News

JudoScotland are delighted to add Shohei Ono to the already exciting lineup for The Gathering 2023!

Double Olympic Champion, three-time World Champion, Asian Games Champion, three-time All Japan Champion, five-time Grand Slam Champion and two-time Grand Prix Champion Shohei Ono will join Masashi Ebinuma and Kana (Abe) Ebinuma to deliver an exciting weekend of Judo.

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! Shohei Ono will deliver a guest session sharing his immense skill set with the Scottish Judo community.

However, The Gathering isn’t just about what is happening on the mat. JudoScotland are pleased to welcome Dr Mike Callan who will be talking us through a history of judo in the UK, thinking about the lineage of Scottish clubs.

Booking is now open, book your space here.

Team JudoScotland had a fantastic day at the 2023 British National Team Championships. An excellent opportunity to compete as one team with some brilliant wins throughout the day, in a great show of camaraderie from the Scots. Finishing the day with six medals was just the cherry on top of a great day of competition.

The Cadet/Junior Girls’ Team secured a silver medal after an incredible day of competition. An exciting semi-final against the Midlands with a 3-2 win taking them into the final where they lost out in a 3-2 battle to NHC. It was a bronze for the Cadet/Junior Boys Teams who, after a strong day of competition lost out to NHC in the semi-final.

It was a bronze medal for the Pre-Cadet Girls Team, they made their way to the semi-finals following their pool win, however, after giving it their all they sadly lost out with a 3 – 2 loss. In another nail-biting semi-final, the Pre-Cadet Boys lost out to NHC in a 4-3 loss, securing the bronze medal after a fantastic day full of excellent matches.

The Senior Women also secured a bronze medal after a close 3-2 semi-final loss against London.  The Senior Men started the day with a 3 – 2 win against NHC, before moving through the pools to the semi-final where they eventually lost out 4-1 to the South to take home Bronze.

Congratulations to all our Scottish Judoka for a fantastic day of competition!

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

Hi Judo Community,

I’d like to start this month’s report with a huge congratulations to the Scottish Judo Community – clubs, coaches, members and families. I’m delighted to announce that JudoScotland membership has pushed through the 8,500 mark! This achievement is due to all of your hard work and commitment.  We’re exceeding our targeted growth rate and well on our way towards our new set of targets where we’re aiming to have over 10,000 members in the next 3 years.  Very well done and please keep up the good work!

A few more ‘well dones’ to hand out. Notably to Sean Allan, who won Gold at the Special Olympic Games in June in Berlin, and to Chris Murphy who retained his U81kg title at the Virtus Global Games in Vichy, France.

Also to Sarah Adlington who was inducted into the University of Edinburgh’s Sports Hall of Fame and to Paul Grady, winner of the Rob McPherson Volunteers Award at the Scottish Student Sports Awards, marking his commitment to supporting Student Judo.

From a personal perspective, I’m very pleased with the way the Board is developing. At the beginning of the month, we met up with Andrew Scoular, CEO of British Judo, to catch up on general business.

During June we held induction sessions for our 3 new Independent Directors. The session went very well and got excellent feedback.  Then, a few members of the Board, including myself, attended a workshop run by external consultants entitled ‘Building a Sustainable and Effective Board’.  Very interesting!  At the end of the month, we used Teams to run an Online Board Meeting which the Vice Presidents also attended.

Finally, in June we started the process of reviewing our gradings process – looking at ideas for upgrading and enhancing the offering, more on that to follow.

I’d like to wish everyone all the best over the summer. I hope you are getting a chance to have a break and relax!

Thanks

Marc

This Saturday, the British National Team Championships will return to the Walsall Sports Centre, The University of Wolverhampton for an exciting day of Judo. Arguably one of the most exciting events on the domestic schedule, the National Teams is one of the rare opportunities Judoka get to compete under the saltire.

50 Judoka from sixteen different Scottish Clubs will compete together across three teams, in an attempt to be named British National Team Champion!

