We visited the University of Nottingham sports fair recently to find out how the university’s judo club is gearing up for the new intake of freshers this autumn.   

The University of Nottingham Judo Club is a club on the up explains its President, 24 year old Forensic Phycology student Sophie Daniels. 

“The club is really growing. It has only been around for 7 years or so and we’ve recently changed coaches to so the club is really developing quickly”, said Sophie. 

“We run four sessions a week which really amazed me as not many university sports offer that many training sessions a week. We’ve had people get their green belts, blue belts, brown belts, and even a few black belts before the time they graduate”. 

Although Sophie has been doing judo since she was 11 she resisted the temptation to try other sports and continued doing judo at Nottingham: “I’ve got a lot of experience in judo and I thought that it was really good that the university offered four sessions a week as it gave me the opportunity to train a lot. 

“I joined the club when I started my first year. It’s such a welcoming and accepting club and I was instantly taken into the judo family and judo community which was really great and made me feel really supported”. 

Socials are a core part of any university sports club and the University of Nottingham Judo Club is no different: “The club is hugely, hugely social. It’s a massive club with so many great members and socials happen on a weekly basis. 

“After every session most people go down to the pub and just chill which is really great but we also run socials for a range of people. Its not just going to the pub or going out clubbing, we also run board game nights regularly too. There’s a lot of other stuff we do which isn’t alcohol based, the club is really inclusive which is a really good thing”. 

Next year the club moves into a brand new permanent dojo: “At the moment we are based on the Jubilee campus in the sports hall and we’ve got some nice mats which are great. But a new development for us in 2016 is that we are having a new permanent dojo”, says Sophie. 

“It’s going to be massive and will probably be one of the biggest dojo’s most people would have been in. It’s really exciting for everyone at the club”. 

Speaking at the club’s busy stand at the university’s freshers fair Sophie went into more detail about the benefits practicing the sport had on last year’s recruits: “It’s a really fun sport, you learn and teach your body to do things you probably thought you couldn’t do. You get really fit and strong and I find it also really increases people’s confidence and self-esteem”. 

“I’d say to the freshers at Nottingham, just give it a go! Our club is super supportive we’ve got loads of beginners to learn alongside”. 

The University of Nottingham Judo Club are running beginners classes for students over the next couple of weeks. For more information visit http://www.su.nottingham.ac.uk/sports/sport/judo/ or follow them on Twitter at @UoNJudo. 

University of Nottingham are one of a number of clubs taking part in the Student Voucher Scheme, a unique offer that provides students with opportunity to do a years’ worth of judo for only £20.00. For more information and to sign up to the Student Voucher Scheme visit: www.britishjudo.org.uk/svs.