BJA membership numbers are up....
http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/home/MembershipRise.php
So, the BJA has more members. The recent drives for recruitment seem to have worked.
What drives were they? I don't know about all by any means but directly affecting me and the students I teach are the BJA efforts to recruit at the universities and changes to the grading system.
The voucher scheme for students offering cheap kits etc are a nice idea, but I suspect a lot of those new members are transient. How many will continue after the social aspect of a uni club disappears (as they leave for a job)? Are the numbers of Judo participants really up or just the number that have BJA membership?
I'm still not wholly convinced on the switch to purely technical syllabus for kyu grades. It seems to be having the desired effect of reducing membership loss, but isn't Judo a physical sport? If physicality isn't someone's idea of fun, perhaps Judo isn't the sport for them. I wouldn't recommend they try Rugby either. Equally I've seen some frankly dire demonstrations of waza being passed both at kyu grade level but more worryingly also from candidates doing technical dan grades.
We (coaches/examiners) need guidance from the BJA as to what constitutes a satisfactory grading standard for each grade. The impression I've gathered from observations/announcements is that the BJA is pushing "get people through the grades" in the hope that apparent progress helps retain numbers. I naively thought grades were about ability in Judo, not how long someone had been practising/has paid?
For sure these changes will be heralded as a great success by the BJA, more members = growth = more money = safe jobs. Maybe too simplistic/cynical a view? Probably.
So, the BJA has more members. The recent drives for recruitment seem to have worked.
What drives were they? I don't know about all by any means but directly affecting me and the students I teach are the BJA efforts to recruit at the universities and changes to the grading system.
The voucher scheme for students offering cheap kits etc are a nice idea, but I suspect a lot of those new members are transient. How many will continue after the social aspect of a uni club disappears (as they leave for a job)? Are the numbers of Judo participants really up or just the number that have BJA membership?
I'm still not wholly convinced on the switch to purely technical syllabus for kyu grades. It seems to be having the desired effect of reducing membership loss, but isn't Judo a physical sport? If physicality isn't someone's idea of fun, perhaps Judo isn't the sport for them. I wouldn't recommend they try Rugby either. Equally I've seen some frankly dire demonstrations of waza being passed both at kyu grade level but more worryingly also from candidates doing technical dan grades.
We (coaches/examiners) need guidance from the BJA as to what constitutes a satisfactory grading standard for each grade. The impression I've gathered from observations/announcements is that the BJA is pushing "get people through the grades" in the hope that apparent progress helps retain numbers. I naively thought grades were about ability in Judo, not how long someone had been practising/has paid?
For sure these changes will be heralded as a great success by the BJA, more members = growth = more money = safe jobs. Maybe too simplistic/cynical a view? Probably.
Comments
interesting post, nice to see someone else contemplating the long-term effects of some of the initiatives of the BJA.
On the technical syllabus, I had to laugh recently when a old buddy of mine fought in local dan gradings and county officials in meetings afterwards praised his great competition Judo and so forth.
Both he and I came from the same club in New Zealand where all kyu gradings are technical and done in the club. Yet somehow we managed to be good fighters.
Of course we didn't have the legacy of a competitive grading system to contend with or dubious implementation like I consider the BJA implementation of the new grading scheme.
I share your concerns that we might be encouraging Judo people that chase grades and don't play the game. That is a big concern for the long-term. I watched a local kids event recently and noticed that they all tried osoto otoshi, which in reality ended up being a scrum with the stronger/heavier player just driving the other over.
Will the new syllabus and scheme be good or bad for Judo in the long-term... great question.
As for Uni initiative, here in Hampshire I think it is proving a success. Mainly because the BJA development officer has worked hard and started new clubs. I think the cheque books are a great idea, but to be frank, just having someone try and help setup new clubs is what is working more than the gimmick of the chequebooks.
Our dev officer has been working hard to get the university sports dev people engaged, has stood at all the freshers fairs and is always trying to help me as one of the coaches.
Thats what I would like to see the BJA focus more on, helping coaches. Taking more of the load off them and finding ways to help them in whatever way they need. Our guy is doing it and sadly I think it is more that he is a good guy than a BJA policy.
Anyway... great post, thanks!
Lance
How does the Kiwi system differ from the BJA technical implementation?