Finding that balance

Yesterday, after a successful judo session (actually two sessions, an earlier one for children, their parents and other adult beginners; and a later one for competition training), I was talking to one of the members who attends both sessions, about how difficult it was at first to strike a good balance between the needs of recreational judo players and competitors.

We started out as a very competition-inclined club, so whenever a recreational player joined, they found it quite tough to keep up. But at the time we didn't have many recreational players so we couldn't justify having a class just for them.

This all really began to change with the introduction of a children's class, which very quickly led to the introduction of the Family Judo concept whereby we would encourage parents to take up judo as well, and train on the same mat as their kids.

Most of the kids and most of the parents did not have any judo experience (though a few did). Basically, most were beginners. As such, the Family Judo class is very suitable for adult beginners (who weren't necessarily parents) as well.

Initially Sunday had only one session with kids, adults and competitors each having their own separate tracks. Today, we have two separate sessions. An earlier one is for kids, parents and adult beginners and the later one is for competitors. There are some overlaps among the attendants. Some competitors choose to come early and train with the beginners. And some beginners stay back to do some advanced training.

This is most welcome. But what's important is that each session has its own purpose and the people attending it know what to expect. For example, a competitor who attends the beginners' class knows that what we will be working on are the basics. Similarly, a beginner who attends the advanced class will know that it will be a more intense session.

So far, this has worked out really well. We will continue to fine-tune and improve our offerings over time.