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In the heart of North Yorkshire
Redcar Judo Club has meticulously been building a reputation for
excellence for over a quarter of century.
The Cleveland-based club,
who formed in 1984, has become a familiar name at the British
Judo’s Annual Awards as it continues to evolve under the supervision
of club founder and 3rd Dan Alan Cawthorne.
The judo stalwart recalls
his earliest memories of the sport and his fortunate route into
the sport.
“It’s 1963, President Kennedy
had been assassinated, and we still had a currency with Shillings,
Sixpences and Half a Crown. I had just started work with ICI at
Wilton and as a member of their Social and Sports club ventured
down to the club to play Table Tennis with a friend. During our
practice a group walked in dressed in their pyjama’s and stepped
onto a permanent mat and started throwing each other around. With
the offer to try out this exhilarating sport before me I immediately
took to it and here we are in 2011 some 47 years later and into
my 48 th year of the sport.
“The Dojo and sessions
in those days where quite informal, people sat on chairs around
the mat, and people came up and invited you to compete, no formal
training with warm ups or a set lesson, we have gone a long way
since then. (BJA Membership was 20 Shillings - Ł1 per year.”
Alan’s work has received
praise from his peers and earned him awards while paving the way
for future generations to achieve success.
In 2008 Redcar won Club
of the Year at the British Judo Awards while their own Steven
Tilley was recognised as Young Volunteer of the Year.
A year later Alan himself
won the Gold award, the highest commendation available to a club
official but the worthy winner prefers to talk about the success
of the club’s other standouts.
Alan nominated Tracey Woods,
who started at the club as a teenager and went on to achieve her
black belt, who was awarded a silver award.
““Tracey has been involved
at Redcar for last 25 years both as a competitor and coach. In
her earlier years she represented the Northern Area at national
level and trained to become a coach when she felt the time was
right to move on,” said Alan.
“In addition to being the
driving force behind the junior committee, club ambassadors and
sports leader training, Tracy has been heavily involved in holiday
programmes, introducing the sport to VI players and various pilot
schemes.”
Tracey his since introduced
her children to the sport at the club while Alan, a member of
the BJA since 1963, has elected to call time on his involvement
in the sport to spend more time with his family.
The 63-year-old said: “I’m
now a 3rd Dan and senior club coach, I’ve tried my hand at refereeing,
held the post of area treasurer, area secretary, area director
for coach education, newsletter editor, all for the BJA Northern
Area and ran a club for 26 years.
“Redcar currently has
five qualified coaches and holds the Clubmark silver award. Over
its lifetime we have run regional events attracting up to 350
competitors, including veterans and we have produced a very high
proportion of Sports Leaders and Ambassadors for judo along with
training VI players.”
“The highlight of my career
was to stand next to my Junior Chairman, Steven Tilley, who was
then 15 years old, as he made a presentation to the National Congress
on the benefits of a Junior Committee.
“I am now the Project co-ordinator
with Middlesbrough Football Club, for the Premier League 4 Sport
and Redcar Judo Club is the partner club for judo. I have met
an immense number of people over the many years of judo and they
have inspired me to develop my sport in every way I could. With
the club being recognised as Club of the Year 2007 / 2008, Steven
Tilley receiving Young Volunteer of the year 2007 / 2008 and myself
and Tracy Woods receiving Volunteer of the Year 2009 and 2010
at Gold and Silver is the icing on the cake that finishes off
a dedicated lifetime to the sport of judo.”
Alan’s journey has come
full circle and he’s returned to table tennis, his childhood sport
which fatefully guided him to judo.
“In February I trained
for my UKCC Level 1 coach award in table tennis. I am waiting
for a new hip, hopefully in the next five weeks and a new lease
of life for another long spell in another fast and exciting sport.”
Redcar Judo Club train
at Ings Farm School, Sterling road, Redcar, TS10 2JZ. On a Tuesday
juniors train at 19:00 – 20:00 while seniors follow at 20:00 –
21:00. On a Friday seniors and juniors train at 18:15 – 19:15
while under 8’s follow at 19:15 – 20:15.
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