WDax Sensei

It gives me the greatest of pleasure to announce the well earned promotion of our very own WDax sensei to 7th dan. Many congratulations to him.
His kata partner, Ulla, has also been promoted and many congratulations to her also.

I have followed with great interest the progress and studies of WDax sensei and have always said his rendition of the Ju no kata is one of the finest I have ever seen.

WDax sensei is a highly dedicated and motivated judoka who travels all over the world not 'just' to teach judo but also learn and learn from the very best sensei alive. I cannot think of a person more deserving his new rank. It is so nice to see a fine judoka rewarded appropriately for his judo ability, teaching and knowledge and not some other criteria like 'time in grade' or 'political reasons'.

I am so proud to be associated with such a fine judoka. Again sincere congratulations to Wdax Sensei and his kata partner.

Mike

My sincere congratulations aswel.
Well deserved indeed!

Congratulations and good luck.

I am happy to join colleagues in their congratulations to our friend and long-time JudoForum contributor wdax. I am particularly pleased to see someone being promoted to a high dan rank not just because of time-in-grade or committee membership, but someone who spends so much time on the tatami be it to practice judo himself and improve his own skills or to share his knowledge with others and allow them to learn from his vast experience.

The promotion actually took place on November 8 and was announced publicly first on November 12.

With wdax, also his partner was promoted to joshi 6th dan, while 4 more people also received high dan ranks.

Recent high-dan rank promotions

In addition, and separately, also a rare 9th dan rank was issued to Gerd Egger, president of the Bayern Judo Association and currently 70 years old, while Hans-Jürgen Ulbricht was elevated to 8th dan:

Very-High-dan promotions

Congrats wdax!

Australia's (Germany's) Peter Herrmann just received a 9th Dan also!

Congratulations wdax, a well earned achievement.

What can i say except, Congratulations wdax

That's just a staggering achievement. Well done!

Wdax, staggering? Anything but!

Thanks everybody for the congratulations and the nice comments. It´s also good to hear again of Peter Hermann, who is a legend in german judo. I met him twice, but it´s a long time ago (>25 years).

Today there is a big event about "judo for older people" close to my hometown, wherem a good friend will receive his rukudan certificate by the president of the german judo federation. I´ll answer some mails an PMs when I´m back in the evening.

Congratulations one and all.

Judoturtle wrote:Congrats wdax!

Australia's (Germany's) Peter Herrmann just received a 9th Dan also!

Brief background for those not aware:

Peter Herrmann is also one of the rare Western Kôdôkan 7th dan-holders, a rank which he obtained in 1994 at age 53. Today he is 72 years old. He was an excellent jûdôka and the only person to obtain two medals during the 1967 Salt Lake City World Championships, i.e. twice bronze in the half-heavy and in the Open. In Japan, Herrmann trained inter alia at Tenri.

Glückwunsch!

Congratulations wdax. And thanks for all your enlightening contributions to our online judo discussions over the years.

Congrats my friend!