Welcome newcomers!

Over recent weeks we have been getting quite a few new people coming along and trying Judo. Welcome to you all, we are really happy to have you join us and I hope you stick with it and become regulars.

I thought this would be a good time to share a little about the club and some things that will maybe help you fit right in.

1. Enjoy yourself!
Judo is fun and supposed to be fun. You will work hard and work up a sweat, you will get thrown and throw others. Enjoy it, take it at your own pace and don’t be afraid to take breaks when you need them.

2. Think of others.
You’ll throw people, you’ll learn strangles and armlocks. These can hurt! So please look after your partners. Take it careful, always be careful and look after the people you train with. Also, you will be spending lots of time in very (VERY) close proximity with other people, so hygiene is important. Coming early and using the showers at St Marys before training is fine/encouraged if you have had a tough day. Equally, wash your Judosuit after training. We have a laundry service at teh club if you need it (make sure you have your name on it permanently somehow if you do though so it does not get lost or confused with someone elses suit).

3. Join the BJA
We want all our members to be members of the national governing body for Judo, the BJA. You can do this easily on line at http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/join/ where you can apply for a new license or renew your existing.

4. Compete!
In our club we believe in sport as a force for good, both in our personal development and in improving the communities is which we live (judo and generally). Competing is fun, it’s a chance to play the game of Judo with people from outside our club. For us, competing is about enjoying the experience and we think everyone should enjoy participating in competitions; so the next time an event is mentioned, give it a go!

5. Explore.
At our club, we try and create an environment for you to learn Judo. The learning itself is up to you. So please explore the techniques, principles and ideas of Judo following your own curiosity. Tell us what you want to learn and we will help you find it. Also, explore other clubs, other sports, other hobbies. Judo may start you along a path to something else that satisfies you, we hope it does. Judo has since it’s creation always been a vehicle for improving lives not a destination, so explore with Judo as core.

6. Ask questions.
Further to point 5, ask us questions. We don’t know all the answers; but ask us and we might know more than you do and if not together we might learn something new. We are not precious about knowing more than the new students; so ask away!

Thats it for now, we thank you for coming along and trying Judo and invite you to keep coming. You are welcome every session, or once a month. You are welcome if you train exclusively with us or if you train elsewhere too (in fact we would encourage you to tarin elsewhere, see point 5).

Lance
(coach).

2015 – Welcome Back!

The club restarts this Tuesday 6th January 2015 at 8pm at St Marys Leisure Centre.

We have a busy first quarter coming up which includes the Hampshire Championships and British Universities Championships, so lets get right back into it! Competition players should be attending all sessions if they want to enter competitions.

It also means you need to have your BJA (and Solent) memberships up to date, please ensure everything is in order before the end of January.

See you Tuesday!

Holidays!

The club is now closed until January 6th 2015.

I would like to thank everyone who has attended, supported, coached at fought with the club this year. This year has been a tough one for us and we have not grown as much as we had hoped. In 2015 we will continue to push forward and we will be working hard in the first quarter on the British University Championships preparation. We hope to add some additional training sessions to the schedule to help our athletes prepare.

In 2015 we hope to reboot the Hampshire Team Championships so we and our friends in Judo have events to participate in. We also hope to expand the coaching staff formally and of course grow the membership. We will be spending more time with our friends in Southampton Uni Judo club and Winchester Uni Judo Club as well as taking up an invitation to visit the famous Budokwai Judo Club in London.

We will also be forming an alumni club so that the people that have shared time with us on the mat can maintain their link to the club and we can maintain our friendships.

Once again, thanks to everyone that has supported the club in 2014, have a great break and I hope to see you all fit, healthy and ready to play on January 6th 2015.

 

Lance
(coach)

 

Dr. Mike Callan Visit – 18th November 2014

Dear all,

Dr. Mike Callan is visiting the club on Tuesday 18th November for our 8pm session at St Marys Leisure Centre. Dr. Callan is a world expert of coach education is Judo, a 6th dan and also driving force behind creation of the Team Bath Judo programme.

Please attend and please invite your judo friends along to what will be an enjoyable and educational evening.

