Ford Judo Club

Hi all, Bill here from Ford Judo Club. just to keep you up to date with what is going on with the club in respect of its impending closure.. The club will be shutting its doors on the 31/08/08.. A sad day but hopefully we will have something in place by then, if only temporary for the time being. It is a shame as I would have liked to have seen my Silver Anniversary there as a coach next year... Will just have to do elsewhere.



I have attached a write up that came out in our Local Paper today, just an insight on what is happening.



Ford Judo Club has been in existence for over forty years and has produced some great judo players. I trained there from about the age of 8 till 12 years of age. I never dreamed I would end up being the coach there one day. I am a 5th Dan and current Nation Masters Champion, I won a bronze medal recently in the Commonwealth Championships in Mauritius and also the reigning British Open Masters Champion and the Senior Club Coach at the club.

I have been coaching at Ford for 24 years now and the club has grown beyond recognition of those early years. One of my early students Stuart Stevenson started at the age of 8 and is now one of my coaches, 29 years old. Some parents started because either their children did it and wanted to understand it more or they to did it as children and wanted to get back in to the sport.
Some have gained their black belts and become assistant coaches too.
It is a shame that a long stand club such as Ford is being shut down with non or little support from anyone. The communication between the Ford Management and ourselves has been appalling, we have been kept in the dark and my many emails have either been ignored or given back poor replies that have not answered my questions, very frustrating.

Ford had offered to relocate us at Basildon or allow us to use a squash court at their Newbury Park site, both are not practical for the club and was very disappointed with their solution. The club has several one parent families as members and travelling to far a field would not be possible for them so we are looking for premises roughly in the same geographical area, 1 or 2 miles radius from where we are if possible?

I have been trying to get contact numbers for West Ham to see whether they may be doing something within the community but apparently not as Ford would not pass any details on, saying West Ham wanted sole use only. I know judo is a minority sport but it seems football presides over all sport.

We take kids off the street and give them a sport that develops their fitness, mental health and respect for their opponent, it is a confidence builder to, many children start judo because they are being bullied, it is rewarding to see the changes in the kids as they get older and become more self confident. people of all ages, shapes and sizes can participate in judo and from all walks of life. It is a sport where you never stop learning and developing.

The club had just received a grant from the Veolia Trust and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Gary Baker of the Trust who has been working closely with the club to try and find new premises, he seems to be the only genuine person trying to help the club.
The grant was to refurbish an old pavilion just outside the main hall we use. This would have given us additional training facilities for our elite players with a permanently laid mat area with sprung flooring essential for the standard the players are competing also a Strength and Conditioning area, vital at this stage of their development.

Of course the money was withdrawn when the news broke of the impending sale of the site to West Ham which we totally understood.
The club has 8 players on the World Class Start Program, 3 on the World Class Talent Program, all fighting for Great Britain, and 2 on the under 20 Great Britain squad, this is a fantastic achievement and puts us amongst the top clubs in the country. We have 5 veterans on the Great Britain Masters squad, 3 of us represented England recently in Mauritius where the Commonwealth Judo Championships were held, we returned with 1 gold medal, 1 silver and a bronze medal, a great haul for the club.

Several of our young players are on a Strength & Conditioning program working closely with Carly Green, the S & C coach at Next Generation Gidea Park, this is an essential part of their development as we are now focussing on the 2010 World Youth Olympics, this is a new event and several of our players will be eligible to trial for this, many coming from Havering.
A young Havering girl by the name of Chloe Jackson is doing particularly well, and is representing Great Britain in the Cadet European Championships in July, this is being held in Bosnia this year.
Brothers Matt and Joseph Kavanagh, both Havering lads are competing in the US Open this year, they both won silver medals when they entered 2 years ago, a great achievement.

We are looking for full time premises where the mats can be left down and not taken up each night this is time wasted where we could be teaching. We need full training facilities, Any one out there that knows of maybe an old warehouse or disused church hall, I know they are few and far between.
Also, anyone interested in sponsoring a successful club, we are self funded, we travel up and down the country and at least once a month fight abroad in either France, Belgium, Germany or Holland.. We have fought in Canada, Japan, USA and Mauritius, yep, we get about!
Judo is an Olympic sport and representing Great Britain in the -100kg weight category this year is Peter Cousins from JSC judo club in Averly. Peter and his twin brother Thomas were regular visitors to the club from the age of 11 and Peter who recently won a silver medal in the World Championships in Rio De Janeiro is hitting peak form so we would like to take this opportunity to wish him good luck for the 2008 Olympics.

Although we are a competitive club we have many recreational players that do not enter competitions and do judo for the enjoyment and the fitness aspect, we also have a ladies only class. Anyone interested in finding out more details can find our website http://www.fordjudoclub.co.uk/

If there is anyone out there that can help our cause please do not hesitate to contact us.