COVID-19 lockdown Zoom female judo programme

On 24^th of January 2021, I started a Zoom female only judo session with the aim of getting females together to create a female only judo community throughout the UK.

We had 18 judoka join the first session, with the youngest being just 5 years old, all joining from different clubs across the UK and one even attending from as far as Amsterdam. The session was led by myself and Charlie Bond (Western Area support coach).

To start, each session will be led by two coaches, one will lead the technical section of the session while the second coach will lead the fitness part of the session.

Upon hearing about the initial success of this first session the British Judo Association helped spread the word through social media posts in conjunction with the Western Area Judo Association. The response to this has been amazing, I have been contacted by judoka as far as Canada, Afghanistan, Russia, Holland and even Colombia.

We ran the second session on Sunday 31^st January, where former GB squad fighter, Janice Knight, led the technical element of the session.

Later that evening, Simon Ward, Western Area lead coach, invited me to join, and host, a Western Area Zoom session where all the women I have recently connected with joined. We had female judoka from all around the world join us for the session. A member of the female Refugee Judo Team, a judoka from Afghanistan who helps other ladies to become stronger and more enthusiastic, a judoka from the small town of Chia, close to Bogota, Colombia, and a coach from Holland, who I competed against at the World Masters Championships in Olbia 2017. This was in addition to numerous national competitors, enthusiastic female judoka and those who want to keep being active during these strange times joined us too.

I can’t wait for our 3^rd session on 7^th of February 2021 at 6pm-7pm.

The aim is not only to get the female community together but also learn from each other, gain new tips for our personal judo development and find new friends around the World.

WE ARE HERE TO HELP EACH OTHER AND LEARN FROM EACH OTHER!

                           “The time is not the enemy to achieve your goal”

Eva Minarikova (2018)

Eva Minarikova is a Western Area Female Squad judo coach with a level 4 UKCC judo university qualification.