After picking up stakes in Canmore, saying goodbye to her karaoke bar gig and moving to Montreal, judoka Erin Morgan’s sports career is on the rise as she pursues her Olympic dreams.
Travelling the globe to compete on the world cup circuit, Morgan said she’s training harder than ever and busily preparing for the Pan American Championships next month in Hawaii. If she wins, she could earn a ticket to the Olympic Games in Rio, however, she believes that to be a long shot.
“I was seventh in Belgium … and I was first at the Edmonton International competition,” Morgan said. “(After PanAms) I am in Calgary for nationals and then straight over to Madrid for a world cup and then back down to San Salvador for another world cup.”
Morgan, 22, has spent much of the year proving she belongs at the top level, and is generally happy with her performance thus far. Training with national team athletes, she’s seen her strength improve significantly, as she now has more sparring partners.
She’s turned that into better results. Morgan won her first national title in 2015 and captured bronze at the 2014 European Cup in Finland. She also competed for Canada at the 2015 PanAm Games in Toronto.
“In Belgium, I beat the eventual gold medalist in the first round, but they have a weird pool system before the main bracket, so I ended up placing lower, even though I beat her. The $500 Euro prize money would’ve been nice.”
Morgan has also battled injuries this year, which has impeded her progress. She needs to achieve 250 points this season to obtain carding.
“I had my meniscus removed in October and that still bothers me, and I dislocated my elbow in Belgium. Other than that, I just have general pain that goes along with judo. I’m pretty happy with my season considering injuries. I do always wish I could do more, though,” Morgan said.
Training is nearly a full time job, as she is putting in long hours lifting weights, working on technique and sparring with her training partners.
“I’m in the gym in the morning Monday, Wednesday and Friday, have technical judo Tuesday and Thursday, then spar in the evening Monday to Friday. The schedule is similar (to what Morgan did in Canmore and Calgary) but I have much stronger people to train with,” she said.
