Combat Disciplines

For the last 10 years there has been a slow decline in people wanting to do Judo and for those who deny that they need to take a good look around themselves but just recently within my own association the IBF I have seen a steady increase in membership on the Judo front and I expect other organisations are seeing the same trend. At recent competition in Faversham we saw over 80 competitors and early on in the Year at the Swallows we saw over 100 yet our next problem is OFFICIALS especially referees. Todays adult Judoka just doesn’t want to give up their time to referee or attend referee courses and of course no referees no competitions. 25 years ago Judoka craved to be referees, they had pride in wearing a Blazer, Grey Trousers/Skirt sporting a Referees Badge but to day with everything being so casual in dress and attitude this attire is frowned upon. This is the general attitude of Judoka have spoken to. Another important issue are the rules themselves Judoka of all ages tell me they are to difficult to understand let alone administer.

So what we can we do well first we have to accept the fact Judoka do not like formal attire when officiating if that is the case let them wear T Shirts as for the rules it seems pointless trying to alter them I tried this the past with points scoring Judo.  As most of our competitions are low-level not European or World events we should adapt them to suit us. First what we must decide is what is the important thing about a Judo Contest apart from Health and Safety is how to score:

Do we really need to know the minutia of the rules? What we need is for Judoka to enjoy their sport and to attract referees using the above is a gentle way to involve them in officiating