Our club

Budo Gouweleeuw

…has been a household name in Delft and the surrounding area for over 50 years, first as Judo Gouweleeuw and after being taken over by the members as the association Budo Gouweleeuw. Our core values are: cooperation, respect for each other, discipline, safety, fun, health and self-control.

Co-founder Joop Gouweleeuw has given the association beautiful traditions, a unique way of working and a rich history in judo technique and didactics. Besides judo and jiu jitsu for beginners to advanced students (including the competition selection) we also offer yoga and we focus on specific target groups, such as toddlers (tuimeljudo), preschoolers (kabouterjudo) and children with disabilities (adapted judo). As of 2018 we also provide tai chi classes.

From here to Tokyo

In contrast to the many tumblers and gnomes who followed him, it took Joop Gouweleeuw until he was 15 years old before he started actively judo at Ukemi in Delft, in 1955. In the early 60’s he won his first major awards. He became European champion in 1966 and several times Dutch champion. His greatest competitive achievement was his participation in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. He achieved not only an 8th dan of judo, but also a 4th dan of jiu jitsu.

Joop turned out to be not only very good at judo and jiu jitsu, but also to have a talent for “pedagogy. This manifested itself in his career in gym teaching at secondary school, and also in setting up his own judo club.

On 1 January 1965 Joop and his wife Bertie founded Judo Gouweleeuw. Joop took care of the lessons on the mat while Bertie took care of the administration. The classes offered consisted of technique, competition and kata training interspersed with strength training. Joop offered his students a broad spectrum of judo and excelled in creating multifunctional judokas, skilled, strong and in shape. He found competition judo important for the general judo education, but competing was never obligatory at his club. Judo is something you do together and it is there for everyone, for the children and their parents, for the competition judokas and the recreational judokas. There was always room in the lessons for children with disabilities. Judo, he often said, was for the “tobbers and the toppers”.

In 2010 the members continued as the association Budo Gouweleeuw and took over the club from Joop and Bertie. Joop then continued to teach until 2016, on January 29, 2017 Joop passed away. Due to special merits, he was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame of the JBN-ZN. The older members were not only raised by their parents; Joop was also allowed to leave an educational mark on them. In the spirit of master Joop, Budo Gouweleeuw has the following goal: From here to Tokyo

Stimulate, motivate and animate!

Joop Gouweleeuw

NB: After the death of Joop, his relatives have ended their involvement with the association.