Bradley Stoke Coach Travels With GB Squad to Bremen

Bradley Stoke Head Coach Pete Douglas was recently offered the opportunity to travel with the Great Britain squad to the Bremen International Masters competition and training camp.

Over recent years, Peter has been a real advocate for the Home Nations and Great Britain Performance Programme and this was acknowledged by Performance coaches with an invitation to assist the team on and off the mat in Germany. He has attended profiling days and is always on hand to lend a hand when required.

The trip will hopefully be a launch pad for a more collaborative approach between Home Nation Programmes and clubs and coaches with further opportunities for coaches to join the squad at more overseas competitions and training camps.

He has a long history of producing players at all levels for the Performance programme and has a great relationship with a lot of the players.

Peter was understandably delighted to be asked to travel with the team. “It was an honour to be asked by GB to travel to Bremen as a support coach and work closely with the Team.”

“It was a fantastic opportunity to see how it all works from inside and forge closer bonds with the coaches from all of the home nations squads.”

“Coaching the GB players in the Team event was a highlight for me during the weekend. It is a unique event and a fantastic opportunity for the players involved.”

“It was very interesting to see how the different squads prepared for the event. I was keeping an eye on how the Brazilian, German and Japanese squads each behaved both on and off the mat”

It was a tough weekend for the squad in Bremen, but Performance Pathway Manager Tim Ellis was full of praise for Pete following the trip: “Pete has been a big advocate for the British Judo EDS programme and there are athletes whom have worked with Pete at multiple stages throughout the pathway.

As a coach that has helped at domestic camps and has a lot of successful athletes, so it was a great opportunity for GB athletes to gain from his knowledge and to provide him with further experience.  This is something we would like to do with more coaches throughout the UK as part of the EDS.”

Pete took a lot from the weekend and was eager to get back into his club to implement some of the ideas picked up throughout the week.

“I knew the Competition/camp would be tough, but our players can tough it out with the best of them. Our mental strength has always been the key issue, and this was the most important thing I took back to the club along with how to work with the extra stresses of each match at this level of event.”

“The trips are tough on players and coaches but so important in everyone’s development.”

If you are a club coach and looking for the opportunity to get involved with the England squad, please contact Tim Ellis at tim.ellis@britishjudo.org.uk