Connecting with THINK18

Earlier this month we connected with THINK18 at Chichester Ronin Judo Club for an action-packed afternoon, introducing young adults with learning disabilities to judo.

The charity THINK18  focuses on supporting young adults aged 16-35 who have varied learning disabilities. The charity was formed by Tessa Denison after personally experiencing the difficulties that young people can face with learning disabilities when beginning their transition into adulthood. Tessa’s personal experience found that there weren’t enough opportunities for her daughter who is diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome and wanted to change this. The team works to provide opportunities that are accessible and age appropriate to members through a variety of activities, while also emphasising the importance of physical activity and wellbeing.

Our mission at British Judo is to maximise the contribution of judo to British society by providing easy access to safe and inspiring clubs, centred on the judo values. We believe that judo is a sport for all and have started to build on our community growth by establishing new partner networks through engagement events such as the afternoon with THINK18.

Prior to the event, Nick Shepherd, British Judo Lead Club Support Officer, hosted a Q&A session to welcome questions about judo and alleviate any concerns that the young people or their parents had. Nick reflected on why the Q&A was a perfect opportunity to showcase the positive impact judo can have: 

“The parents were very apprehensive beforehand, so the Q&A session was invaluable. I was able to show them a picture of the Chichester Ronin Judo Club’s dojo, so it was familiar to them all and answer lots of questions from the parents and young people, including ‘Will it help me be better at football’ to which I answered, yes! There are many crossovers and transferable skills including balance and learning to fall over safely which many people new to judo aren’t aware of.” 

When the day of the event arrived coaches Karen French, Martin Rance, Matt Rush and Nick Shepherd were met with plenty of smiling faces, eager to have a go at judo for the first time. The energy in the dojo was truly infectious, a great day was had by all involved. 

“I would like to thank British Judo for giving our young adults the opportunity to have a go at adaptive judo for the first time. My son loved your taster session, and he is asking to do it again, we are hoping that this will be possible in the future. It was a real confidence boost for him and the coaches were amazing and so aware of the needs and abilities of each young adult taking part.” – Trina Holloway, parent. 

After such a fantastic day we cannot wait to connect with THINK18 again. We hope that the afternoon inspired the young adults [and parents] to take up judo in the future. We also plan to  host a coach revalidation module – ‘Coaching Adaptive Judo’, in partnership with the THINK18 team in the near future.  

Click here to find out more about THINK18.

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