Sport Matters in Surrey General Observations Surrey County Judo has it's own committee with representatives for competitions, refereeing, publicity, coaching and male and female squads as well as the usual committee posts and agree totally with the principles, objectives and aims of the Strategy. Objective 1 - Increase participation in Sport by young people A number of the judo clubs within the County are school based. Judo is one of the sports involved in the Surrey Youth Games and has been since it's conception, and the Sport rules are tailored as a developmental tool for our younger, less experienced players. The age catered for at the local clubs is from 5 years with competition commencing at 8 years, with the junior (-16) sections being the strongest at the majority of clubs. Objective 2 - Provide sufficient quality facilities for Sport in Surrey There is a judo club in almost every town within the County. What is severely lacking is a venue to hold the major County events and permanent mat facilities. At present, the Surrey events are held at Westcroft Leisure Centre in Carshalton, who do not have sufficient matting for our requirements, or Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, which is in London. The insufficient mats at Leisure complexes creates problems as we rely on the goodwill of clubs and their members to provide the mats, transport them to the venue and return them afterwards. This causes the mats to get damaged, long days for those assisting and also cost in transportation. Crystal Palace is a suitable venue for our events but is expensive and run down and we have long complained that it is not within the County. There is no facility within Surrey that caters for our needs. The Spectrum Leisure Centre is being used for a Police National Judo event in September 2001, but even they do not have enough mats and again the local clubs will need to assist with this. Sussex County have, for many years, had a contract with Worthing Leisure Centre to store their County's mats and to run a certain number of events per year. This has resulted in Worthing hosting Area and National events that has obviously bolstered the income to the Borough. Surrey is seriously behind their neighbours in providing such facilities. Surrey County judo requires a permanent mat area at a suitable venue to hold County, Area and National events. Objective 3 - Seek a high level of quality in the management of sports facilities At a local level, most clubs have no problems with the management of their particular sites. However, if judo is to continue to thrive, then the Leisure Centre management need to provide a service as outlined above. For every one junior competitor two adults support the sport. When an event attracts 550 players, as the last Surrey tournament did, it is obvious that the financial benefits to the host Leisure Centre on entry fees and refreshments is substantial. Objective 5 - Identify and support Surrey's talented sports performers A number of our local clubs have players competing at Area, National and International level (e.g. Camberley, Pyrford, Croydon, Surrey Police). Camberley Judo Club is a recognised centre of excellence for the Sport and this provides the facility for our top athletes to train a very high level. Objective 6 - Secure adequate and sustainable funding Surrey County Judo has sufficient funds generated from entry fees to Competitions to run the County events. We do not claim any subscriptions from the Clubs and receive no additional funding from County or National bodies. Each Club within the County is totally self-sufficient. This policy causes concerns on some occasions when the hire of venues outweighs the entry fees collected and the County also have to purchase items such as new mats. However, it is the County system that Clubs should not have to pay for the privilege of being able to take part in our sport. Objective 7 - Co-ordinate the efforts of Surrey's sports providers Judo would welcome the need for a co-ordinated effort on behalf of ALL sports. As it is not part of the Active Sports framework, it is often overlooked at Sports meetings. We are lucky that the sport is included in the Youth Games, and believe that only London also include judo in this event, and therefore at least we get some recognition from the County. Any progress made at National level in supporting judo is much appreciated and I can see that the Sports Strategy may be a way forward. Objective 8 - Communicate the availability of sports opportunities Surrey judo has it's own web site as do a number of individual clubs. The County site provides news, results and a list of all Clubs within the County and contact details for those clubs. The County also produces a newsletter once every 3 months, which is circulated to all local clubs. Reports often appear in newspapers about local successes and this goes some way to publicising the sport. Surrey also has members on various Area and National committees who are well placed within the sport to obtain information.