Samurai Judo Club, Kidderminster
The Samurai Judo Club has around 140 members with ages ranging from 7 to 60. It is a very successful competitive club at National and International level, and also a club with a major participation ethos at all levels, offering a range of activities unmatched in the Midlands and nationally in judo. The club has permanent premises which is already one of the best judo facilities in the Midlands, but is looking to move to larger premises in order to be able to expand still further both in its membership and activities. Judo Often thought of as a martial art, judo is in fact a sporting activity which has developed from the martial arts as a means of educating and learning about the body and mind. In Great Britain the National Governing Body for judo is the British Judo Association (BJA), of which the club is a member, which has long been a forward-thinking organisation. Because judo caters for both participation and excellence, the government, through UK Sport, has identified it as one of ten priority sports which it wishes to strongly promote and to develop. At all levels, judo teaches respect, self discipline and the need to work with others. Samurai Judo Club Kidderminster s Samurai Judo Club is a club which aims to cater both for successful competitors at National and occasionally International level, and also for recreational players of all ages, as well as every level in between. Very much a family club, it has many players who have been doing the sport for decades, often watching their own children following in their footsteps. With nearly forty black belts including six fourth level black belts or above, numerous British medallists at junior, senior, veteran masters and kata levels, two senior examiners, one area examiner, a kata examiner, six National referees, an International referee, two junior referees assessors, the Midlands Junior Referees Co-ordinator, three competition controllers (only five in the Midlands), three senior recorders, two National Table Official Examiners, ten senior qualified coaches and up until last year a member of the BJA Board of Directors; the club has enormous expertise and is also active in many fields. Participation - With 140 members with ages ranging from 7 to 60, Samurai Judo Club has a balanced membership and a major participation ethos regardless of age, gender or any other discrimination, Samurai is truly a club for all.
History of the Club Samurai Judo Club was started in 1979. Local judo had never been very successful in any field and founder Andrew Haffner wanted players to have the opportunity to excel, both competitively and technically. He himself was only 19 at the time but travelled to many clubs to learn and study both techniques and coaching styles. As a result, Samurai quickly rose to be Worcestershire s top club and is now generally recognized as competitively one of the top six out of eighty clubs in the Midlands. At the same time, the club has many less competitive interests and is considered unrivalled in the Midlands in areas such as kata (demonstration form of judo), refereeing and competition organising. The Samurai Judo Club was founded as a democratic club, with the committee and chief coach elected annually by the membership. The club constitution has evolved since 1979 but the broad principles remain the same. The club has always participated strongly in the BJA, at county, area and national level. We have participated fully in the democratic process including being represented at both area and national AGMs for most years since we started and having had a member of the Midland Area committee for many years and a member of the BJA Board Of Directors for three years up to this year. The club gained its own premises in 1981 and has gradually improved its facilities and increased its membership and performance levels since then. It currently has around 140 members including two on the Olympic Development Squad aiming at the London Olympics in 2012. It also has many very highly qualified officials in all areas, including an International Referee, two National Competition Controllers and table official examiners, two National Senior Grading Examiners and one Area Examiner, a National Kata Examiner, two National Junior Refereeing Assessors and the Midlands Junior Refereeing co-ordinator. In 2006 Samurai Judo Club was awarded the Sport England Clubmark and the British Judo Association Bronze Club Award, one of four clubs in the West Midlands. This kitemark is given only to sports clubs who demonstrate excellence in the following fields: Duty of Care and Child Protection, Coaching and Competition, Sports Equity and Ethics and Club Management. In May 2007 the club was awarded the BJA Silver Club Recognition Award, one of only six clubs nationally, on November 16 th 2007, we gained Gold Status, only the second awarded. We are also a registered Community Amateur Sports Club (our registration number is CASC 03410). The club has strong links with the Sports Partnership Herefordshire and Worcestershire; voted Herefordshire & Worcestershire Sports Club of the Year 2008 at their annual awards. The club is entirely voluntary with nobody being paid for any work. The club also has many formal club school links with the prospect of many, many more after being approached by Worcestershire LEA to run judo sessions as part of the curriculum in local schools. London 2012 - Kate Walker (left) and Kelly Edwards (right) both currently members of the Performance Development Squad for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Both became double gold medallists at the British Trials in the Under 20s and Senior sections, Kate is pictured with her medals Kelly is with her bronze medal from the European Youth Olympics 2007. Picture Courtesy of the Kidderminster Shuttle
Samurai Judo Club, Kidderminster Supporting the Community Samurai Judo Club does a lot of work supporting both the judo community and the local community. We host the sessions for the Worcestershire County Squad (Andrew Haffner has been elected county coach since 2000 by the member clubs in Worcestershire). We run an annual area level competition official and junior referee courses and have made our dojo (current premises) available for all Midland Area activities. We also give the Midlands a lot of support for their events, at which we supply virtually all the senior table officials from within the Area and also regularly supply five or six referees. We also supply many officials for events outside the area, as well as a bespoke computer system developed within the club to run competitions, it has been used for all Area events and most National events since 2004. The clubs top players, juniors and seniors, are also encouraged to help others, the club and the county runs regular sessions at which older juniors at National level demonstrate and help coach younger and less experienced players from other local clubs in the county. The club also tries to foster a sense of community and helping others. Each year the club committee selects a local charity to help. In recent years they have raised 1000 for Kemp Hospice, another 1000 for Blakebrook Handicapped School, 300 for Rhydd Covert Scout Hut, 300 for Macmillan Nurses and 750 for Good Hope Hospital, but the tradition of running charity events stretches right back to the 1980s. Helping Others A Worcestershire County Squad Session, part of a larger county structure, three high level, national junior medallists pass on their experience and expertise to the champions of the future. Get Together Some members of Samurai Judo Club.
