Olympic and Paralympic Week

North America Olympic and Paralympic Week 2023 to Promote Social and Physical Inclusion through Judo at San Diego’s Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center

San Diego, CA – The Olympic and Paralympic week is a unique opportunity to promote sports among young people and to unite the community around the values of citizenship and sport. This year, the event took place at Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center in San Diego from April 4th to 7th, 2023, with more than 120 kids from French schools across the US participating in the event along with judo champions from the USA and France.

The Olympic and Paralympic week is aimed at teachers, students, and engages local and regional authorities, sports federations, and associations, as well as high-level athletes.

The opening ceremony of the event took place on Tuesday, April 4th, and featured distinguished guests such as Hervé Aka, National Contact & Coach for USA Judo Federation & Executive Manager for France Judo in North America, Julie Duhaut-Bedos, French Consul General, and officials from the Chula Vista & San Diego mayors’ offices.

Judo is a combat sport that promotes strong educational and inclusive values for both girls and boys. It helps to develop children’s motor, behavioral, and social-emotional skills, create social bonds, and cultivate the fundamental principles of judo: mutual assistance and prosperity.

The goal of the North America Olympic and Paralympic Week 2023 is to raise awareness of Olympic values such as friendship, excellence, respect, courage, determination, inspiration, and equality. It also aims to change the way young people look at disability through the discovery of para-sports and promote sports activities for people of any age, social background, and health condition.

Inclusion Day for our students: Nina Cutro-Kelly and Robert Tanaka, from Team USA, made a vibrant demonstration on how to practice judo with visual impairment. To better understand the challenge and resilience, the kids had an opportunity to participate with a mask covering their eyes.

The students also met the French Paralympic Track Team with Timothée Adolphe, Silver Medal for the men’s 100 meter race at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
What a week the students from Lycée Français de San Francisco, Lycée Français de New York, San Diego French American School and Lycée Français de San Diego got to experience!