News

It gives JudoScotland great pleasure to announce the 2022 Grand Prix Winners. The JudoScotland Grand Prix series plays a vital role in a young Judoka’s development, it introduces critical elements to a judoka’s progress such as coping with competition, sportsmanship, dealing with pressure and the use of tactics to name just a few.

Congratulations to all winners and competitors who took part in this year’s Grand Prix Circuit. Winners will be presented at this year’s Scottish National Closed Championship on the 5^th & 6^th November (full details below).

Receiving Your Trophy

If you are B band at the Scottish National Closed Championships, collection of your award will be on Saturday at 9.15am, please could you make your way to the control table.

If you are C band at the Scottish National Closed Championships, collection of your award will be on Saturday at 11.15am, please could you make your way to the control table.

If you are A band at the Scottish National Closed Championships, collection of your award will be on Sunday at 1.35pm, please could you make your way to the control table.

If you are Senior at the Scottish National Closed Championships, collection of your award will be on Sunday at 9.15am, please could you make your way to the control table.

If you are unable to make the Scottish National Closed Championships, your award will be handed to your club for you to collect.

If you have any queries please contact the JudoScotland office on 0131 333 2981.

A Brief update from the Chair of some key events and recent news from October

Hi Judo Community,

I can’t believe another month has gone by – and what a month that was with a National Grading, Level 1 Coaching Course, AGM and our flagship coach education event, The Gathering.

In fact, due to workload – and the fact that there were so many things going on – I decided to add an extra Board meeting in early October before our scheduled session on the 25th. We had lots to discuss and invited along our Vice Presidents who always bring great value and experience to the table.

At the start of the month, I caught up with Colin McIver at an Edinburgh café for our periodic bacon roll and chance to chew the fat! Imagine my surprise when there was a loud rap on the window and, when we looked up, Mark Brien, now Director, was there cleaning it! Have to say – he has a knack for always making things clearer ????. And Colin – good luck with your new cocker spaniel pup.

Mid-month I had a good chat with Paul Laverty from Shettleston Judo Club regarding Chris Murphy who’s been selected for the Virtus Oceanic/Asia Games in Australia. I’m subsequently pleased to announce that JudoScotland will be supporting Chris on his journey, and I’m sure all of the judo community in Scotland will be wishing him well.

In advance of the vote for Chair/Directors at the AGM, JudoScotland brought in a new format event designed to help our members. It was called ‘Meet the Chair’ a modern-day, virtual ‘hustings’: a chance for people to meet and ask questions to the candidates. It worked well and is a format that we’ll be expanding and using again in the future.

And, at the weekend just passed, we had the AGM and The Gathering at Largs.

At the AGM, I was voted in as Chair for the next 4 years. Thank you all for your confidence. I can’t guarantee success, but I CAN guarantee hard work and commitment.

Thanks also to the other nominee, Johnny Imrie, for his gracious comments.

David Gibson and Mark Brien were voted in as Directors. And, at this point, I’d like to thank Sarah Clark for her long and valuable contribution to the Board.

And finally, congratulations to the recipients of the Coaching, Officiating and Volunteering award winners for 2022 you can see a full list of the winners here.

Coincidentally I discovered that one of the winners, Andrew Swinburne of Carnegie Judo Club (Technical Official/Referee of the year) is, like me, a keen falconer and flies a magnificent Harris Hawk! We’re trying to arrange to link up so that I can see his bird in action.

The Gathering was a great success. It would be remiss of me not to point out one notable ‘highlight’ – the karaoke where ex-world champion Graeme Randall, and our own Paul McGuinness, treated us to a lengthy set of classics! The only thing missing was a duet. Could they be our own, new Simon & Garfunkel?

On Sunday morning I thoroughly enjoyed being on the mat and learning from Masashi and Kana Ebinuma, they have an incredible level of knowledge, and it was a real privilege to be on the mat with two legends.

It was also great to be able to link up with Neil and Niki Adams. They’ve just announced the return of their fantastic Annual Charity Gala, which will run next September to raise money in the fight against Cancer and Diabetes. If you’d like to support Neil & Niki, tickets are now on sale here. I’ve been at a few of their Galas and can vouch for how great they are.

I’m delighted to announce that Robert Sneddon, who was on the board of Directors for many years – and a great support to me when I first joined – has just been awarded a lifetime membership of JudoScotland.

And, lastly, back to business, yesterday the JS team, including myself, presented our 4-year strategic plan – and funding request – to the team at sportscotland. The meeting went extremely well, and I’ll keep you up to date with developments.

Thank you to Judith McCleary and her team for one of the busiest and most productive months I can remember.

Marc A Preston

From your club parent helper, to an area referee, right up to performance coaches; volunteers, officials and coaches are the lifeblood of our sport, without whom our sport would look very different. The JudoScotland Coaching, Officiating and Volunteering awards are our way of showing our thanks and appreciation for their continued hard work.

