games was good for me. I think the real reason I did so well was my preparation before and in the warm-ups, and just having the right mindset. You have to be somewhat confident you can win or else you don't really have a very good chance."
After seven years of training he's stuck with it all that time knowing what judo has done for his physical fitness, mental agility and life skills. As a B.C. team member he trains three times a week in the weight room and has four or five judo sessions each week but still manages to stay on the honour roll in his Grade 8 studies at Prince George secondary school despite missing six weeks of school for judo reasons.
"It's the satisfaction of being able to stay fit," said Gabe, whose next progression will be his blue belt. "It's a great community, everybody is so nice to each other and everyone just wants to keep putting everyone else up and keep going in the sport and it's fun to travel."
He also likes seeing his dad getting back into shape, working out with him on the judo mats.
"He doesn't have a whole lot of time to go because he's really busy but when he comes it's kind of nice to watch him and remember where I was a while ago - it's a nice memory jog," said Gabe. "Usually I can beat him but sometimes he outpowers me because I'm still pretty small."
James returned to judo this season after a 20-year hiatus. He joined Hart Academy when it first opened and was a regular for nine months but his work commitments as an environmental engineer left little time for training and he had to give it up. He toyed with the idea of coming back when Gabe first joined, and six months ago finally decided it was time as a means to get back into shape.
"I'm not looking to compete but I'm certainly happy to be there involved," said James. "There's a few of the other dads who have been at it quite a bit longer and it's kind of nice to get out and learn from them and to put some of that self-discipline back in place.
"The first couple weeks were tough but most days I can make it right through to the end of the training session. I'm hoping to get my yellow belt before the end of the season."
Kamstra, a former national champion and a Prince George Sports Hall of Fame member who served six years as B.C. provincial team head coach until 2016, married Rae Paterson, James' sister, and he's given his nephew all the encouragement needed to get him focused on his goal to make it to the national team.
"Bruce is such an understated guy and to actually watch him coach and teach technique you've really got to respect how much he knows about the sport," said James. "Traveling with him, he knows everybody and everybody knows who he is and I count ourselves fortunate. Even if he wasn't family, he's got to be one of the best coaches out there."
Gabe trains with Asher Young, 14, also a gold medalist at B.C. Games, and Ioan Frizzell, 16. Both are close to Paterson's weight class and also compete nationally, which makes for competitive training sessions ideal for tournament preparations.
"This is the first year that Gabe has really committed to training hard," said James. "He managed to get on the B.C. team and with that came a significant amount of commitment to show up at the tournaments and put in mandatory regional and provincial practices and I think he was starting to feel a bit tired before he went to B.C. Games.
"Getting through that and managing to pull a gold medal out, he came away from that with a significant increase in his attitude with self confidence and the rest of his season has certainly continued fairly strongly. He loves it and it's encouraging to watch him work through it, just the enthusiasm he has for it."
The younger Paterson is among 14 Hart Academy judokas entered in the Canadian Open Championships in Calgary, which start Friday and run through Sunday. This will be his last competition before he moves up to the minus 55kg weight class and he expects the competition will be similar or better than what he faced in the winter tournaments in Montreal and Toronto.
"I hope to make it on the podium and help Ioan and Asher do as well as they can," said Gabe, when asked about his goals for the event. "It's going to be some tough competition but I've grown a lot since then and I'm quite a bit better."
Following the tournament, Gabe will remain in Calgary for a three-day national training camp. He'll be back in Montreal with Team B.C. for the season-ending Canada Cup tournament, June 29 to July 1.
