We did it! We were due to hold the Western Area Development Day on Saturday 23rd May at Kingsley School, however Covid 19 arrived and forced us to move the session to Zoom with great success.

Thank you to everyone who logged in for the seminar, our count was over 60 coaches from the Western Area and British Army Judo who joined forces with our Association to provide this learning format on Zoom.

The opportunity given by the BJA to include this Seminar as an official revalidation event also helped to create a very high quality experience for everyone and has help to increased their knowledge and supported some fantastic debates on coaching in the present climate.

We enjoyed a new way to debate and engage people in sharing ideas and experiences to help develop our present and future generations coaches.

The seminar started with a presentation from Head Area Coach, Simon Ward, who presented a vision on the Area Squad Pathway and Training and Competition opportunities within the Area.

This followed an open debate on the future of Judo in our Area and beyond. This allowed our Area Chairman to hear from coaches and clubs on their thoughts and concerns about judo. This created some really positive feedback and has allowed the Area to start to move forwards on a few constructive ideas for the future.

We then welcomed Army PT instructor Nathan Lockey who presented an excellent selection of detailed formats on Strength and Conditioning Programmes in particular linking to judo development.

We then had an open debate on lockdown training, looking at Government and Sport requirements and how we as clubs and coaches can use ideas in a positive manner to help our judo clubs keep going during this difficult period.

The day came to a close with an excellent forum on head injuries in Sport, and in particular a look into judo. This was led by a leading traumatic brain injury expert Dr Gary Turner. It was a fascinating debate with very detailed, evidence based, research proving the importance of the right care in these situations.

Finally, thanks to our guest speakers, who certainly put together so much excellent and well researched information.

The recording is now available on the Western Area YouTube Channel.

Any other Questions regarding Area Business can be directed to Dave Campey Vice@wajudo.org.uk

While any Coaching Questions please directly contact Simon Ward wards@kingsleyschoolbideford.co.uk