Glossop is located in the very north tip of Derbyshire on the border with Greater Manchester and is a no mans land for ownership, funding and provisions and with this in mind Club Coaches Geoff Ham a self employed alarm engineer and Steve Phillips a police officer took the decision to open Glossop Judo Club, the first judo club in the area for around twenty years.

Since opening there have been over 240 children and over 40 adults introduced to the skills and benefits of judo and the club now has an average attendance of 65 children per night and has generated more than 110 BJA Licences.

Although newly established the club has had representatives at a number of competitions throughout the country and have already gained 31 Gold 34 Silver and 53 Bronze medals at events such as the North West area Four Counties, The North Wales Open, The Great Northern Open, The Lakeland Open, and the Millenium Open in London. OK so the club has not yet produced a National Champion, but what it has done is to promote grass roots Judo in a professional, fun and endearing way to all. It has made the sport of judo accessible to people of all ages gender and abilities within the Glossop area and it has made its members proud to represent their association, their club and their community, and because of this Judo now has its own sub-heading in the sports pages of the local newspaper along side Football Rugby and other well known sports. This has ensured that a community that otherwise would not have known of the sport is aware and involved in all of judos positive aspects.

Soon after opening the club Geoff and Steve registered for the British Judo Association Club Recognition Scheme and strived to meet the requirements of the Bronze Award within their first year knowing that it will assist in the efficient and correct running of the club.

Commenting on the award the two coaches said “Glossop Judo Club has the drive ability and foresight to promote judo in a positive way, and has done this effectively over the last year. It has allowed people to see what a well managed club can provide to the player the local community and the association.

“The award is described as “for a club that has demonstrated significant achievements in one year”.

“If the achievements considered are not only to be producing National Champions or having the largest state of the art dojo, then players parents and the local community will confirm that the club has made countless achievements in its first year.”