A brief update from the JudoScotland Chair, Marc Preston, on activity in July and August
It has been an incredibly busy and exciting summer with so much happing surrounding JudoScotland, so I have condensed the July and August report from the Chair.
It was good to catch up with Andrew Scoular, CEO of British Judo, on 17/18 July. Andrew joined us at the Ratho EICA Centre as we hosted the Baton relay for the Commonwealth Games. It was a great morning with lots of varied activities for our members plus a chance to catch up with the Judoka representing Scotland ahead of the Games.
In July, I was part of a Nomination Committee to consider applications for the role of JudoScotland Chair. We interviewed 4 excellent candidates all of whom would have brought various skill sets to the role of Chair, making the decision of taking the best person to hold the organisation a difficult one. Ultimately, I’d like to congratulate Sandy Hodge, the successful candidate. I’ve worked with Sandy for 7 years firstly as our sportscotland Partnership Manager, then as an Independent Director and, for the past year, as our Vice Chair at JudoScotland. I have no doubt that he is a very safe pair of hands and will take JudoScotland to the next level.
The second half of July marked a very exciting time for Scottish Sport as the Commonwealth Games landed in Glasgow, with the Opening Ceremony starting the festivities, and our very own Sarah Adlington leading Team Scotland into the Hydro as Baton Bearer. We had the honour of hosting a couple of exciting events at Scotland House, firstly hosting the athletes and their families on the 26th of July we then had the pleasure of hosting the officials who were actively taking part in the Commonwealth Games later in the week. After my speech I was able to spend the rest of the evening catching up with individuals at each of the tables. It was a super time! Without the dedication of our referees, officials and volunteers there would be no events! So thank you again all, your dedication to our sport of judo is second to none!
On the Friday morning of the Games, I was representing JudoScotland at a reception at the Radisson Red SkyBar in Glasgow where we hosted our partners along with representatives of the Home Nations. Again, another opportunity to catch up with everyone. Thank you for your attendance.
And for the main event, The Judo event at the Commonwealth Games were superbly run. I’d particularly like to thank Loretta Cusack and Lisa Allan for their superb hospitality and for looking after us all. Although the medal tally wasn’t what we expected, it was an incredible experience for our team of mostly debutants to compete on home soil. Congratulations to our two bronze medallists Summer Shaw -48kg and Scott Cusack -90kg !
Over the summer, not one, not two, but three JudoScotland members achieved the prestigious rank of 6th Dan! A huge congratulations to Gordon Cameron (Cumbernauld Judo Club), Mark McCraw (EdinburghJudo) and Robert Sharp (Boglestone Judo Club) on reaching this remarkable milestone. Achieving 6th Dan is a testament to decades of dedication, expertise, and commitment to judo.
And finally, our Board meeting took place on 25th August when I had the pleasure of inviting our President and VPs to go through a busy and varied agenda.