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

Dear Members

September started off for me with an online training course delivered by sportscotland about good Governance practices. I truly believe it’s extremely important that we in JudoScotland continue to upskill and maximise the lifelong learning opportunities we are presented with.

The following week, on 10th, I was once again on a course organised by sportscotland: this time about Leadership Skills – a very informative and valuable course to attend.

That same evening we had our Board of Directors meeting at Ratho which was attended by our 2 Vice Presidents, Rick Kenney & Jim Feenan and our President Colin McIver. It was great to have everyone together.

On 15th of September we were delighted to host Bob and Rick Cleevely, both 11x British Champions, who were delivering a Kime No Kata course at Ratho. I believe this is the first time that this particular course has been delivered in Scotland, although I’ll stand corrected if anyone’s aware of another session!

It was very well attended with over 30 judoka taking part in the session. I feel that there’s been a real increase in peoples’ appreciation of Kata as a valuable part of their judo journey. And I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Bob and Rick for giving us the opportunity to learn.

On 17th I met up with Euan Burton, National High Performance Coach, Gary Edwards, National Talent Development Manager and Judith to discuss the programmes’ development and moving forward. We had a very constructive discussion and I look forward to seeing the outcomes.

On 21st I attended the Hibari Kan Grand Prix event supported by JudoScotland at Ravenscraig. The feedback was good and, in my opinion, the event went well. Well done to the organising teams.

Finally on 26th hosted the annual drop-in coffee morning for MacMillan Cancer Support. The event was well attended and raised £160 for this well-deserving charity. Thanks to all who came along for your support.

And now we’re fast approaching the AGM and The Gathering. I look forward to catching up with lots of you, and will give an update on both events in my next monthly report.

 Marc Preston

6th Dan