Wolverhampton Judo Club had a double celebration on Wednesday 6th September when it marked its 40th year at Heath Town Baths and the success of achieving the Sport England Clubmark accreditation .

The Club received its Certificate from former Wolverhampton player, Densign White 6th Dan, Chairman of the British Judo Association and European Sports Director, when many of the past and present world-class athletes from the Club came together for the celebration.

Thousands of young people in the city are set to benefit from the milestone, which boosts standards of club administration. Sport England’s BJA Clubmark has been spearheaded to improve the way sport clubs work and support the development of young people. The aim of the initiative, is to ensure all clubs provide quality, safe, effective and enjoyable environments for all their players, parents, coaches, officials and volunteers and to share good ideas and ‘best practice’ between sports clubs.

The club, which has been run by Mac Abbotts and Dave Brooks, has produced a number of world-class athletes over the years, many of which have been drawn from the local area, having joined the club as youngsters at an early age from Heath Park School.

These included Densign White and Kerrith Brown who have represented the City and the UK at two Olympic Games, World and European Tournaments. Densign, when at Wolverhampton was a World bronze medallist, twice European silver medallist and Commonwealth Champion. Kerrith won a Bronze at the 1984 Olympic Games and Dennis Stewart won bronze at the 1988 Olympic Games. Another famous Wolverhampton Player was Elvis Gordon, World silver medallist, Double Commonwealth Champion, European Champion and the only British competitor to win Gold at the Shoriki Cup in Japan. Britain’s only men’s current World & European Champion, Craig Fallon, started at the Wolverhampton Club also went to Heath Park School and is now coached in Birmingham, by Fitzroy Davis, another ex-Wolverhampton judo player.

The club is still producing top athletes and has a number of established International youngsters who may be representing Great Britain at the London Games in 2012, are under the guidance of Billy Kelly. These youngsters have won medals at Commonwealth, National and Cadet European Championships, such as Gavin Davies current Commonwealth silver medallist and a previous European Cadet Champion; Laura Haynes four times National Champion and European Cadet Champion; Luke Hughes four times National Champion and at the age of 17 will be representing Great Britain in September at the European Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. In October, Luke and Gemma Howell aged 16, will be representing GB at the Junior World Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Gemma is five times National Champion and was 5 th at the European Cadet Championships.

Club Chairman Mac Abbotts, commented, “I am immensely proud of the many young people from the local community who have passed through our doors over the years. Our role is to offer the support of qualified Coaches and provide constant encouragement to our members, many of who have progressed to the highest levels of international competition and helped put Wolverhampton on the World Judo map.

Now after 40 years at the Baths home to many successful players the premises are closing and the club is currently negotiating with the Council for a new venue.

Club Treasurer and Joint Founder member Dave Brooks added, “Wolverhampton Judo Club is a sporting beacon in the region and clearly demonstrates just what the young people of the City can achieve, given the right opportunities and facilities. The club has been without question a wonderful asset to Wolverhampton. Other clubs around the country with no superstar players are having facilities built by their local councils costing as much as £4 million, with State of the Art facilities, we have never asked for a lot, just somewhere we can encourage kids to come and train”.