The club committee met on 24th August to discuss 3 key projects. It is important to us that we keep
you up to date on their progress especially where it may impact you. Each of these initiatives is
designed to improve the experience of our members and their parents at the club.

1. Club Member Management Tool. This tool will replace current processes for managing club
membership including on-boarding new memberships, club trial training periods, agreement of
risk waivers, payment of training fees, training session attendance and so on. Thanks to club
Treasurer Peter Jennings and Vice-President Kate Peake for their huge efforts in undertaking a
thorough researching activity evaluating the options and producing a comprehensive report
with recommendations. A couple of issues still to be resolved with GymDesk and a few club
business rules to be defined prior to implementation. We intend to put together a
comprehensive transition plan prior to the roll-out of the new system which is planned for early
2027.

2. Club Survey. Thanks to Committee Member and Survey Project Manager Zsuzsanna Holley on a
great effort in producing the survey and evaluating the inputs. Thanks also to all those club
members and parents who responded – this is valuable feedback and we are planning actions to
address comments provided, again with the intent to improve your experience with the club and
better understand aspects of our programs. A summary of issues for the club’s follow-up are:
• Perception of coaching inconsistencies– better communication to athletes and parents
regarding coach composition for each class group so that there is a better understanding of
the planning and program coordination between coaches and the monitoring of athlete
progression. There is a designated Head Coach or 2 coaches, for each class or program;
however, senior support coaches step in to run the class whenever the Head Coach is
unavailable. Programs are coordinated between coaches and classes are structured and
progression is consistent. Concerns should be addressed with the Head Coach of each
program or with Rob or Kerrye, the club’s head coaches.
• Communication – use of whatsapp chat group in Mons, use of Gymdesk email groups when
implemented, continue with monthly newsletter. Future surveys will also use club iPad and
paper handouts
• Facilities – we are continually attempting to improve club facilities with a current grant for
heating and improved lighting pending, but other improvements are difficult due to Council
ownership and the significant costs. Concerns should be addressed to Committee members.
• More Classes – The club plan is for an additional Junior Beginner / Fundamental class to be
implemented on Tuesdays 5.00 – 6.00pm (to mirror the Thursday 5.00 – 6.00pm class) in
2027 and ideally an additional Mons class in 2028 but both of these goals are dependent on
the availability of suitable coaching resources.
• Child Safety – a priority for the club; we are actively progressing the project on risk
management and currently communicate progress and changes to policies through athlete
and parent education primarily in the monthly newsletter.
• Social – e.g. movie night. A volunteer coordinator to run events would be great
• Kata – interest indicated. Although the club does not run dedicated Kata lessons, we do
prepare senior athletes for higher gradings where Kata is a requirement. However, there is a
dedicated program on Kata run by Judo NSW on Saturday mornings at the NSW Judo Centre,
The Armory Silverwater. The club contact for this program is Dale, or if interested, please talk
to any club coach.
• Competition Preparation – this aspect of Judo is well covered for competition Juniors and
Seniors. Specific education and instruction in competition preparation and format will be
coordinated with the Fundamental Junior and Senior class coaches.
• Grading Progression – Club coaches currently monitor grading dates for individuals and hand
out grading sheets to allow athletes who train consistently and have progressed technically to
prepare for their next grading. The Judo Australia Grading policy guidelines includes the
minimum criteria for progressing through each grade. The JA website link is at
https://www.ausjudo.com.au/gradings/ and the specific document is at
https://www.ausjudo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/JA-GRADING-POLICY-March-
2023.corrs030924.pdf and also attached to the email accompanying this newsletter.
Please note that the document provides guidelines of minimum requirements. Budokan
coaches generally set a higher standard of requirement for our athletes. Any concerns should
be addresses with head coaches of each class group.
• Merchandise – to bring in new designed stock, we must remove long-held inventory. The club
will hold a 50% sale on all merchandise during classes on 14th to 17th September – this will be
a great opportunity to pick up club merch really cheaply. We will also look at more attractive
options for future club merchandise to minimise inventory held by the club.
• Volunteering – there was positive feedback in the survey regarding a willingness to help the
club. We would love a parent to come forward to help us to identify and coordinate volunteers
for running social events like movie nights, fundraising and merchandise sales etc. We can
help if you’re unsure of what do or how to proceed, but parent assistance in this area would
be very helpful to the committee. Please see any of the committee members at the club or Rob
or Kerrye if interested.

3. Club Sustainability Project. We are still progressing the corporate sponsorship project and any
revenue provided through this initiative is being allocated toward elite athlete support.
However, the club has prioritised a requirement to ensure that we retain our amazing pool of
head coaches (those directly responsible for each class / program). Without these coaches, we
would not be able to provide the unique and extraordinarily high level of coaching support to
our members. Budokan is a high-performance, community-based Judo club which thrives on its
deliberately shaped culture. Our culture blends excellence, inclusion, and character
development, so that every member, from beginner to elite athlete, grows both on and off the
mat. We believe that in this respect, we are a unique club and to ensure its sustainability and
longevity, we need to invest in our coaches. Many club members will not be aware that Budokan
is not a business, but a not-for-profit community club run by volunteers, all of us. The club pays a
meagre honorarium to head coaches of each of our classes /programs and support coaches and
to ensure we sustain our current coaching pool and also incentivise our best young athletes to
take on coaching roles in the club, we will be reviewing ways to increase honorariums to our
coaches. This will be achieved firstly through increasing our revenue via a training fee review,
noting that Budokan charges between one-third to one-half of the fees charged by other clubs.
Secondly, we will look at ways of reducing expenditure; for example, training fees and financial
support to our elite seniors and Juniors competing at Nationals. Changes will transition over a
couple of years and we will provide advice as we progress this activity so that there are no big
surprises.