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Source: SNJU (Open letter from the SNJU Board
Tag: Photoshoots
SNJU Membership
The SNJU are now moving into our fifth year in operation and what an amazing journey it has been so far.
Our membership continues to grow and currently stands at 58 different bodies spanning 29 countries worldwide. This includes 6 national federations, 18 organisations and 34 clubs. This is incredible for the development and promotion of special needs judo and it is our plan to keep moving in this positive direction.
Membership to the SNJU is renewable each year and is due on the 1st April 2020. We invite all our current members and all new members to join us for the coming years. There is a small administration fee of just €20 which can be paid through our website at http://snju.org/product/snju-membership-renewal/ . An undated membership certificate will be issued once payment is received. As we are a non-profit organisation and run by volunteers, any proceeds collected will be used to further promote and develop SN Judo worldwide.
In addition to the increasing membership, we have also had great success in the number of SNJU supported events over the past year and some really exciting events coming up this year.
Our main supported events are the World SN Judo Games & BENG Tournament in Beverwijk, Netherlands 3 – 5th April, The Swedish SN Judo Open, Lindsburg 21st May, Swiss SN Championships, Uster 18– 20th June and the European SN Open in Ireland 15-18th October. Our new international online SN event calendar is now available on our website https://snju.org/calendar/. If you would like anything added to the calendar please forward the details and we’ll add it.
The SNJU team were also the main contributors to last year’s EJU Festival in Croatia where Special needs judo was a topic for the first time ever. It is planned to further develop our presence at this year’s event in June.
Also in the past year the SNJU team have collaborated with the EU and a number of partner countries to develop an Erasmus+ research project that aims to research the positive effects the sport of judo has for people with autism. This is a three year project and you can follow its progress from here http://recerca.blanquerna.edu/autjudo/
Following the success of our on-line SN referee development programme last year, we have recently launched our new on-line SN coaching programme. More information and registration can be found here https://snju.org/coaching-and-training-course/
And finally we would like to thank you all for your continued support and we look forward to seeing and working with you all at some stage in the future. If any of our members would like to hold/host an event or workshop and would like assistance please do get in touch as we have a number of very experienced experts only too willing to help. Remember:
Together we can do more.
Source: SNJU (SNJU Membership
Happy Christmas – Year in Review
As we wish
all our members and friends a very Happy Christmas we reflect on the amazing
inclusive judo year we have shared together promoting and developing inclusion
in judo worldwide.
The SNJU
continues to be a progressive force in the development of worldwide SN/Adaptive
judo. 2019 saw our membership grow to an all time high with many new countries
and federations becoming members of the fastest growing SN/Adaptive judo
organization in the world.
In the past
eleven months we have achieved and surpassed some of our goals and ambitions
for adaptive judo and look forward to the joys and challenges of 2020.
2019
started off with our own board meeting in Switzerland at which we laid out our
ambitious plans for the year ahead. These plans included more development
courses, more competitive opportunities, more personal development and more
unity amongst countries with SN judo programs. This we not only spoke about and
planned – but also achieved!
Competition Opportunities: This year we staged and supported
the European Open SN Games in Sweden, the World SN Games in The Netherlands and
the Swiss Open SN Championships in Switzerland. In additional our team was the
lead support team for the Special Olympic World Games in Abu Dhabi.
Individually each of our team members supported and organized inclusion events
in their respective counties and helped many more in other countries.
Development courses: Our online SN referee course
continues to attract interested parties and has resulted in an international
register of developing SN referee across the world. We continue to host
workshops and seminars at all our supported events and this year we added some
additional seminars of interest including therapy/disability assisted dogs
programmes, SN tournament preparation, SN & unified kata to name but a few.
In
Switzerland this year we staged the first two day Coaching & Competition
Seminar and workshops. A large number of our members clubs/countries took part
in this incredible two day course which covered adaptive coaching, play &
contest rules, disability awareness seminars, Judo games workshops and much
more.. The event was run under the
aspics of Special Olympics Switzerland, Swiss Judo Federation and run by SNJU
directors James Mulroy and Cilia Evenblij.
