MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE

After the review of the town hall meeting report and survey conducted by the Membership Committee, the Board has identified four priorities that will be our focus over the next two years. Our four identified priorities are as follows:

  1. Membership engagement.
    • ensure all practicing judoka are members of Judo Ontario
    • improve the membership registration process and
    • improve web site content to focus on member-specific issues
  2. Dojoshus' (Club Owner/Operator) engagement.
    • ensure Dojoshus are aware of their students’ membership status with Judo Ontario
    • ensure Dojoshus feel they are receiving benefits from Judo Ontario
    • implement/facilitate the ability of Dojoshus to contact their students either through mail, e-mail or web-based tools and
    • implement location-based services such as Google maps to direct interested prospects to local Dojos.
  3. Market awareness to increase membership at the local dojo
    • increase awareness through social media using sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube
    • enhance profile through public activities and tradeshows such as Toronto Pro SuperShow and
    • increase awareness through established channels such as magazines, news and multimedia outlets.
  4. Improved communications to the membership
    • the re-designed Judo Ontario newsletter is a proactive response to the ongoing concern for improved communication in our association. Thanks to the editor Anne Wimmi and to all those who have contributed articles. We invite all members to share their judo stories by submitting articles.

I would like to thank Joe Serianni and Sandra Greaves for their great work in gathering the thoughts and concerns of our membership to help us implement a plan that better meets the needs of our membership and builds a stronger Judo Ontario. The Board has already implemented plans to address many of the initiatives listed above and will be rolling out plans to focus on these priorities over the next 12 months.

I am also pleased to announce that we will be re-introducing the Ontario Junior Olympics on Saturday, June 18th for U9, U11 and U13s at the Metro Convention Centre in conjunction with the Toronto Pro SuperShow. There will be many martial art tournaments and demonstrations taking place in 75,000 square feet of space at the same time. Check out the Judo Ontario web site for more information.

Judo Ontario will be hosting its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on September 18, 2011 at the Sport Alliance of Ontario in Toronto. In conjunction with the AGM, there will be a Dojoshus’ professional development weekend. We are hoping through this initiative to have increased participation and engagement at this year’s AGM.

I would like to wish our Senior Judo Team all the best as they head off to the Nationals in May to proudly represent Judo Ontario.

Yours in Judo,
Brian Kalsen, President