September kicked off with Big Sarah having the honour of presenting a group of young Syrian refugees with their very first judo belts at a ceremony in Ayrshire.
The group participated in a 16 week long judo course organised through the Loretta Doyle Judo Foundation in effort to help the youngsters build confidence and sense of community as they settle in Scotland, all of which led up to the judoka achieving their first grade. Following the presentation Sarah had this to say,
“There was a lot of happy people, both children and parents. A great reminder of how sport can positively impact lives!“
The first competition of the month was the annual PSUK National Judo Championships in Manchester. Gav M, Greig P, Nic M and Koko D all travelled down to Manchester to fight, with Craig A alongside to coach and support.
This event sees judoka within the police force from up and down the country competing for the title of PSUK Champion. Gav was on the hunt to recapture his title in the over 100kg category, which he did so successfully and the rest of the team had some good contests, coming away with more experience to take forward. Congratulations to the guys on the following results:
Gav M (+100kg): Senior Dan🥇+ Veterans🥇
Greig P (+73kg): Senior Dan🥉+ Veterans 🥈
Nic M (-100kg): Senior Kyu🥈
Photo credit: Richard Goulding http://www.richardgoulding.co.uk/
Six of our young players and volunteers, along with Sarah Clark, were invited by JudoScotland to the Scottish Parliament to take part in a fantastic evening celebrating volunteering in Scottish sport.
Thank you to the MSP's for the opportunity to showcase our wonderful sport, the importance of our volunteers and to highlight the benefits judo brings to local communities and society as a whole!
Photo credit Fergus Pirie https://www.facebook.com/ferguspirie2snapu
We had a team of junior and senior players competing at the Hibari Kan Grand Prix on the 16th of September. It was another great development event, especially for our guys at the beginning of their competitive journeys. There were wins, losses, learning what works, what doesn’t and recognising what to improve on for the future!
Well done to everyone who stepped out to compete and congratulations to the following players on their podium finishes:
A Band:
Cici F (-52kg)🥉
C Band:
Kirsty W (-70kg)🥉
Senior:
Craig A (-90kg)🥇
Finn T (+100kg)🥉
Jin C (-73kg)🥉
Andrew L and Reece E spent a weekend over in France at the Strasbourg International Training Camp alongside the JudoScotland Talent Development Squad.
It was a tough few days of training with a lot of high tempo randori sessions, however another great opportunity to develop their judo alongside players from other countries. Good work boys!
September also saw the launch of our new weekly sessions for women and girls. Featuring an hour of judo and 30 minutes of conditioning, these new sessions offer participants a space to develop their judo and gain confidence alongside other girls. It's been great seeing the class already begin to grow, with more new faces getting involved as the weeks pass - including IJF Secretary General Lisa Allan who we were honoured to have join us for a session!
Our women and girls judo + conditioning session takes place every Thursday from 18:00 - 19:30, is free for current EdinburghJudo members and is open to non-members, beginners and experienced judoka for a small mat fee. If you’d like to come along, get in touch with us!
Things are starting to pick up going into October with our half term fun camp taking place, our junior and seniors working hard towards their upcoming gradings and our competitive players ramping up the volume as we head toward the Scottish and British Championships later this year.
So keep an eye out for all of that - and more - in the October round up!