When I was an editor at a local newspaper many years ago, I had a conversation with the editor-in-chief about the difficulty in recruiting experienced journalists. I told him the only viable long-term solution is to train up our own journalists. That means hiring inexperienced writers -- fresh grads, perhaps -- and train them up. "That takes too long," he replied.
He's right in saying that it will take a long time to train a writer up from scratch. But if you don't have a steady supply of writers, what can you do?
And so it is with judo. If you want to build a judo club but there is no ready supply of judo players to tap onto your only option is to build them up from scratch. Sure, if you promote your club online, you might attract some experienced foreign players who happen to be in Malaysia, either for work or studies. We've certainly had a few of those but if you want to have a thriving club, you need more than just a handful of experienced players. You need to have a critical mass of members. That means recruiting some beginners and build them up from scratch.
It's not easy and it's a long process. You'll also have quite a few drop outs along the way. But if you invest time and effort into training up keen white belts, you'll find that they can exceed their own expectations. I've had beginners who previously had no sporting experience whatsoever, who never exercised regularly, but who ended up become quite dedicated, hardened players.
Building up your own players from scratch is what it takes to build up a judo club in this environment where judo is a very niche sport. It's something we are committed to doing at KL Judo.
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