England Programme Update statement from Performance Pathway Senior Manager James Thomas which was sent out on Friday evening to all interested parties:

“Dear Players, Parents, Clubs, Area Chairs and Support staff,

Over the last two months you will have become aware of a restructure within the Technical and Delivery departments of the BJA due to reduced funding from Sport England that has resulted in the BJA being unable to sustain the same level of programmes and staff. This has resulted in a number of redundancies, one of which included the England Programme Manager role that Matt Divall held for eight years.

During the last month, myself, Nigel Donohue, Jamie Johnson and a number of staff have been working on the continuation of the England programme in light of the staff changes and a reduced programme budget.

I would like to outline the key activity and changes to the England Programme for 2016:

1)      England Talent Pathway: The England Programme will now look to have a wider engagement role, still delivering the National Squad and Talent Development programmes, but it will now look to engage more with the Areas and the existing Performance Pathway Centres. This wider engagement is to create a more opportunities and a seamless pathway within England. To do this the Performance, Delivery and Technical Departments will be working even more closely together.

There will also be a Commonwealth Games element built into the future strategy now that Judo is a core sport starting from 2022 in Durban.

With this wider engagement role in England you will begin to see the term ‘England Talent Pathway’ used more frequently, this is to capture all the activity that takes place within the pathway from Club and Area through to the National programmes.

2)      England Programmes: The current England Squad and England Talent Development programme will roll over into 2016 for Pre Cadet, Cadet and Junior. So, those players currently on either programme will be retained for 2016 and additional players will be added post British Championships and invited to the first England Squad Training session on the 9th or 10th January 2016.

3)      Competitions: The International Competition programme will see an increase in the number of self-funded events and the introduction of a number of part-funded events. There will still be a number of competitions that are fully funded by the England programme.

4)      Staffing:  We are currently reviewing the England staffing requirements linked to the World Class Performance Programme (WCPP) and all British Judo departments are working jointly to establish a strong Pathway programme for English players and coaches.

6)      2016 Programme: Please find attached the England Programme for 2016 (provisional) which includes all training and competition activity (plus the level of competition – self funded, part funded and fully funded).

7)      Pathway Presentation – I would like to take this opportunity to invite any parents, coaches and supporters to a Pathway Workshop that will run on Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th January 2016 during England Squad training. This workshop will provide information on the GB & England Performance Pathway and provide the opportunity to ask any questions you may have. I will be on hand as well as Nigel Donohue (Performance Director), Andrew Scoular (CEO) and Ronnie Saez (BJA Chair).

I appreciate this has been a difficult time for you all and I would like to thank you all for your understanding. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Matt Divall for his work in developing the England programme over the last few years and to all those who have supported the programme. I hope you can continue to support the programme and the England Talent Pathway as we move into 2016.”

Best regards,

James