Report from training camp in Azerbaijan

The National team of Norway is spending a new training period in Azerbaijan, one of the worlds strongest Judo Nations The group travelling was Martin Thiblin, Albin Dahl and head coach Jonas Mällo. Unfortunately poor Martin got sick with pneumonia and had to cancel the trip. Head of National Team Committee, Gøril Johansen, had been doing all the work arranging the trip. The journey went through Moscow where we had a long 11 hour stop before we could continue to Baku. In Baku we were greeted by our good old friend Ali and agreed to meet with him for lunch before our Statoil driver brought us to the hotel. We could feel the 4 hour time distance in our bodies, but had a very nice day with Ali and "Maestro", one of Azerbaijan's most famous composers. We had nice food and tea and talked about judo with our good friends On Sunday the 22nd of March our nice driver Ibrahim came to bring us up to the mountains and Zaqatala. This is a 6 hours long drive, and the roads are not like in Norway. After 5 hours in the car we felt like milkshake. We tried to stop for lunch, but the restaurant was filled with people celebrating novruz. We also had an interesting experience using the toilets there. After 8,5 hours we finally arrived in Zaqatala and the Olympic complex where we were given a nice little apartment. Zaqatala is a beautiful place with nice nature and mountains. After arrival we had a light run and fitness training to get the journey out of Albin's body. Then the judo camp started with judo athletes from Greece, Georgia, Estonia, France, Turkey, Slovenia and Azerbaijan. The camp had a very high level with top athletes, and we felt really privileged to be there. Our Azerbaijani judo friends took very good care of us, as they always do. Albin enjoyed the randoris with top athletes, and Jonas learned things useful for him as coach. We had nice evenings and dinners with the other athletes and coaches, and enjoyed the celebration of Rajabli's birthday where we were shown Azerbaijani dancing. Strangely enough, Albin disappeared when it was the guest's turn to dance! We love Azerbaijan and our friends there and Azerbaijani judo very much, and are looking forward to our next trip to Baku. www.judo.no