Police Scotland and Sporting Chances have been working together to widen participation in Judo and to provide new recruits with valuable skills for the challenges ahead of them.

An eight-week introduction to judo for new police recruits was the brainchild of Chief Superintendent Rob Hay, Head of training for Police Scotland, who said, “We wanted to give the recruits constructive options for the use of their leisure time whilst training at our residential centre in Tulliallan. Judo is something that can stay with our new police officers as they embark on their career, both as a personal discipline and a way with which to connect to communities up and down Scotland”.

Sporting Chances and Projudo were delighted to design and deliver a structured program that introduces the new police recruits to the sport whilst working through a demanding 13-week training at the Police Scotland College. In order to make it all come together, coaches Jack, Gerry and Claire worked closely with Police Scotland staff members Jackie and Gavin to design a course to fit in with the timetable of the new recruits, and which was suited to the needs of the students.

The course put new students through their paces in 8 weeks to achieve their first judo belt, during which time they:

  • Learned the basics of how to grip, how to fall and how to move like a judo player
  • Stepped through the red belt syllabus, building skills in throwing, groundwork and basic Japanese terminology
  • Developed a further range of skills to complement their Officer Safety training

Proceedings ended with a formal grading and award ceremony for those that choose to get more involved.

Having delivered the first block at the end of September, Pro Judo was delighted to report that it was a massive success.  Over 100 recruits enjoyed a taste of Judo, with over 30 students signed up to achieve their red belts. All of the participants are to be congratulated and were all given useful information about how they can take their judo further – including a list of clubs local to their final posting destination.

The Scottish Police Recreation Association facilitated this initial block with generous kick-start funding and the Police Scotland Judo section was on hand to provide a warm welcome to the new judoka, making this project a truly combined effort.

Sporting chances benefit from its involvement with Police Scotland through sponsorship donations raised by the students. In addition to SPRA funds, the recruits raised over £2000 on this occasion. This will go towards the delivery of their wide-ranging outreach work.

As well as having great fun, the students gained confidence, made new friends and opened a gateway to resources and relationships that will help them with the difficult job they have ahead of them

Projudo is extremely proud of the achievements made by the recruits. Sporting Chances and Projudo are honoured to have been of some service to our Police force in Scotland whilst getting more eager participants into the sport.  Having delivered the first block, they hope to work further with Police Scotland and make this an important feature of the world-class Police training program at Tulliallan.