Unity and Inclusion: The SNJU has been working very hard
to bring together as many SN judo organizations, clubs and federations for the
single purpose of raising awareness and further developing
adaptive/SN/inclusive judo worldwide. Early this year we had the ideal opportunity
to do just that. For the very first time in judo history SN judo was invited to
take part in the annual EJU Judo festival in Croatia. The SNJU were
instrumental in delivering seminars, workshops and advice to a number of large
interested audiences.
Other
amazing firsts was the inclusion of a number of teams who wowed the audience at
this year’s EJU Kata Championships with demonstrations of adapted and unified
kata. This we see as a major step forward in EJU thinking and policy and could
possibly open the door to further development in this area of our sport.
In other
News: The board of the SNJU are delighted and excited to be the major
contributors to the EU funded “Autjudo” Erasmus + programme. Funding was
secured and the research program will run for the next three years across six
European countries.
We approach
2020 with the same enthusiasm and drive as 2019 and aim to keep moving forward.
In 2020 we will be launching the long awaited online coaching course, this will
go live in early January. Supported competitive events will include the World
SN Games in Netherlands in April, the Swiss SN Open in June and the European
Open SN Games in Ireland in October.
In addition
we will be staging a number of seminars and workshops again next year at the EJU
Judo Festival in Croatia.
For now we
would like to wish the whole judo world and very Happy Christmas and look
forward to seeing as many of you as possible in 2020.
SNJU Team
Tomas, James, Tycho, Cilia, Bob
Source: SNJU (Happy Christmas – Year in Review
Hainaut Cup 2019 features Adapted Judo Kata championships
On Sunday, October 6th Judo Aiseau – Presles organised the 10th edition of the International Hainaut Cup. And for the first time, the organisation decided to have a “handi-kata” tournament alongside the original tournament.
What can we say- the tournament was very successful! Special Needs judoka showed their art, judged by the same jury as their regular friends.
We applaud Aiseau-Presles for their effort, in line with the interest that EJU have shown into the Adapted Kata sport and we hope that there will be a follow-up in 2020, and of course that their initiative will also encourage other clubs and organisations to organise an Adapted Kata tournament!
If a club is looking for advice on how to do this, then of course SNJU are always at your service to help you with your effort.
Source: SNJU (Hainaut Cup 2019 features Adapted Judo Kata championships
Progress and Success at European Kata Championships
Progress and Success
The SNJU would like to congratulate
our technical director Tycho and his kata partner David on their fantastic
achievement of winning silver at the recent EJU European Kata Championships in
Gran Canaria. Their performance in katame no kata was just 5 points off the
gold medal spot.
This alone gives us great pride;
however the story doesn’t stop there. For the very first time in European Kata
Championship history, a very special demonstration was invited to take place.
With the progressive development of
adaptive kata practice within SN judo across Europe, it was fitting for two
teams from the Netherlands to demonstrate the possibilities of adaptive kata to
a packed audience at this year’s European Kata Championships.
First of the demonstrations came from
the pairing of Sanne Simons and Thomas Schepen. Sanne
and Thomas both have Down Syndrome and both share their passion
for Judo and in particular Judo Kata. They presented three adapted series of
the nage no kata to a packed arena who could not contain their appreciation and
excitement following the final rei. The standing ovation and applause lasted as
long as the demonstration itself.
When eventually the audience calmed
down, it was the turn of Cees Roest and his kata partner Janienke Roelfsema. Cees is paraplegic and his display of
brilliance was performed from a kneeling position. The various techniques were adapted to Cees’
condition, and they demonstrated a meticulously executed interpretation of
nage-nō-kata. Again following the final rei, the arena goes wild with a
well-deserved standing ovation and applause delivered by a stunned and appreciative
audience.
This is a major step forward for
adaptive judo in general and adapted kata in particular. It is fair to say that
the interest of the European judo community has been aroused and the
possibilities acknowledged.
SN Judo Kata has been developing
across Europe for some time now and is now included in a number of SN judo
tournaments, the biggest of which is at the SN World Judo Games in Beverwijk,
Netherland in April each year. We are confident moving forward that SN kata can
be included at more events both SN and mainstream and will promote positive
inclusion right across our sport.
We would like to thank the EJU for having the
vision and courage to understand and recognise the importance and possibilities
of adapted judo and for taking the historic step forward to include all ability
judoka in its future plans and visions.
Source: SNJU (Progress and Success at European Kata Champioships