A brief update from the JudoScotland Chair Marc Preston on activity in October.
The month started with Highland Budokan hosting the Grand Prix event on 4th October in Inverness. Despite Storm Amy, the event ran smoothly and I’d like to praise everyone involved for their co-operation and support!
On 14th October I visited Pro Judo in their city centre facility. I was very impressed and it’s always wonderful to see permanent, dojo facilities.
Myself and Judith were delighted to present Claire Shiach, of Pro Judo, with the Player Development Coach of the year award in recognition of an outstanding contribution to long-term athlete development aligned with the JudoScotland Player Development Framework. It was an honour that Claire was delighted to receive, in front of judoka, fellow coaches and parents in her own club environment. I’ve known Claire for a long time, since we were youngsters. We were both part of the team that went to the Commonwealth Games in New Zealand in 1990, where Claire took the Silver medal for Scotland. She was an exceptional competitor who won many international medals during that period where GB had an abundance of world class/world medallist female judokas.
British Judo’s Board of Directors meeting in London clashed with a holiday I had arranged with my family. I’d like to thank our Board Director Jodie Cox for stepping in and representing JudoScotland as the Home Nation representative at the Board Meeting. She enjoyed the experience which she noted was ‘very informative’ and provided a substantial report back as we work to ensure strong collaboration and robust processes.
On 28th October we had our monthly JudoScotland board meeting to which we invited our President and Vice-Presidents to attend. It was a highly productive session with a number of topics for discussion and decision. I would like to congratulate Sandy Hodge, who has now taken on the role of Vice Chair for JudoScotland as supported by his fellow Board Directors. Sandy has a wealth of experience and knowledge within judo due to his previous involvement as sportscotland Partnership Manager and laterally as an Independent Director. Sandy has recently been leading a project to create clear Board portfolios to enhance our strategic monitoring. I look forward to working with Sandy in this coming year as we aim to achieve the ambitious goals that we have set.