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Title [Martial Arts Globe] Physical activity is essential even during the pandemic, but do all parents have the funds
Case study: Resolving the consequences of the Covid-19
pandemic in the Judo Club Golovec from Slovenia Špela Lampe
Judo club Golovec (JCG) from
Slovenia is a boutique judo club with a broader mission to contribute to a
better quality of life and sustainable progress in the local community through
the use of judo. In June 2021, during the recovery period after the Covid-19
pandemic, together with a partner donor they provided 50 free judogis for
children and youth from vulnerable families. Slovenia
maintains the largest database on children's physical fitness in the world.
Since 1987, every year all primary and secondary schools in Slovenia
participate in a national surveillance system for the physical and motor
development of children and youth. With the help of the system data children,
youth and their parents can monitor their physical development. In the last two
years, there has been a drastic decline in children's motor skills. Compared to the year before the outbreak of Covid-19 and
the lockdown, data analysis (June 2021) show the largest decline in the physical capacity of Slovenian children
(by 18%) and the largest increase in the
proportion of obese children (by 30%) in the history of surveillance. The JCG responded immediately to the monitoring results.
When they began encouraging children and their parents to engage in physical
activity during and after the pandemic, as this is essential to their health,
they found that parents also have economic reservations about
involving their children in paid sports activities. The parents of JCG kids who
did not return after lockdown, exaplained there were suffering from economic
problems. At JCG, parents have to pay for
monthly judo training for their child, as well as a uniform (judogi) every year
or every two years. The management of the club, therefore, decided to prepare a
socially responsible project and find a donor.
They looked for existing open tenders that companies publish and
successfully offered their social responsible story to Slovenian Railways (partner donor). The goal of the project, which will be implemented by the end of 2021, is to provide regular physical exercises for vulnerable children and youth at JCG. Project goal and partner responsibilities are as follows. JCG will offer a space for judo practice, their special sports equipment (tatami), professionally trained judo teachers (sensei), graduates of the International Judo Federation (IJF) Academy, and a discount on the price of regular judo courses for children and youth. The partner donor (Slovenian Railways) will provide funds for the purchase of judo uniforms (judogi), which will be distributed free of charge to children and youth at JCG in order to relieve the family budget. "Judo is more than just learning combat
techniques. It is a comprehensive and wonderful system of physical,
intellectual, and moral education. In our club, we live by the principles of
judo and we always strive to create opportunities that are inclusive,
innovative, and whenever possible, inspirational.” Mrs. Nuša
Lampe, CEO, a 6th DAN IJF judo master, a graduate of the International Judo Federation (IJF) Academy JCG is regularly carrying out
development projects to strengthen the role of young people and adults in the
local community. They also participate in international educational consortia
of partners and prepare judo programs suitable for all generations of judokas.
The club has currently 150 active members and operates in eight locations in
Ljubljana and the surrounding area. In recent years, all training programs have
been updated in line with market demand, and educational activities have been
added, especially for those target groups not yet active in judo. Source / references G.
Jurak, S. A. Morrison, M. Kovač, B. Leskošek, V. Sember, J. Strel, G. Starc. A
COVID-19 Crisis in Child Physical Fitness: Creating a Barometric Tool of Public
Health Engagement for the Republic of Slovenia [Front Public Health; v.9;
2021] SloFIT:
a national monitoring system of physical and motor development in children and
youth https://en.slofit.org/what-is-SLOfit Judo
club Golovec: www.judogolovec.si Slovenian
Railways: https://potniski.sz.si/en/company-profile/ IJF
Academy: https://academy.ijf.org
All photos by Tilen Perko. ※ Views expressed in this writing are the author's own. |