Windsor Judo Club, founded in 1950, serves an underprivileged area of West Windsor in Berkshire. The local population is very diverse and has experienced racial tension in the recent past. The club is proud that it offers a sporting opportunity to everyone in the local community. “Once you’re in your judo suit and belt, your background doesn’t matter,” states Head Coach and Treasurer Nick Fletcher. “In the past 18 months, we’ve had new players from Polish, French, Algerian, Spanish and Portuguese backgrounds. Judo is a truly international sport, with universal non-verbal signals and distinctive verbal instructions. Once new players put their judo suit on, it doesn’t matter how good their English is or what they might be experiencing in their life at the time. Judo welcomes them.”
Getting the ball rolling with Clubmark status
However, it hasn’t always been plain sailing. Just a few years ago the club was stagnating and had no real focus. Then Nick and a small number of other volunteers decided to work towards Clubmark and, assisted by the runningsports A Club for All workshop, they were awarded their Clubmark accreditation in 2006. They also won the British Judo Association’s (BJA) Club of the Year award in the same year, and topped it off with Nick winning a bronze level BJA Volunteer Award and another volunteer from the club a coaching lifetime achievement award.
“We attended the runningsports A Club for All workshop to help us achieve Clubmark,” Nick recalls. “This made us aware of the other workshops available and acted as a stepping-stone towards applying for an Awards for All grant in 2007. We are now going for the silver level of the Judo Clubmark and some of our volunteers will be attending other runningsports workshops to help us achieve that.”
Assessing and applying for a grant
Two years ago, the clubhouse, which the club rent, was looking run-down. The lighting and cooling systems were 25 years old and the judo mats – the most important piece of kit for judo players – had not been replaced for many years. The club decided to apply for a grant from the Lottery grants scheme Awards for All, but needed guidance about how to go about it and how to get their formal application right. Being aware that many applications are turned down because applicants have requested funding for something the scheme does not support or simply haven’t filled out the application form correctly, the club knew that getting it right first time was a must. They already knew how helpful runningsports workshops could be, so turned to runningsports again, and the Awards for All workshop to help them make a success of their application.
Nick Fletcher saw a direct result from attending the Awards for All workshop. “During the workshop we were told what we could realistically apply for and were helped to complete the application form,” he says. “We tailored our grant application accordingly and were successful in our bid. Awards for All gave us a fantastic £9,364!”
With the money the club was able to purchase new judo mats (“the equivalent of a football club getting a new pitch”, says Nick), crash mats, and a new lighting and cooling system. They also invested in some elite coaching, and did some local advertising and marketing to attract new members. Finally they bought some judo suits to hire out to prospective members to save them from having to buy their own before they know Judo is for them.
Advertising attracted members, new facilities retained them
Since receiving the Awards for All grant, Windsor Judo Club has gone from strength to strength. The lighting, cooling and new mats in particular have made a world of difference to the club. “They have transformed our facilities,” says Nick. “The clubhouse now looks clean and bright and we are training in a more pleasant atmosphere. The advertising and marketing paid for with the grant brought in many new enquiries and we have seen an increase in membership, and the new facilities are certainly helping to retain people once they’re here.”
If you’re involved with a club that needs to know more about maximising funds, applying for a grant or recruiting and keeping volunteers, Nick has proved that it really is possible to make substantial changes with relative ease when you’ve got runningsports behind you.
Benefit of runningsports’ workshops
“The runningsports workshop helped us to work out what we could realistically hope for from Awards for All, and showed us how to complete the form so that it had the maximum chance of success. We were awarded over £9000.” Nick Fletcher, Head Coach and Treasurer, Windsor Judo Club.
Awards for All is a Lottery grants scheme for local communities. Grants of between £300 and £10,000 are awarded for projects that enable people to take part in sport and community activities, and those that contribute towards the education and health of the local community. runningsports’ Awards for All workshop will guide you through the application process.
With over 99% of volunteers who have attended a runningsports workshop recommending them to others, you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain from booking yourself on one today!
