Judo in New Zealand needs a refresh

The 80's were great! I was there. There was no internet but there were tons of clubs to join. I was in Scouts, I learned the violin, played soccer and I went to Judo. To find Judo, I went to the Hastings information office, across the road from the Post Office and asked for Judo clubs. I was given a name and a number to contact.

Clubs and sports activities were well resourced with volunteers and while the instruction was not the best, we believed in the ethos of Judo and how it could make better people through physical education. We bought into it first, as a martial art.

Competitions were huge, well supported and run. And this was before anyone ever had a personal computer or cell phone to organise things. However, 43 years later, that model is exhausted. Judo has lost massive market share and the people keeping the organisation going are literally dying out.

Unable to adapt to the times, some Judo areas have disappeared (amalgamated). My Hastings Judo club is gone and the East Cost area it was a part of has been amalgamated into a geographically diverse, North Wellington. Most areas are hanging on by a thread, peopled by well meaning but aging volunteers and lacking a model that makes people want to come through and carry on. Crucially, there is no "middle management" layer, capable of adapting to the competitive environment or digital ways of being. A person who had studied design thinking, would put New Zealand Judo in the same category as General Electric. Once great but failed to do the introspection necessary to adapt and remain as powerful as they once were. Judo in New Zealand faces an existential threat. Without some design thinking, we will continue to shrink, Judo will suffer and we will never create pathways for young Judoka to follow. All the people who could benefit from finding the right physical activity for them, will miss out.

Osotogari. Major Outer Reaping Throw.

Shrinking participation and volunteers is not just a Judo problem. There are a lot of activities going the same way. Some faster, some slower and most with a leadership element that believes, "if we just had an Olympic champion, the kids would come flocking back. It would be like the 80's again."

I belive the answer is not putting the potential Olympians first but putting everyone else first. Creating a business model that revels in Judo. Rich with technique and history, adaptive to the times and places it is in. Creating physical education and involvement for all. Creating professional instructors that raise the standard and providing structured pathways with the ability to get a sound living back.

Judolife is on this journey. We want to create a model that looks forwards to excellence in instruction, bigger market share and all the goodness the flows to people from movement, connectivity and purpose.