TOKYO, JAPAN

KODOKAN

RESULTS

Hello Budokwai,

Well everyone knows that I never went to the Kodokan, even though I wish I had, so no snappy reporting this time, just results.

Budokwai judoka competing were Harriet English, Danny Murphy, Danny Gillard and Jacqui Lloyd.

As in most of the Masters tournaments there were quite a lot of categories trying to account for weight as well as age. But nonetheless it must have been hard-going in the baking heat that Tokyo is subjected to.

The men’s:

Danny Murphy +100 (40-44) Silver, ((Bronze) English men’s) teams

Danny Gillard –81 men’s teams Bronze

The Ladies:

Harriet English –63 (50-54) Gold + (Bronze another category)

Jacqui Lloyd ((open) Bronze and Bronze in the English women’s teams

Well done everyone who competed and what a great success. I just hope we can reproduce the same kind of medal haul in our next competitions the London Open and the Heart of England. Hopefully by then we will have Natalie Priestley and Andy Pragnell back from injury.

Paul Radburn who used to compete for the Budokwai and Britain won gold in the +100 (45-49). In the same category it was an English silver and bronze in the form of Brian Newman, Nicholas Ward and Andy Hunt. Well done to the other English judoka on their success.

Sam

3 July 03

Enquiries to the British Judo Association:

I did say that this wasn’t going to be a political section of the website and I still stand by that 99%. Well what happened to the 1% I hear you cry. Bear with me. I phoned the BJA to find out more about the new syllabus. Guess what I found out, yes, nothing. But guess what, I was told nothing very, very politely. My first contact was with an automated answering service, which is always not the way to go, but I stuck with it. Anyway, I finally spoke to a human, a very nice human in fact, a nice chap called Gary Ramp. I asked him a number of questions about the new syllabus but the most important one was, “who are the wise ones authoring our future.” Gary’s reply came in the form of, “the MI5.” Yes, that’s what I thought. He said that which, every one knows. The BJA is shrouded in secrecy and accountability is non-existent. Believe me when I say that I nearly dropped the phone when he said it, but I didn’t. I did drop the phone when he told me, as a by the way comment, that he practices karate. I can’t actually write what I thought so will leave that there.

Poor Gary couldn’t tell me who was writing the syllabus nor who had asked those to write the syllabus to write it. MMM! He assured me that it wasn’t due to him being deliberately ignorant. He said these things were just kept very quiet. Why????!!! Anyway I traded some information with him and he promised to give me small amounts of information in the future. So, I should be able to bring us cutting edge stuff about the syllabus as soon as it is sent to MI5 headquarters and is cleared for press release; I’ll be there. Sammy to the rescue!!!!

On a serious note though why is it that we can’t be told who is writing the syllabus. I would have thought that, that would be something we should be told about as a matter of being members of the association, obviously not. Writing the new BJA syllabus is something to be proud of; I would be honoured to do such a thing. What I am saying is that I would be glad to have my name attached, unless there is some kind of anxiety surrounding the writing of the syllabus. If the people writing the syllabus don’t have what it takes to write the syllabus then res ipsa loquitur, they shouldn’t be writing it. Those that should wouldn’t have a problem because they would have the respect, know-how and confidence to do so.

I ask myself this. If we the members can’t find things out like who’s who and other information about the association then, how does it look to an outsider? We must be more transparent especially where things such as selection of squad members is concerned. The horror stories about who went to Olympics or the Commonwealths are all too common. Not meaning to bring our attention back to the fiasco that brought the wrong kind of attention to judo during the Commonwealths. We need the exposure but not that kind, thank you very much. The times have changed we need to be apart of what is going on around us. Tradition in art is a must, progression in the association is wanting.

Sam