Jonty Bassil gets a mention in the Royal Navy Judo Association’s contribution to the British Judo 2023-4 Annual Report, for his part in the National Teams.
This is not the first time the club or associated players have got a mention in BJA publications – the Club was featured several years ago when it received the Sport England Clubmark. Photos of Brett Caswell at the GB World Cup were also used in an annual report, Brett also got several mentions in The World of Judo.
Please ask Kay if you would like to see the 2023-4 Annual Report.
After a hiatus caused by the Covid pandemic, the Southern Area intercounties tournament will resume this year. Hampshire has a proud record in this event: the winning boys and girls teams from 2004 are pictured. (Court Lane’s Lewis Dolman is holding the trophy, with Andy Gould wearing GB patch behind him).
This year’s edition will be held in Eastleigh on Sunday 8th May. Hampshire’s team will be announced based on squad attendance and results at Hampshire Closed, to be held in April.
The event has been restructured, and will now feature more but smaller teams than previous years, along with grade banded mixed gender adult teams.
Each team will consist of 7 players with there being six categories – u12 years of age boys and girls teams, u16 years of age boys and girls teams, senior mixed kyu grade teams and senior mixed dan grade teams. Technical restrictions will be in place for the u12 teams and armlocks and strangles permitted only in the senior events, minimum age 14 years.
Team Formats
U12 Boys u27kg, u30kg, u34kg, u38kg, u42kg, u46kg and o46kg
U12 Girls u28kg, u32kg, u36kg, u40kg, u44kg, u48kg and o48kg
U16 Boys u42kg, u46kg, u50kg, u55kg, u60kg, u66kg and o66kg
U16 Girls u40kg, u44kg, u48kg, u52kg, u57kg, u63kg and o63kg
Mixed Senior Kyu Grade (maximum grade 2nd Kyu) Men u66kg, u81kg, u100kg and o100kg Women u57kg, u70kg and 070kg
Mixed Senior Dan Grade (minimum grade 1st Kyu) Men u66kg, u81kg, u100kg and o100kg Women u57kg, u70kg and 070kg
Senior teams will fight alternately M, F, M, F, M, F, M
Regardless of the changes, team judo is one of the most exciting competition formats and this promises to be an exciting day as always!
It’s a long time since we have managed to run classes over the summer holidays, thank you so much for supporting and to the school for making the hall available on the Saturday mornings.
We have seen nearly every junior member attend at least once over the summer period, and had some new players join. We were also delighted to see the return of Amy Roberts – it’s great to have you back.
Congratulations to Renèe and Ophèlia Cleugh, who passed their grading examination to 1st mon.
The summer has been marked by Olympic and Paralympic medal success – huge congratulations are due to Olympian Chelsie Giles, who winning Team GB’s first medal at Tokyo 2020 made Judo front page news, and Paralympians Elliot Stewart and Chris Skelley. Skelley’s gold medal was our first Paralympic Judo gold since Simon Jackson MBE in 1996.
We are taking a short break now, as school resumes. Classes will resume on Tuesday 7th September, at 6pm. See you on the mat!
Triggered in part by the high coincidence of dementia in members of England’s 1966 football World Cup team, this is an important opportunity to make recommendations to keep sport safe healthy for all.
Concerns have long been raised about the effects of repeated blows to the head in professional boxing – these would also relate to the “ground and pound” of professional MMA, heading the ball repeatedly in football, concussion in rugby.
Judo is not immune to the effects of head injury, although they appear to be rare. Nekoda Davis recently announced her withdrawal from Tokyo selection to concentrate on her recovery from a concussion in 2019.
Our own experience of concussion and head injury is limited. We had an incident many years ago when we were based in Cosham Community Centre, of a player passing out on our mat after banging heads with another player the night before at a different club. More recently we had another player who had to take a period of mat rest after knocking themselves out at home when they banged their head. This was on medical advice and was managed in line with BJA protocols.
Compression tops and leggings have become very popular to wear for all sorts of sports, and are often to be seen on the judo mat during practice sessions.
The question remains though, what sports bra is best for women? Natural inclination perhaps is to go for the compression option – this appears to the most widely available option.
As you may be aware, British Judo hosted a webinar over the weekend in conjunction with the launch of their guidance as to what a Safe Return to Judo could look like.
