Outdoor fitness training has now finished for this year.
We have been running these sessions on Tuesday and Thursday evenings since lockdown restrictions were eased. Thank you to all those who have supported.
With the evenings now drawing in, it is not viable to continue with these sessions.
If there is interest, a weekend session may be possible – please let us now.
In the meantime, we await a decision from the school as to whether they are resuming hiring facilities to external groups.
As you will have seen from an earlier Facebook post, we have cancelled the Tuesday sessions in Drayton Park. We have made this decision based on the lack of attendance the last few weeks.
We are now seeking your views on Thursday sessions – is there interest in keeping these sessions going? If so we would look at starting at 6pm, as it is getting darker earlier.
Alternatively, we could look at a session over the weekend if that would be of interest.
Or would you rather wait until we can get back on the mats? Hopefully after the October half term.
Please let us know your views.
This has been an incredibly difficult period for everyone, and a 6 month break from our sport has been unprecedented. We appreciate the support from those who have attended the sessions and welcome your feedback on our suggestions above.
In line with the weather warnings issued for Storm Francis, we have taken the decision to cancel the outdoor session scheduled for tomorrow (25th August).
We will review the weather and make a decision in connection with Thursday’s session nearer the date.
British Judo’s Return to Judo plan has been signed off by the appropriate agencies, meaning that Phase 1 of a return to judo could commence as of 25th July.
As previously noted, this is in the school holidays so we were cautiously looking at a return on 8th September.
We have since received the following message from the school,
I am writing to advise you that we are not currently inviting any after school or evening lettings to use our premises in September. The Headteacher and Academy Trust have not taken this decision lightly but with so many of our children coming back in September we need time to ensure all our processes and procedures are in place and working before we allow additional groups to use our spaces.
I completely understand that this is very disappointing news for you. However, we will be constantly reviewing the guidance and aim to open our spaces after October half term.
On the positive side, hopefully this means that by the time we go back we will be a phase or two further down the Return to Judo plan – please take time to read this and see what the requirements will be for you as a player or parent. These requirements should be enforced by any other club you may visit in the meantime.
Outdoor training sessions will continue, using Drayton Park and Hilsea Lines. Latest guidance indicates that group sizes for organised activities can now be up to 30 (including coaches, players, spectators) but must remain contact free and appropriately spaced.
Please note that thee will be no outdoor session this evening (Tuesday 21 July).
The next session will be Thursday 23 July, at Hilsea Creek.
Please let us know if you are attending to ensure we have adequate numbers of coaches. We are still limited to working at a maximum ratio of 1:5.
We still have no clear idea as to when we can resume indoor training.
The Government has given the go ahead for indoor training from 25 July, however despite repeated attempts to solicit a response from the school, we do not know if we can recommence any type of indoor activity when school reopens on Thursday 3 September.
We are provisionally working towards a possible return on Tuesday 8 September, however this is as always dependent on
We will keep on endeavouring to get a response from the school. Please check back over the summer for latest updates.
In the meantime, outdoor sessions will continue to be held. Thank you to those who have attended, and parents who have joined in!
There are a lot of you who we haven’t seen – please do contact us if you wish to join in a session to make sure we comply with coach/player group size restrictions.
In the meantime, have a good, safe and healthy summer, and we hope to see you in September.
Training this Tuesday will be in Drayton Park, at the bottom of Court Lane.
This will enable us to use the 5 station outdoor gym.
Please also bring judo belts, tension band or uchikomi bands if you have them – we can thread these through the tennis court fence to enable some uchikomi practice.
Times and costs remain unchanged.
Apologies for the last notice, but in light of the uncertain weather and no confirmed attendees, we are cancelling tonight’s session.
Hopefully summer will return next week!
We will be checking out a local outdoor gym, with a view towards using that from next week.
Details to follow.
As the weather today (30 June 2020) has been generally wet, we have decided to cancel tonight’s session at Hilsea.
Forecast is looking good for Thursday, so we will see you then.
Enjoy your evening!
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!
