Challenging Times

Like all other judo clubs across Britain, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the nature of our sport, we have had no option but to suspend all of our Judo sessions until further notice.

A Return is Near...

Excitingly our National Governing Body - The British Judo Association has now set government backed guidelines to allow judo clubs the opportunity to move back indoors, something we hope to do by the end of September.

But There Are Strict Hygiene Requirements...

However the BJA’s guidance includes strict hygiene requirements one being that we must clean the mats before, during & after our sessions.  We envisage this rule being around for some time to come and this will make it impractical for us to return to the way we were before lockdown began.  When cleaning the mats it can take up to an hour for them to dry indoors and then we’d have to stack the mats away.  The issues arising from this are the possible additional rent for cleaning time, the other groups who use our venues after us and the additional labour involved in getting the mat put away once they are dry with all the parents & kids having gone home.

The New Normal has forced us to adapt...

As a committee we have therefore decided to accelerate our club development plan to have a single venue that we can make judo specific with a permanently laid mat area.  We came to the decision after acknowledging that the BJA’s cleaning protocols would be much easier to implement if a mat is laid permanently.  A facility of this kind was something we were hoping to get by 2023 (our 10th anniversary of being open) but we’ve acted now to safeguard the club from the aftermath of Covid-19.  Gaining a facility of this nature is the ultimate dream for many clubs and will allow us to bring our members back indoors before the weather starts to turn during Autumn.

Why Ingleton i Centre?

When we looked at the structure of our club, we agreed Ingleton is the central venue as it is less than 15 minutes drive away from the other 3 clubs we run. We therefore approached Ingleton Parish Council to ask for their support and they suggested we contact the directors of Ingleton i centre about using their sports hall. After weeks of negotiations we can finally start our project of installing a purpose built dojo in the Ingleton i centre sports hall and this will be our sole venue from September. It’s also worth noting that our new dojo will also be open for community use too.

A Sprung Floor for Better Throwing Practice!

We are also really excited to mention that having a permanent matted venue means we can install a sprung floor; meaning our members will get a much better experience of our sport as their landings will be much more forgiving.

When Life Gives You Lemons, make Lemonade...

We see this as a really exciting moment for the club all be it in difficult & uncertain times. We want to thank you all for checking out our Crowdfunding page and would like to thank you in advance for any contribution big or small that you can afford to donate.

Yours in Sport

Craven Judo Academy