Enthusiasm on the mat proved as high as ever as the Army Judo set-up started the 2025 campaign with its annual skills course and championships.
More than 40 personnel signed up for the week-long test, which featured an intensive examination of their credentials ahead of a final-day competition spread across a host of individual and team categories.
Crucially, the organisation saw a number of novice athletes embracing the challenge of the sport for the first time.
Further opportunities to develop will follow at a second skills camp in April, with the highlight of the year coming at the UK Armed Forces Championships in the summer. Plans for an overseas tour to Canada are also in the pipeline.
Coach, and Army Judo committee member, Lt Col Oliver Martin (AGC (SPS)) told SoldierSport he was pleased to see so much talent on show and that the course was proving as popular as ever, despite the increasing demands on troops in their day jobs.
“We’ve had 18 novices here,” he said. “We normally hit double figures, but this is one of the biggest turnouts in ten years, which is a real positive.
“The programme is ever evolving. We are obviously guided by the British Judo syllabus, but we have to make sure it is fun, and that people progress at the right pace.
“It is about giving them enough excitement without destroying them.
“Around three quarters have double graded this week, with the rest single grading, and that is the best news; the amount of fresh blood we have seen.
“We always want to do well at the Inter-Services and this course will help us select fighters for that.
“We have a good track record in the competition recently and want that to continue – the talent is there.”
While the elite performers who have graced stages such as the Commonwealth Games in recent seasons have now moved on, Army Judo has still had plenty to celebrate over the past 12 months.
SSgt Lewis Hannington (REME) and Lt Col Jim Crompton (AGC (ETS)) won gold and silver medals at the British Championships for kata and went on to compete at European and world level. And Cfn Vladimir Olenic (REME) took bronze in the under-90kg division at the British Senior Championships.
LSgt James Pickersgill-Jones is among the new generation of Service athletes coming through and attended his first skills course in 2024.
Fighting in the intermediate under-90kg ranks this time round, he said the programme allows personnel to quickly get to grips with the sport.
“From 0900 to 1700 you are on the mat doing judo; it is intense,” he explained.
“But it is the best coaching and some of the people here have competed at the highest level. There is always something to learn and adapt, or changes you can make to your technique.
“While I did the skills course last year, this is my first Army Championships. For me it is about participating and having a good time, if I win great.
“There are some decent novices out there and hopefully they can continue their love for judo – they are the future.”
1st Battalion, The Royal Yorkshire Regiment helped bolster the number of newcomers, with five soldiers travelling to Aldershot to sample the discipline for the first time.
Capt Nathan McKinley (pictured left) was among those and said the drive to come and compete was part of a wider effort to grow combat sports within his unit.
“We are very busy sports wise, and this is another notch on the pole,” he explained. “Boxing is the big one for us, but the squad is only open to a select few.
“Here, we can bring absolute novices along and get involved.
“The body definitely hurts, and if you’d told me I would get to a yellow belt after only three days’ training, I wouldn’t have believed you.
“On the first day we were throwing people and 24 hours later we were sparring, so it has been incredible.
“There is also a real community feel. The brown and black belts have been phenomenal, giving little pointers along the way, and the coaches have done a great job.
“We have brought five soldiers here and next year we will aim for ten. The appeal of combat sports is pretty big; the boxing team is always full so having another discipline can hopefully bring more people in.”