Competitive Activity A primary objective at Samurai is to encourage as many players as possible to compete and achieve at some level. Only few competitions for grass-roots level competitors exist, the club runs many such events open to players from the Area and some Nationally. Last year, over eighty different members of the club won at least one medal at some level. We run tournaments which attract players from all over Britain and sometimes abroad (in the last year we have had players from Austria, Spain, Portugal and New Zealand at our events) and each year we receive well over a thousand visitors at these events. With larger, purpose built premises we will be able to double this at least. Also with the prospect of hosting National Squad Sessions, many more people will visit the dojo and support the local economy. Higher up the ladder at junior level, we won three British Junior National Championships golds last year plus a silver and a bronze. Two of our players, Kate Walker and Kelly Edwards, have represented Great Britain at the European Cadet Championships and Kate competed in the Junior European Championships last year, coming seventh, joint highest of any British Competitor, Kelly also got a bronze medal in the European Youth Olympics in Belgrade 2007. Both Kate and Kelly have been selected for the performance development squad, both players are serious contenders for places at the London 2012 Olympic Games. In December 2007 Kate and Kelly both became double gold medallists at the British Trials, in both the Under 20s and Senior Sections, a huge success, only one other competitor achieved this feat. All players regardless of age receive the same level of support; we do not believe that players over the age of 35 should go on the scrapheap. We have had a British Veteran Masters silver medallist in Ian Mills, a European Masters Silver Medallist in Paul Jones, a double World Masters Bronze Medallist in Sue Cosnett and a World Masters Silver Medallist in Roy Muller aged 58. We have also worked hard for women s veterans judo, we ran the first ever British Women s Veterans Championships and campaigned, on the back of our continued successful women s veterans events, to have women s veterans included in the British Veteran Masters Championships. Competition - Juniors are encouraged into club-run competitions in a safe, secure and familiar environment. Success - Andy Marston throws for ippon at the Heart of England Open Championships, largest one day event in the UK.
Teamwork Pictured left, the Worcestershire men s team (all Samurai) clinch gold; and below the primary girls team win the bronze medal. Junior girls also won gold, Women won silver and Junior boys won bronze in the 2007 Midlands County Team Championships. Non-Competitive and Recreational Activities One of the club s rather unique aspects is the junior star award scheme, inspired by the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. With eight levels, all beginners quickly gain their first award but have to work hard to get the higher awards. The top award, the gold level, is extremely tough, players must demonstrate excellence in all fields of the sport; kata, refereeing, competition officiating, knowledge of the rules and being able to pass (unofficially) senior black belt theory. There are only a few coaches in the UK who could gain the gold award, never mind a junior. The Samurai has only given five gold star awards in its history; a gold award is very highly prized indeed. Another recreational activity within judo which Samurai Judo Club heavily promotes is kata, demonstration form of judo. The club has had many Midland Area Kata Champions and has dominated the British Junior Kata Championships, winning gold in five out of the last six events. Kata is seen as useful both for the aspiring future competitor all four of our current British Junior National Champions have also won medals in kata championships, and Tom Walker remains the only British player ever to win gold at both the British Junior Nationals and the British Junior Kata Championships and an excellent outlet for less competitive players. Although there is less interest in kata for seniors, over the years members of the club have won eighteen medals at the British Senior Kata Championships in all five major katas. Partnership Rachel and Sally Moon, National Junior Ju-No Kata Silver Medallists, 16 th September 2007, self control and the need to work with others are paramount in judo.
Another major junior field is the junior refereeing scheme. The Samurai started this national scheme in the Midlands and three of the four Midland Co-ordinators to date have been from the club, sadly two of them are now deceased. The club currently has 16 qualified junior referees and four young senior referees, one of them now a National B Referee (Second highest national award). The club has for many years been heavily involved with competition organising. Club president Malcolm Limrick has been a member of the National Competitions Commission since 1992 and was chairman from 2003 to 2006. Club Chairman, Sarah Newbury is also a member of the National Technical Officials Commission. Stefan Newbury has developed the computer system that has run most national and other major events since 2004. Stefan was also the youngest Tournament Director of a national event at the age of just 19 in 2005; this was only superseded by his brother Ben who ran the same competition in 2006 at the age of 17. The club supports the BJA democratic system and has been represented at national and midlands AGMs for nearly all of the last twenty years. Malcolm Limrick was also a member of the Board of Directors for the BJA from 2003 to 2006. World Class Officials Samurai Judo Club provided more officials for the inaugural GB Judo World Cup for Women 2006 than any other club in the UK. As well as the officials in the photo, Samurai provided two more personnel to the World Cup in competitor, Kate Walker and personal coach, Andrew Haffner. Left to Right: Sarah Newbury; Keith Baker; Carol Leverton; Ben Newbury; Stefan Newbury; Tournament Director, Malcolm Limrick and IJF Referee, Keith Merrick Education - A new group of Junior Referees qualify at a Samurai run course. Recognition - As recognition for their work, 16 Junior Referees including 9 from Samurai Judo Club escorted international players onto the mats at the first GB World Cup for Men 2007.