We are processing this document to see what it means for us, one take away point already is that on return to the dojo all players must have a current licence/membership. This should be a given anyway, but players will be asked to confirm and this will be checked. Players will be asked to confirm they are Covid free on return to the dojo.
As already mentioned, any initial return to the dojo is almost certainly going to be non-contact, with contact only allowed between members of the same household.
At present, we do not have a date from Government as to when our sport/martial art can recommence.
If and when this is announced, any return will be further dependent on the school giving us permission to return AND class sizes being financially viable with any social distancing requirements that remain in place. Distancing requirements for indoor sports are likely to be higher than they are for more mundane activities such as shopping, due to impracticalities of wearing a mask when training, and more powerful exhalation of air during exercise.
We are cautiously working towards a return in September, but this is definitely not a fixed date.
In the mean time, outdoor training sessions will continue as previously advertised. When the use of outdoor gyms is sanctioned again, we will consider a change of venue, but until then all details remain the same.
To mitigate the impacts of us on reduced class sizes, please support us via Portsmouth Lottery and Easyfundraising!
We have been asked the above question a couple of times.
Our thoughts below:
At the moment, all we can do is quote the BJA’s statement (British Judo Association, 2020) published on 13th May:
Following the Government’s latest updates on the current situation, whilst it is clear that certain elements of the lockdown are being relaxed, British Judo still finds itself in an unpredictable scenario whereby we do not know when we can return to our beloved Dojos up and down the country.
It is clear that we cannot return just yet.
It is possible that within a “contained” environment elite athletes may soon be able to return to training and certain sporting events take place behind closed doors. Indeed, a Government document was published 13th May detailing how this could happen. As the BBC reported (Scott, 2020), initial phases will be for contact free training.
The next phase will involve some “social clustering” within training, with athletes able to engage in contact such as “close quarters coaching, combat sports sparring, teams sports tackling, equipment sharing”.
However, the protocols for this stage have not yet been finalised and will need government approval.
It will be interesting to see how this translates to reality – the March 2020 sumo tournament was held behind closed doors with precautions in place, but the May event has been cancelled following Japan’s extension of their state of emergency (AFP, 2020). The sumo community is currently mourning the loss of one of their rikishi due to Covid-19 (BBC, 2020). The UFC recently ran a tournament behind closed doors; however the New York Times reported there were numerous breaches of the protocols it had established in order to make it a safe tournament (Draper, 2020).
We must remain guided by our national association (British Judo Association, 2020):
…we are working hard behind the scenes preparing a detailed strategy and plan that will enable us to return quickly when that time comes. We are working with the Government to ensure that alongside other sports, we are returning to action in a safe and appropriate way as soon as we are able to. Please bear with us whilst we finalise this plan and please note that any premature return to sport will mean that you are notinsured.
For the sake of our sport, it is vital that you wait until the British Judo Association has endorsed the return.
The BJA recognises that how we come back may need to be a phased approach and judo itself may need to change all the time that social distancing remains the norm. They are seeking members’ input into how judo could return, at the web address referenced below.
We cannot see the club returning to the mats before the autumn term. Even if the Government and BJA do sanctioned a return to training, there may still be restrictions imposed by the school over external lettings and any additional cleaning regimes within the school may impact on the hours available to us.
There may be a possibility to run some outdoor fitness sessions (if you aren’t already sick of Joe Wicks style PE…) over the summer. The risks of transmitting the virus outdoors are reduced compared to indoors, and the children and any adults joining in are not as in close contact as they would be practising judo. Social distancing would be easier to enforce. But again we need to be guided by the BJA and the Government.
At the moment really it is still very much a case of wait and see.
Please keep yourselves and others around you safe, and if you haven’t already done so, please consider supporting the club through one of our fundraising initiatives – this will enable us to come back stronger when the time does finally come.
Works Cited
AFP, 2020. Virus forces cancellation of Japan sumo tournament. [Online] Available at: https://news.yahoo.com/virus-forces-cancellation-japan-sumo-tournament-105537620–spt.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20vbmV3cy9zZWFyY2g_cT1KYXBhbmVzZStTdW1vJnFwdnQ9amFwYW5lc2Urc3VtbyZGT1JNPUVXUkU&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADrurkG4wkg [Accessed 14 May 2020].