The winner of the 2022 Awards are:

Community Coach of the Year

Gregor Gardiner – Azami Falkirk

“Gregor’s club is one of the few places our child feels safe”

Young Coach of the Year

Charlie McLean – Irvine Judo Club

“As a young coach, it has been great to see how Charlie has thrown himself into furthering his knowledge. He has undertaken the Technical Dan Grade and has completed the Level 2 coaching course to be of better support to the coaches and members”

Disability Coach of the Year

Michele Strachan – Tams Brig Judo Club

“Michele goes way beyond the basics of what would be needed for inclusion”

Volunteer of the Year

Niall Allison – Orkney Judo Club

“It is now a way of life for him and he is so passionate about it, it is unreal”

Technical Official/Referee of the Year

Andrew Swinburne – Carnegie Judo Club

“Having gotten a lot from competitive judo, Andy is really keen to give something back and help others have the same opportunities”

Young Volunteer of the Year

Amy Staunton – Hamilton Judo Club

“With the club growing from strength to strength, Amy is one of the young volunteers that enables the club to consistently deliver great experiences”

Young Official of the Year

Paige Sweetland – Jidel Judo 93

“It’s fantastic to see someone so young committed to her role as a Referee, especially when she is competing herself. Hopefully she will inspire others to follow in her footsteps because she is a fantastic young role model”

Pathway Coach of the Year

Andrew Malone – Hibari-Kan Judo Club

“there is a rich history of young judoka that have achieved competitive success that Andy has coached; winning National medals at Cadet & Junior level and most recently representing Team Scotland at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games”

Proposed Changes to the JudoScotland Articles of Association

Appointment of Chair of the Company

Appointment of Two Non-Executive Directors of the Company

Plenary Session – Strategy 2023-2027

World Judo Day, organised by the International Judo Federation (IJF), is an opportunity to celebrate the values of Judo. This year the IJF announced that the theme for World Judo Day 2022 is Inclusion, Uniting the Judo Family.  What better way is there to celebrate inclusion than by sharing some inspiring stories of those within the Scottish Judo community and their personal experiences of inclusion in Judo.

Chris Nicol – Tams Brig Judo Club

Chris, a Deafblind Judoka who trains at Tams Brig Judo Club with coaches Charlie and Michelle Strachan, shared his Judo story.

“Being involved in Judo has had many positives. Aside from the obvious physical benefits, I have met lots of new people and made many friends. The training keeps me focused and driven to achieve my targets, and I have developed a passion to become a coach myself. Judo helps me to remain positive and feel motivated about life. It keeps me smiling and gives me strength and courage to face up to difficulties and challenges.”

“At Tam’s Brig, the club have been great with their approach to inclusion and adapting Judo to suit individuals. I have low vision and hearing, so there have been several challenges to overcome. Coaches and other players have learned tactile sign language to help communication – there is actually a poster with the alphabet pinned up on the wall – and I am always able to “feel” how techniques are done so I have a clear image in my head.”

“My experience of Judo is that it is an inclusive sport and I have been able to get involved in some courses and events – including last year’s The Gathering, which was fantastic. I would love to see adaptive, and VI categories included at some of JudoScotland’s competitions, which I think could help grow the sport and encourage more people to participate and compete.”

Kirsten Taylor – Tayside Judo Club

Kirsten Taylor IBSA Grand Prix Nur-Sultan 2022 Silver Medallist, who trains with Tayside Judo and is also on the GB Para-Potential pathway shared her Judo story.

“Judo is the most inclusive sport I’ve taken part in.  Right from the first session, there was no awkwardness about my visual impairment, in other sports I’ve done they’ve either treated me like I’m made of glass, or they’ve tried to totally ignore the fact I need extra help.  With judo the whole club are great, the coaches make an effort to explain the demos clearly so I can follow them and then they check I’ve understood afterwards and show me again if needed.  Everyone makes sure I’m sorted, finding partners, being in the right place, and it’s all done completely naturally.  I never have to ask for help, it’s already there. I’ve never felt more normal.”

“Judo has massively improved my confidence.  When I first started I wouldn’t go anywhere by myself and there was no way I would go somewhere new on my own but now I think nothing of travelling all over the country by myself, and new places and people aren’t such a problem.”

“Judo people are good people.  I travel to training in Perth twice a week by train and there is always someone who is happy to give me a lift from the train station to training and back again. Without the support of Tayside Judo Club I wouldn’t be competing all over the world and loving every second of the journey.”

Murray McConnell – Sportif

Murray, a VI Judoka who trains with Sportif Judo competed at last years Scottish National Closed Championship where he was able to not only compete but come away with a bronze medal.

“Judo and sport in general have improved my fitness and help to build my confidence.  It has also help build good friendships with other judo players. It has positively impacted other aspects of my life as it has given me the confidence to try other things. For example, running, hillwalking, cycling on a tandem.”

“Judo has been inclusive because the support that my club Sportif, JudoScotland and British Judo have given me has allowed me to train and take part in competitions along with everyone else and my teammates help me off and on the mat.”

Chris Murphy –  Shettleston Judo Club

Chris Murphy, who will be representing GB next week at the Virtus Oceania/Asia Games, shares his experience as an ID Judoka.

“I received a letter through my school that informed me about the opportunity to take part in a special need’s judo class.  I’d tried lots of different sports before this but nothing seemed to take hold, I gave judo a go just for fun, I kept going back for a couple of weeks and I fell in love with it.  That was it, I was hooked.”

“When I was younger, I wasn’t really a sociable kid, to put it nicely. I didn’t really like physical contact or people being in my bubble.  For some reason after those couple of weeks of judo this kind of went away, happy days.”

“Its strange, judo fixed a whole lot of things, it made me very social and very chatty.”

“I started taking judo more seriously at 13 or 14 I’d say, originally, I just did SN classes, over time I started doing more SN classes and then started doing mainstream classes as well.  After this I started doing more and more mainstream classes.”

“When I stop competing, I would like to keep coaching and running my adaptive sessions. I would like to continue spreading awareness of adaptive and ID divisions.  I’m autistic and I see lots of autistic kids doing sport and some click with some sports and some don’t, but I just want to show others that if I can do this then others can as well.”