Gradings

A bit of a rambling post this one.

I was sat in a room, the other night, listening to the ever present debate about grading formats.  On one side there is the 'everyone should compete' camp and on the other side an 'everyone shouldn't be forced to compete' club.

So whats the answer?

As a slightly older bloke, when I first started doing Judo some time ago, I had to compete for grade advancement, and in all honesty I enjoyed it.  There is nothing like the feeling of winning in a competitive environment, but on the other hand I gave up Judo when I competed at a grading and suffered a back injury.

And therein lies the problem.  There was a massive drop off in the number of new players some years ago and the BJA decided that the competitive side (with possible injuries) wasn't helping the situation and in that respect they are right.  The question is, has it gone to far?

My thoughts, for what their worth, is that maybe players who want to compete for grades, should be allowed to and those that don't, don't have to.  Even if this wasn't a countrywide policy, couldn't clubs internally allow their Judoka to compete for grades.

Personally, I would compete, and the reason for this, is that it's nice to know on a personal level, whether i'm good enough to attain the next grade.  It's one thing to be told, and another to feel it.

My thoughts won't change the system, but it would be interesting to know what other players opinions are on it?????????

Winton Carnival

Ah, the great British traditional carnival.  Not quite Rio De Janerio, but a very close 2nd came Winton Carnival.

In all fairness i've never seen Winton so busy.

So off we went armed with collecting buckets, our standard and a whole host of the youth players in order to promote the club far and wide, right down the high street.

It was fantastic to see so many of the youngsters with their parents all supporting the club, it would be encouraging to see more of the adult players take part in the promotional events.

A good turn out for a great day.

Unusually the sun shone and blessed us all with warmth, most unusual for England.

The parade finished at Winton Recreation ground and several demonstrations were held for the viewing public.  Great publicity, extremely cheap.  Fantastic for the club.  I wasn 't there for the demo's, due to the ever prsent responsibilityof my kids, but rumour has it they went well.

Summer Party

I know that this has been and gone, but the spirit of Nokemono Judokwai is fairly well represented by the summer party!

With the promise of summer ever present, but still eluding us, the summer party went ahead, with only a few rain drops.  As it turned out it didn't matter either way as the kids and adults got soaked on the bouncy assault course.

Not to mention the dreaded water slide!


It appeared to me, that those that were there all seemed to have a great day.  A lot of effort went in to this by the club committee, including making the event free, by paying for it themselves.  It's always good to see the club members and their families out on a social event as that is what makes the club different.

The more we foster the family environment in the club, the more everyone seems to get out of it.  Long may it continue.

As a final thought, wouldn't it be nice to have a long hot summer again?

The Start

The start.

About this blog.

This is a blog about Nokemono Judokwai, a Dorset based Judo club, and the musings of a 'senior' aged Judoka and his experiences of both learning Judo and being a committee member of a Judo club.