BBC, 2020. Coronavirus: Japanese sumo wrestler dies at 28. [Online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52644424 [Accessed 14 May 2020].
British Judo Association, 2020. Input into British Judo’s relaunch strategy. [Online] Available at: https://www.britishjudo.org.uk/british-judo-relaunch-strategy-input/ [Accessed 14 May 2020].
Draper, K., 2020. U.F.C.’s Coronavirus Plan Is Careful. Its Enforcement Has Been Spotty. [Online] Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/sports/coronavirus-ufc.html [Accessed 14 May 2020].
Scott, L., 2020. Elite athletes given government guidance on safe return to training during coronavirus. [Online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/52652893?fbclid=IwAR3IFG-PodDEo3zT7bi4OGnzkWC7TpTpeeSPtPO2u2KM9qKjHAzmeEWtsEw [Accessed 13 May 2020].
On the eve of the Hampshire Closed, I would usually be writing to wish our players good luck. Or to remind people that clocks change tomorrow and to not be late for the weigh-in.
But not today. Covid-19 has changed everything.
The Club is currently closed. Officially until after Easter holidays, but until at least June if we are being realistic. Personally, I think September is more likely by the time we add in summer holidays (remember those?).
We have not been able to say goodbye to John Luijken before he and his family move abroad.
We did manage to get in to clean and disinfect the mats before the school was closed. Thanks to Kev and Craig as always for their help.
The Hampshire Closed has been cancelled, as has the Southern Area teams tournament. The Tokyo Olympics have been postponed until 2021.
Thankfully as we only hire the hall on an hourly basis from the school, we are not exposed to the same cashflow risks that clubs who own their premised are exposed to. (And I never thought I would be grateful for not having our own dojo, but always something to be glad about if you look!).
If you are online shopping, don’t forget that you can raise funds for the club at the same time via Easyfundraising – use this link to register: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/courtlanejudoclub/?invite=3H5QVP&referral-campaign=c2s and we will receive an extra donation when your donations reach £5. We have 19 supporters currently – 8 of whom who have never shopped via Easyfundraising. It’s easy, free and doesn’t cost you a penny more.
Community groups are going to be vital as we go through this crisis. You can help to strengthen not only us but the wider community if you play the Portsmouth Lottery. Tickets can be purchased via this link, https://www.portsmouthlottery.co.uk/support/court-lane-judo-club
It is important that everyone stays fit and as healthy as possible – we have posted links in the Facebook group to various resources from Sport England and British Judo. No doubt some of you are working out with Joe Wicks every morning! Maintaining your physical health will help to keep you mentally healthy – again, a lot of support is being signposted towards support in this area.
To those who are essential workers, in the NHS, social care, keeping our food shelves stocked – we thank you for your efforts, stay safe, we will all do our best not to put extra stress on you.
Take care everyone, and we will see you on the other side.
We are monitoring the situation regarding the spread of Covid-19 (the coronavirus) very carefully.
Latest guidance is that we are still in the early phases of the “containment” stage of the UK’s response to this global pandemic.
There has only been 1 confirmed case in Portsmouth at the time of writing.
Guidance from Sport England on 12th March was still very much that activities should carry on, with due regard to good hand hygiene and self-isolation if you are feeling unwell.
Domestic judo events are still running, although international competitions (Olympic qualification events, European championships etc.) have been cancelled or postponed. Our friends in France have been advised by their governing body to shut down clubs for the foreseeable future. Presumably other European federations are following suit.
If we can source hand sanitiser, we will provide some at the club. As you know, most of the shops have been victim to panic buying so this may not be possible.
However, soap and water is still a more effective barrier. Please make sure you wash your hands before and after sessions.
It is not feasible for us to disinfect mat surfaces every session. We believe that any transfer to mats will die out in between sessions as the virus has a short lifespan on hard surfaces.
Please make sure judogis are washed after every session.
We understand that many people are making their own decision to withdraw from activities ahead of Government advice, especially if they or members of their household have other underlying health issues, they are carers for people deemed to be vulnerable etc.
If you are planning on withdrawing from club activities, please let us know, so that we can gauge impact on the club, and plan accordingly.
Please make sure you are following us on social media (Facebook – either our Page or private group – and Twitter), subscribe to our email update service or check the website regularly for latest updates. Things are moving rapidly and these will be our primary means of communicating with you.
