First Commonwealth Judo Conference held in Walsall

Post date: Sep 29, 2019 3:27:32 AM

Hosted at the University of Wolverhampton, alongside the Commonwealth Judo Championships, the 1st Commonwealth Judo Conference was held, welcoming participants from 9 nations.

The welcome address was given by the President of Commonwealth Judo, Rick Kenney and the Chair of Judo England, Peter Blewett. There were 6 presentations covering a range of judo related topics. The event was co-ordinated by Associate Professor Mike Callan, Education Director of Commonwealth Judo.

Presentations were evaluated by the Conference Academic Panel of Dr Richard Briggs and Darren Warner. The winner of the award for best research presentation was Jim Feenan, from Scotland with his research paper; “The efficacy of Judo on young people with social, emotional, behavioural or other additional support needs”.

Second prize was given to Dr Amanda Spenn from England with her paper; “Ladies of The Commonwealth: The development of women’s judo through the early twentieth century”. The third prize winner was Temba Hlasho from South Africa with the paper; “The Application of the Sports Policy factors Leading to International Sporting Success (SPLISS) model to national judo federations in the Commonwealth”.

The Keynote lecture on “The role of judo in reducing the Fear of Falling among older people”, was given by Professor Callan, also speaking was IJF IT Team member Lance Wicks from New Zealand with “Participation in IJF events by Commonwealth Nations and Athletes”, and Geert Claes from Belgium with “Relationship between seeding and medal winning in International Judo Competitions”.

The Conference was well attended, participants included former World Champion Loretta Doyle, IJF Academy Director and Commonwealth Judo Vice President Envic Galea. Dr Richard Medcalf of the University of Wolverhampton facilitated the conference, the first time an academic judo conference has been held alongside the Commonwealth Championships.

Education Director Professor Callan (above) said “Thank you to all the participants and presenters for making this inaugural event so successful. President Kenney referred to kogi (lectures) as one of the four traditional ways to learn judo. I hope that from the wide breath of subjects presented, judoka have had the opportunity to learn a little. Judo is an education and a way of life. Congratulations to everyone who worked together to make this conference possible.”

Watch the final day of the Commonwealth Championships live and free on Sunday on the BJA YouTube account: https://www.youtube.com/user/BritishJudo