Ambitions

1. Finances

The current and future programme of Judoteam Groningen requires a substantial increase in income in the budget. This extra funding is needed to cover the training and guidance delivered by our coaches. At present coaches invest a disproportionate amount of their free time in these tasks. That time commitment and the related financial burden will grow over the next four years as the talent programme develops further, with more national and international training camps, and more support on and off the mat during training and competition. Support off the mat will also increase as we pay more attention to social and mental factors that affect training and competition. To achieve this we need greater financial scope. Our aim is to increase income over the next four years by attracting sponsorship (cash or in kind), grants from municipality and/or province, and other initiatives (such as provincial and local sport agreements, private sponsorship, organising international training camps, workshops, corporate training, and self-defence sessions and clinics).

2. Expanding and upskilling the coaching staff

The scale of the future talent programme calls for more coaches. That is necessary to ensure continuity and to share training and guidance duties more evenly. Judoteam Groningen aims to be an environment both for developing judoka talent and for ambitious coaches, whether they grow through placements or competitive judoka who choose a coaching career. An important focus is recruiting and training female coaches. That helps meet questions and needs specific to female judoka. This ties into this goal as well as goal 5 on culture within Judoteam Groningen and a safe sporting climate.

3. Expanding organisational support

Many organisational tasks, such as finance and membership administration, PR and communications, still fall to the coaches. Over the coming years we aim to build a team of volunteers (including parents and supporters) who can take on these tasks and relieve coaches as much as possible.

PR and communications are especially important so that more people hear about the achievements and initiatives of Judoteam Groningen. Our website will continue to be updated for this purpose, and we have launched a newsletter, available on our documents page. In this cycle we also want to build contacts with the media, both print and broadcast. One strong example is the “De Aanpakkers” series, starring our judoka Lars van Oostrum. It is a great series and a compelling story about a rising judoka with impressive results. (Read about De Aanpakkers here). Judoka from Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe train with Talentpartner Groningen, so we are building media contacts in all three provinces.

4. Further optimising talent development

In recent years we have made major strides in developing judoka on and off the mat. In the years ahead we want to keep building on the lessons learned. The following points are central:

• More focus on holistic development of the judoka: physical, mental and social
• Further agreements with schools for a good balance between sport and education
• Scouting for judo talent
• Structural monitoring and tailored guidance
• Talented athletes without NOC*NSF status yet: how do we support them?

5. Judoteam Groningen culture & safe sporting climate

Who do we want to be as Judoteam Groningen, and what do we want to stand for? A inspiring example on this theme came from Jacco Verhaeren (technical director of the French swimming federation during the Paris 2024 Olympics). In his view, a strong programme starts with clarity about culture: how you present yourself as a team, what you radiate, and what you stand for. From that you derive norms and values that also guide your physical training programme. Judoteam Groningen will give this process more attention in the period ahead.

Promoting a safe sporting climate is an important theme in judo. As Judoteam Groningen we stand for talent development with personal growth in a enjoyable and safe way. We want to embrace and implement the NOC*NSF safe sporting climate programme so that together we work towards a positive environment, athletic development, and talent development on and off the mat in a safe and sound manner. We will work on the following:

• Club-wide code of conduct for Judoteam Groningen
• Qualified trainers and coaches
• Confidential adviser for Judoteam Groningen
• Certificate of conduct (VOG) for volunteers

We are also planning a day with our judoka to explore together what a safe sporting climate means to them. From this perspective we are working on diversity in the coaching team so that the threshold for personal conversations stays as low as possible.

6. External support

With support from Topsport Noord and the network of Judoteam Groningen coaches we have strong contacts for specialised support in sports medicine (sports physician, sports physiotherapy), sport psychology, talent lifestyle coaching (via Topsport Noord learning lines), and scientific guidance through Human Movement Sciences at UMCG/RUG and Hanze University of Applied Sciences/Sport Science research group. In the period ahead we will take further steps to optimise the sport-study combination by developing information materials for mentors, study counsellors, pupil coordinators and educational specialists, showing what a typical sport-study week looks like for a Judoteam Groningen talent. We are also exploring exchange between these professionals to improve the sport-school balance. Another development area is scientific support for coaches and athletes. A good example is the Hanze University “Sportmonitor op Maat” research project, in which Judoteam Groningen is a partner, helping coaches collect and process physical, mental and social data on talented athletes so that training can be tailored as well as possible for each individual.