News

This International Women’s Day JudoScotland Chief Executive, Judith shares her experience on fitting sport into a busy life:

I am just one of many thousands of working mums who ironically often feel like we’re on the never ending treadmill.

After packing nursery & school bags, dropping children off at childcare and rushing about uploading homework and squeezing in a bit of life admin before work, my thoughts vary from feeling like Superwoman when I arrive at work through to other days when I feel a complete failure at everything (usually when my voice has been raised a little higher than I’d like to admit).

I love my job, in fact I thrive on being in a challenging environment and I just want to influence more people to experience the enjoyment and satisfaction of being involved and developing themself within sport. Sport is so powerful; I’ve gained a heap of life skills and friends through playing a variety of sports throughout my childhood and adulthood.

So as I juggle what feels like a million balls at times, I ask myself why I often now find myself placing sport at the bottom of the priority list. It’s too easy to prioritise an email or two that are awaiting responses, or the cleaning that couldn’t possibly be held off for another day. Perhaps I put too high an expectation on myself……I know I do, and I am just one of thousands of others in the same boat, doing the same. Women in our society still carry the majority of caring responsibilities. This isn’t just in relation to children, but also in relation to caring for parents, neighbours and friends. This enormous responsibility comes at the risk of neglecting care for oneself.

The sport I am involved most with is curling and the late shift game from 9-11pm can sometimes be a real dread to get out the door for, especially on a dark, rainy winter’s night. But when I step on the ice, I almost instantly feel like ‘me’ and focus entirely on the game in hand, switching off to other tasks and problems. By the time it’s finished, I often feel ready to take on the world again.

As a wise person once told me, if you want to look after others to the best of your ability, you must first look after yourself. Being active / involved in sport isn’t selfish, it’s critical for our wellbeing, both mentally and physically. The power of sport cannot be underestimated.

So on this International Women’s Day, I urge you all to make a commitment to be active yourself and to pay particular care to the women around you and offer them support to ensure they get that critical time they need to prioritise activity.

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

Hi Judo Community,

This month’s Report from the Chair is slightly different to the norm.  I’d like to focus a bit more on where we are in JudoScotland and to ask for your support.

We’re just about to start a big piece of work to refresh and improve our current grading system.  And we’ll shortly be approaching member clubs to get your views.  With this in mind, and as a bit of pre-work, can I ask all our clubs to review your membership and ensure that they’re all JudoScotland members so that we have an accurate picture of numbers.  As part of our strategy, we’ve set targets to increase our membership over the next 4 years.  We know there are many benefits to membership but critically everyone doing judo in Scotland needs to be insured. In fact, a club has had this tested recently.

Can I also ask you to look at our grading rebate incentive where clubs are rewarded for doing a 3^rd grading in the year.

If we can push our membership and grading capacities up, we will not only be rewarding learning and achievement but will be generating additional income that can be reinvested from grassroots right through to high performance.  And that benefits all of us as a community.   We’ve always had great support from all of clubs – and long may that last!

As part of the gradings review, we’ve revised the previous Job Description for the Area Director of Examiners.  The role is now called the JudoScotland Director of Examiners and will work in conjunction with the Business Delivery Team to focus on Dan Grades and the recruitment and training of Senior Examiners. The position was promoted to the wider community, and after a series of interviews, I’m delighted to announce that Rick Kenney was successful in securing the role.  Congratulations Rick and we look forward to working closely with you to enhance our Dan Grades.

One area that we’ve always struggled with in JudoScotland is attracting Independent Directors.  We now have Jodie who joined the Board last year with her legal background and who has been a great asset.  We recently went out to recruit two more Independent Directors and were delighted when 5 strong candidates came forward. I’ll give you more info in my next report as the appointments will be ratified at the next Board Meeting on 7th March.

Incidentally, it was interesting during the interviews that all the candidates indicated they’d come forward because they’d heard exciting things about our organisation. -music to our ears!

My tenure finishes in 3 years and 8 months – let’s work together to make this an exceptionally productive and exciting period for the judo community.

Thanks

Marc

The Clean Sport Alliance presents a series of videos on the topic of Clean Para-Sport. In 2022, as part of the RESPECT-P project they invited several international para-athletes to voice their thoughts and opinions on clean sport and anti-doping. These videos showcase some of the most interesting views expressed by the athletes. The Clean Sport Alliance was founded by the RESPECT team in 2018. They aim to bridge the gap between anti-doping research, policy and practice to shape the future of anti-doping education. As part of of their work they have created a knowledge exchange platform for athletes, researchers, practitioners and other stakeholders to facilitate dissemination of clean sport research and its implementation.

When: 30th September – 1st October

Where: sportscotland National Centre, Inverclyde

We are pleased to be back at sportscotland National Centre, Inverclyde for our flagship development event. The Gathering is so much more than just a revalidation event, with an action-packed weekend both on and off the mat for all Judoka over 14 years old.

We are delighted to announce our first guests for The Gathering 2023! After an excellent session at The Gathering 2022, we are pleased to welcome back Three-time World Champion,  Masashi Ebinuma and Two-time All Japan Champion Kana Ebinuma to The Gathering 2023!

What you said about, Masashi and Kana’s sessions.

“The technicity and the importance of uchikomis and repetitions with attention on the details”

“Simple clear instructions, plenty of time to practice each stage. Point-by-point corrections delivered in a very clear visual manner.”

“Fantastic and very valuable techniques demonstrated which I’ll continue to practice.”

Keep your eyes peeled for more guest announcements and booking details.

There are more ways to be part of the team outside of competing, so why not take on a new challenge and become part of your club’s team as a referee or technical official? Support your club by supporting local events. If you are interested in representing your club as a referee or official representative, then why not register your interest for our up-and-coming courses by emailing us at info@judoscotland.com

Next Course: 23th March 2023 JudoScotland Time Keeping Online Course

Who is a Technical Official?
From Timekeepers to Competition Controllers Technical Officials are the volunteers at events that carry out roles other than the referee.
What Does A Technical Official Do?
There are several different positions of a technical officials in Judo. Usually found at the control table or mat side, a technical official ensures the smooth running of an event.
How Do I Become A Technical Official?
The great news is that to start your technical official journey, no judo experience is required! JudoScotland will provide all the training you need to start as a timekeeper.

Who is the Referee?

The referee is the volunteer who can be found at the centre of all the action at tournaments and gradings ensuring the contests are conducted in a fair and safe way.
What Does the Referee Do?
Referees ensure that contests are conducted safely and correctly, following approved contest rules, and ultimately making the call on who wins or loses by giving scores/penalties to Judoka.
How Do I Become A Referee?
If you are at least a green belt and over the age of 12 you can start your refereeing journey. As you build your skills and experience you will have the opportunity to advance through a structure of eight levels.