A brief update from the JudoScotland Chair Marc Preston on activity in March.
Dear Members,
The monthly cycle started off on the 2nd March with the Strathkelvin Mon, Kyu and Dan Open. This is an event that’s been designed for beginners and less experienced players, to give them an introduction to competitive judo. As we know, it’s very important that the judo community gets a wide and varied range of competitions and I’m delighted to see clubs enhancing the opportunities available.
A few days later Judith and myself attended a lunch hosted by the Scottish Sports Association in celebration of International Women’s Day. The lunch was attended by the First Minister, John Swinney, plus around 20 other invited guests from the sports sector. It provided us with a good opportunity to showcase the positive work being done within the judo community across Scotland to accelerate women & girls’ engagement.
A quick reminder, that we had a major milestone on 10th March: 500 days to go until Glasgow 2026! I know it sounds like a long way off, but it’ll come round in a flash!
On Tuesday 11th we had an online board meeting. This was an extra session due to the amount of work currently being processed. Thank you to all the Board and staff for committing to this slot. I’ve been finding that we are needing more top-up sessions to get through our ever -increasing workload.
During the same period, Gordon McCathie, our Vice Chair, has been leading the appraisals of the Board of Directors, some of which I’ve been personally involved with. Thank you Gordon for your time in this very important piece of work.
On 17th March I had my appraisal from British Judo for my Home Nations representation on the Board. I spent a good hour with British Judo Chair Gerry Gualtieri and a further extended time afterwards with him discussing other, broader issues!
Back to JS business, we had our Board meeting on the 25th to which we invited our Vice Presidents (Rick Kenney, Jim Feenan and Graham Campbell) and our President (Colin McIver). As always their input is important for our organisation moving forward.
The final weekend of the month rounded off with the Hibari Kan at Ravenscraig, part of JudoScotland’s Grand Prix series. I was there for a limited time, but unfortunately wasn’t able to stay as long as I would’ve liked due to personal commitments. For those I didn’t have the chance to catch-up with – I do apologise but we’ll speak next time!
Across at Inverclyde we were delighted to welcome Sensei Yoshihiko Iura to lead on an outstanding Kata Weekend sharing his extensive knowledge in Nage no Kata and Kime no Kata.
Roll on April.
Marc Preston, 7th Dan