Lessons from British Judo
On November 19th 2024 Dr. Olesya Zaglada took part in online webinar organized by University of Wolverhampton “Lessons from British Judo – organisational culture & empowering disabled athletes”.
This webinar explores the organisational culture at British Judo’s center of excellence, through a conversation with one of the coaches and head Paralympic Coach Ian Johns, who has enjoyed great success with his athletes over the last Olympic/Paralympic cycles. Ian Johns has two positions in British Judo – Paralympic head coach and development coach for men. He has been to three Paralympic games now.
Photo: www.britishjudo.org.uk
Ian is a former judo fighter who represented GB for a number of years until his retirement in 2011. Upon retirement he completed a sports coaching degree at the university of Lincoln before completing a teaching degree.
In 2014 an opportunity came about working at the National training center in Walsall working with the GB Paralympic team. He has been in place ever since and coaching achievements include a number of European, World and Paralympic medals. After the Tokyo Games he won the Mussabini medal which is given to gold medal winning coaches at the games.
Following the Tokyo games his job role has changed so that whilst still being the Paralympic lead coach he added the Olympic development coaching role to his responsibilities. His passion has always been to ensure that he can help others fulfil any potential that they may have – no matter if Olympic or Paralympic!
Based in the heart of the West Midlands, British Judo’s National Training Center is centrally based at the University of Wolverhampton, Walsall Campus. Here Junior, Paralympic and Olympic judoka train in a world-class fully-integrated, inclusive high-performance environment.
In discussing the set-up and culture of the integrated Olympic and Paralympic programme and how athletes are championed and led, lessons are shared for other organisations and wider society regarding valuing diversity and disability within the workplace.
The event took place during UK Disability History Month (UKDHM) which is an annual event which aims to promote disabled people’s rights and their struggle for equality now and in the past. This year, UKDHM take place from 14 November – 20 December 2024.
Photo: www.britishjudo.org.uk
Every year, UKDHM focuses on a theme. This year, the theme is Disability, Livelihood and Employment. During the webinar was mentioned that 47,2% of disabled people are in employment, but that compares to 79,2% of non-disabled people. And there is a pay gap between disabled and non-disabled. So those with a disability earn £ 1.56 per hour less. This speaks of the discrimination, the prejudice, the oppression that can exist towards disability.
The Judo Paralympic team is quite unique as the Paralympians train at the same facilities as Olympians. A lot of the time Paralympic athletes in other sports train in isolation, they do not train with an Olympic equivalent. Certainly in the past there has been talk about Paralympic athletes sometimes feeling they get like a Cinderella service compared to Olympians, that they are not taken as seriously, that they don’t get so much resource and financial support.
In accordance with British Judo’s Diversity Statement: “The sport of judo is open to everyone and British Judo prides itself on being a welcoming, inclusive community both on and off the mat. Celebrating differences, respecting and being sensitive to others without causing harm, is central to our values. The only thing that defines us in judo is the colour of our belts”.
The reasonable adjustment tend to be made because the environment is not inclusive by nature, so there need to be a number of reasonable adjustments made in order to navigate the environment.
There are lessons to learn for wider society – tapping into the talents and abilities of disabled people
Thinking about affirmation model, not patronizing disabled people, but actually looking to empower and champion them. Its all about respect and trust. And its about learning from disabled people who often have unique skills and abilities. They can be adaptable, they can be resourceful. They have great teamwork. They are masters of the craft, there is a lot they can share.
Please find the recording below: