The British Judo Coach Education Programme: Introducing Judo to an Older Population- for Safer Falling and Ageing well

This case study highlights the education of the British Judo Association’s (BJA) coaches to apply their skillset to a new demographic, that of an older population. All the population have the potential to fall, however those that are over 60 years old suffer the greatest number of fatal falls and 30% of people aged 65 and over fall at least once a year, this rises to 50% of all those aged 80 and over (Public Health England, 2017; WHO, 2021). The implications of this data show that falls are a global public health problem, with the costs from falls in the United Kingdom (UK), estimated at more than £2.3 billion per year for the National Health Service (NHS) (NICE, 2013). Dr Katrina McDonald and Dr Mike Callan were asked to consult with the BJA to co-produce a three-hour coach education module, that could be used as a revalidation event, where coaches were educated on utilising their current coaching skills with an older population. The module consists of two PowerPoint presentations, two practical tatami-based sessions and a supporting course handbook document. In the two practical sessions, a suitable syllabus was presented with 18 different exercises, that have been identified, grounded by evidence-based research, as suitable and relevant for an older population (Kamitani, 2018). Feedback from the participants on the initial pilot course, was “it was excellent” and participants observed how to adapt their coaching for an older population. Future recommendations are to offer this course to all current BJA club coaches and to offer support to assist with this exciting new initiative.