IBF JUDO AGM

IBF UK Judo Coaches AGM
This years AGM was a very cold one but we were pleased to see the turnout especially with the Snow problem as usual the meeting was held at the IBFUK HQ in Sittingbourne and we had people travel down from Bedford and Nottingham.
The meeting was just a 2 hour affair and a Cold one at the Heating at HQ decided to pack up but we all survived. IBF UK President Martin Clarke 8th Dan started the meeting by giving his Annual address. He went on to say that Judo World Wide was on the decline and we all needed to improvise to keep the Art going, the Olympics being held in London 2012 was having no affect on Sport in general the only people who benefiting from the London Olympics are the Construction Companies and foreign workforce and he felt our main hope was for the GB Judo team to win a hatful of medals at the event. Members were reminded that the IBF was the only association to offer so many Martial Arts and Combat sports under one license, he felt members were not taking advantage of that. Youngsters today are very much influenced by CAGE FIGHTING this Combat Form has become global spectator craze and has led to lots of people watching but with very few people taking up the Martial Arts. Most people you speak to who want to Cage Fighting do not realise that most good fighters start in a traditional Combat Discipline something like Judo. To make your Judo Club different try a different discipline once a month, let the youngsters try Sombo, Kurash, Submission Wrestling, Jiu Jitsu, keep your main discipline of Judo and remember variety is the spice of life. Pankration is the latest thing which the IBF do it is a mixture of Judo and semi Contact Karate kids will love it. Support for Judo competitions was essential and needed everyone working hard to get Judoka to events. Also mentioned was that everything will now be done over the Internet including membership something which has not increased for the 3rd year running.
In the past the IBF has always run its own First Aid programme this is no longer good enough and he informed all Coaches they must have recognised First Aid award before Coaches Insurance will be issued, the IBF has organised an HSE Emergency First Aid for the Workplace this is limited to 16 people and already Martin Clarke, Trevor Davies, George Holbrook and Russell Dodds are booked in.
After the President had finished the Chairman of the Judo Technical Committee John Clarke 5th Dan took over the proceedings, his first task was to introduce Ian Parker 3rd Dan on to the committee. The main discussion revolved around the IBF Multi Nation Judo Tournament to be held in Hastings. The only other main item was the new Dan Grade Syllabus Technical Dan (Blue Stripe Standard) Competitive Dan (Red Stripe Standard) Dan Gold Standard the latter being someone who completes both Blue and red Standard, this can all be seen on the IBF Web Site. This new scheme went down very well with the membership and felt it would attract more people to do IBF Judo; one major difference is that Competitive Grades no longer need to know the Japanese Terminology for technique but will still have to do the complete Nag No Kata. All went away feeling elated that things are moving and at least the IBF is coming out of the recession.
Next for IBF Members is the Sombo/Judo Training session on Sunday January 31st 10am till 1pm let us know if you are coming.