Judo family comes together at Judo Houses

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The first week of the Olympic Games was not only an opportunity for our elite judoka to go for glory in Rio but also a chance for the British Judo community to come together and support the team in Brazil.

In the lead-up to Rio a number of clubs with close ties to members of the Olympic team were approached to become British Judo Houses during the Games and be a venue where club members, family, friends and the local community could come down and support their local star.

List of British Judo Houses:

Camberley Judo Club (Ashley McKenzie)

Ealing Judo Club (Nekoda Davis)

Edinburgh Judo Club (Sally Conway)

Pinewood Judo Club (Ben Fletcher)

Team Bath Judo Club (Ben Fletcher)

Irfon Judo Club (Natalie Powell)

Each of the clubs were offered support from British Judo with marketing including banners and bunting. Local and regional media were also contacted with a number heading down to their local club to capture the atmosphere on the day. Projectors and screens were also ordered so that everyone could watch their judoka in action on the day.

Of course each club brought their own individual flavour to the day. Camberley Judo Club not only had a BBQ but also had a samba dancer entertain guests throughout the day while Ealing Judo Club held a competition for their younger members in the morning before moving over to a local hotel to watch Nekoda Davis make her Olympic debut. They were also joined by local MP Rupa Huq in supporting their popular home star.

Not surprisingly Edinburgh Judo Club proved immensely popular throughout the day with up to 100 people attending to cheer on Sally Conway as she powered her way to a well-deserved bronze medal. The atmosphere was captured perfectly by STV reporter David Cowan who filmed the moment everyone at Edinburgh knew Sally had secured her bronze medal.

Both Pinewood and Team Bath both held separate Judo Houses to cheer on Ben Fletcher on his Games debut. Pinewood started the day with judo sessions before treating everyone to BBQ and a number of Rio themed competitions and games. Team Bath invited local children down and they were given a masterclass by members of the judo club.

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Irfon Judo Club came out in force to support Natalie Powell on the penultimate day of judo and they also hired out a local hotel to cheer on their star judoka.

British Judo would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who made the British Judo Houses such a great success and we hope everyone at your clubs enjoyed the day as well.