JudoScotland Teams

Scottish Open Judo Tournament: 20^th & 21^st January 2024

Scottish Open Judo Training Camp: 22^nd – 24^th January 2024

The Scottish Open is back for 2024! On the 21st & 22nd of January 2024, the UK’s premier International Judo Tournament will return to the sportscotland National Centre Inverclyde. For the first time, the competition will be followed by a three-day training camp sponsored by RA Sneddon LTD.

The Scottish Open has historically attracted competitors from across the globe including Japan, USA, Germany, France and Sweden, providing an excellent international competition on home soil. This year we are excited to host a three-day camp as part of the competition which will offer participants an ideal preparation camp for the EJU and IJF calendar in 2024.

We are delighted that teams who have previously attended the Scottish Open have pledged their attendance for 2024 including a team from Sweden, Japan and across the Home Nations!

The Scottish Open 2024 Training Camp supported by RS Sneddon LTD

Castle Douglas Judo Club Judoka Sean Allan has achieved a remarkable feat by winning the Gold medal at the Berlin 2023 Special Olympics World Games.

The Special Olympics World Games are the world’s largest inclusive sports event. Thousands of athletes with intellectual disabilities compete together in 26 sports. Nine days of exciting and inspiring competitions, by athletes and for athletes.

Sean was able to secure victory in both of his flights in under 10 seconds, an incredible achievement. Congratulations to Sean on this remarkable achievement. 

You can watch both fights below.

@judoscotlandCongratulations to Sean Allan on securing Gold at the Special Olympics World Games! An amazing achievement winning both fights in under 10 seconds! 🥇♬ original sound – JudoScotland

This weekend 274 Judoka from 18 countries will descend on the University of Wolverhampton for the Birmingham Junior European Cup 2023. A unique opportunity to compete on the European circuit on UK soil, 23 Scottish Judoka will represent GB across two days of competition.

Reigning British junior Champion Ross Dempsey (Clyde Judo) will take to the mat on Saturday in the 60kg category as he looks to claim a European medal on ‘home soil’. There have been strong finishes for James Gray (Destination Judo), Daniel Givan (Destination Judo), Billy Rodman (Hibari-Kan Judo Club), Ben Fox-Kennedy (Sportif Judo Club) and Gregor Miller (Tayside) who have had top-seven finishes on the Junior European Tour so far. Will Birmingham be the opportunity they need for a podium finish?

The Birmingham Junior European Cup will also mark the first step on the Junior European Circuit for nine Cadet and 1st-year Junior female Judoka, as they look to progress on their competitive judo journey.

If you would like to go along and support our Judoka, tickets are still available here. Not able to make it along? Catch all the action from the weekend here. 

Scottish Judoka

Amy McGrorty (48kg)

Sophie Carson (48kg)

Rachael Gray (48kg)

Jocelyn Callaghan (52kg)

Hattie Jones (52kg)

Sarah Smith (57kg)

Sunny Doig (57kg)

Jemma Smith (63kg)

Sophie Wood (63kg)

Ross Dempsey (60kg)

Sam Walker (60kg)

James Gray (66kg)

Daniel Givan (66kg)

Reece Edwards (66kg)

Billy Rodman (73kg)

Ben Fox-Kennedy (73kg)

Eden Heffernan (73kg)

Jacob Callaghan (81kg)

George Brown (81kg)

Fraser Clark (81kg)

Matthew Sweeney (81kg)

Andrew Ross (81kg)

Gregor Miller (-100kg)

Last month a group of Scottish Masters Judoka headed to Japan for a two-week trip to experience the historic home of Judo. The trip of a lifetime saw the group of thirteen Judoka experience some excellent Judo training as well as experience Japanese culture.
From training at, and becoming members of, the famous home of Judo The Kodokan, to visiting Mount Fuji, the group packed a huge amount into their short trip. Highlights included Bill McNeil receiving his technical first dan in the cockpit of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, allowing him to step on the mat in Japan as a black belt.
Although originally set to take place in 2021, the trip was postponed twice due to covid restrictions, the group were able to make some strong connections with the Judo community paving the way for other Scottish Judoka to visit and train.
If you would like to get involved in the exciting Scottish Masters Judo community why not come along to their Monthly National training sessions? The next session is this Sunday, book your space here.