Norfolk’s Wymondham Judo Club has been awarded the prestigious Clubmark bronze award.

Developed by Sport England, Clubmark is a set of national standards for National Governing Bodies of Sport to adopt and their affiliated clubs to meet. The scheme recognises and accredits clubs that are committed to providing safe, effective and child friendly environments for young people.

Clubmark was introduced by Sport England in 2002 to develop high quality, welcoming environments for young participants and ensure common and consistent good practice and minimum standards within clubs. It is also there to recognise high quality junior clubs through a common branding and empower parents and carers when choosing a club for their children.

Wymondham Judo Club, who have recently taken ownership of their own permanent venue run regular judo sessions for players from the age of 5 to adults and regularly attract new participants to the club.

With over 50 players now part of Wymondham Judo Club, it is one of the fastest growing judo clubs in the East. This latest success is on the back of a highly-successful project run in conjunction with the British Judo Association and Active Norfolk.

The Get Into project run through Active Norfolk has seen 10 new adults step onto the mat and take up the sport. The eight week course saw the players receive high quality coaching, gain membership to the BJA and receive a judogi and at the end get the opportunity to be graded to red belt.

David Booth, Club Coach and Clubmark Coordinator said: “We are delighted to have achieved this award. It allowed us to demonstrate what we already knew and that was we are a safe and quality club. By gaining this award we can now officially demonstrate this to the local community, which we have an excellent rapport with.”

Andrew Wilesmith, Regional Development Officer for the East added: “It was great to see Wymondham achieve this award. The club have worked hard over the past six months putting together everything that was needed. Along with the building works at their facility and running a number of successful projects, the club have demonstrated that they are dedicated to developing the sport in their local community. Well done to everyone in the club.”

Wymondham Judo Club have also just started a women only session on Mondays from 8.30-9.30pm which has seen a number of new women start the Olympic and Paralympic sport.

Wymondham Judo Club train on a number of different nights with Monday nights from 6.30-7.30pm ideal for new junior players and Wednesdays 8.30-9.30pm.

For more information please go to www.wymondhamjudoclub.co.uk or contact Karen Claydon onclaydonfamily@yahoo.co.uk .