England Judo Announces Six Talent Development Centres

England Judo have today announced six new England Talent Development Centres (ETDCs) as part of their ongoing player pathway strategy.

The ETDCs are local regional hubs that focus on building technical and physical capability through randori. The aim is to provide fighters with the opportunity to fight quality randori partners on a regular basis close to home, reducing costs and travel whilst building the number of competitive fighters in the region.

Middlesbrough Judo Club, Bishops Stortford Judokwai, the University of Wolverhampton, Bath University, Core Judo and the North West area have all been selected as part of the initial cohort.

British Judo Pathway Manager Tim Ellis further explained the concept behind the launch: “The idea is that these clubs will run weekly randori sessions for the fighters in the pathway, acting as a regional hub providing high quality randori between the best fighters more often.”

“A key strategy for England Talent is to build the training volume for fighters so they can develop physically, technically and tactically in order to compete against our international competition and to prepare for when they become senior fighters.”

“We are really excited for this new chapter with the ETDCs together with working with all clubs and coaches throughout England, building towards the mutual goal of seeing British fighters competing at the highest stage”

The tender process opened to all English clubs in September and all clubs were encouraged to apply. We had 17 applications in total which were all interviewed by the selection panel which included both BJA staff/coaches and representatives from the English Areas.

Clubs were assessed against the criteria laid out in the tender document displayed on the BJA website. Locations of clubs were vital to the process and careful consideration was made with the locations of fighters on the England Squads currently. The licences for the ETDCs will be reviewed on an annual basis.

Core Judo Head Coach Jonathan Purssey was thrilled to learn the news that his club had been selected. Core Judo will be moving into a new state-of-the-art training centre in 2021, which is currently in construction.

‘We are delighted with the news that England Judo has chosen Core Judo Academy to be the ETDC in our region and to be placed in a privileged position to help develop and nurture the best talent in our region.”

“Myself and the coaches can’t wait to get started and start helping the players towards reaching their goals. This is really important program and we look forward to seeing the longer term benefits for the players and our sport.”

Adam Hall, Head Coach at Bath University was equally excited to hear of the result. “Team Bath as a programme are delighted with our selection as an England talent development centre. This is a great opportunity to work in partnership with England judo and the Western area, in providing further training opportunities to competitive judoka and being part of their journey.”

If you have any questions about the ETDCs and the selection process, please contact Tim Ellis at tim.ellis@britishjudo.org.uk