We have a Facebook Event where you can indicate you are coming here: https://www.facebook.com/events/294045144119392/

See you then!

 

Lance

Events this week

Hi Everyone!

This week we have two things on the calendar.

On Tuesday we have our Randori night (8pm – 10pm); the goal this week is for everyone to bring someone else along; so don’t let the side down and bring a friend!

On Friday we shall be heading up to Camberley Judo Club. Those of you unfamiliar with Camberley Judo Club it is the home of some of the finest Judoka in the country. It is a fulltime training facility where Olympic level athletes live and train; including Olympic Bronze medalist Karina Bryant.

Please RSVP on our facbook event if you are planning on coming along (drivers and people with cars would be appreciated to help get as many people as possible north).

https://www.facebook.com/events/702797986455174/?ref=4

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ssujudo/

Vacancy: Coaches (voluntary).

Southampton City Judo Club (and Team Solent Judo) is expanding in 2014 and into 2015. To enable this to happen we need to identify excellent coaches to continue to develop the players and the club into a club that caters to it’s members and to the goals we have to produce life-long Judoka, athletes and high level competitors.

We have terrific support from the Team Solent sport department and aim to use this to grow the clubs programme to be in the same level of presence as the Team Solent Basketball, Rugby, Football and Wheelchair Rugby teams.

As a coach at the club you will have the opportunity to implement your ideas and grow as a coach in a Judo sports club. You will be supported by the club and the head coach Lance Wicks (EJU Level 5 coach, member of the EJU Judo Knowledge coach education commission, member of the EJU and IJF IT Teams ).

Currently the role is voluntary, with a aim to source funding for paying of more coaches as and when possible. Coaches of all levels are welcome, be it novice coaches looking for a start or experienced coaches looking for a new challenge or to contribute to a young club.

The club is young (4 years old), but has already produced a BUCS champion (from complete beginner), numerous medals in university and BJA events. We have also been pioneers is organising and hosting events including Kata, Refereeing, Team competitions, single weight category competitions, Women only open competitions, county training sessions and open mat training sessions.

Regular club sessions are currently Sunday afternoons and Tuesday evenings. This expands closer to our primary event (BUCS National Championships in February) and we hope to expand to include childrens classes as part of a outreach programme if suitable coaching resource and arrangements can be made.

Please consider getting involved with this innovative club that wants to grow and evolve into something bigger and better.

Contact Lance Wicks via email lw@judocoach.com to express interest and to ask any questions.

Preparing for the competition season.

lance-taioIt has been terrific to see some new faces attending recently and getting into Judo!

The competition season starts soon, we have the London Universities Competition next month (with novice categories).

We will also be visiting our friends at Winchester University to train together and have a friendly match.

Also we have some VIP guests planned to attend the club before the end of the year. This includes coaches and players from far afield.

A trip up to the Friday night session at Camberley Judo Club in in the pipeline as is a trip to London to visit and have a match against the famous Budokwai Judo Club.

With all this in mind it is important that everyone attends regularly and helps to keep increasing the attendance week on week. We need to select a novice and experienced team and train hard for upcoming events! Additional training sessions will be arranged, but the old rule of “you have to attend, to be in” applies.

 

Welcome new comers!

September/October is when our club experiences it’s biggest growth in numbers. This is due to the new students Joining the university that we are partnered with and discovering us via the freshers fair.

So, welcome new people trying Judo for the first time! If you have never seen it before, check out this great video about Judo by a TV crew who had never done Judo before; but by the time they had finished talking to us they came on and gave it a go!

Judo is an amazing workout, so if you are coming down bring a water bottle (there is a water fountain at St Marys so you can refill it. We encourage you to take it at your own pace and please do as much as you can, but don’t do too much.

We are fortunate to have a supply of Judo jackets you can borrow. They get laundered after every session; so just put throw some tracksuit  trousers and some flip flops in your bag and come down and visit us.

Due to the partnership with Southampton Solent University we are able to keep prices down so it’s just three pounds at reception when you get here. Bring a towel as there are showers and changing rooms.

We encourage you to bring a friend or two down as Judo is more fun with more people!

If you have any questions, just leave a comment or email Lance ( lw@judocoach.com ).