Raising Funds for Judo Clubs

All Judo clubs could use some extra cash, and often have fund raising events to generate extra revenues for the club. Interactive Sport has developed a couple of new programs to help clubs raise money from our DVD products.

Wholesale Program
We offer wholesale packs to clubs for resale, packs of 10, 25 and 60 DVDs are available with very deep discounts. These can be sold at tournaments or events by a club to raise money or sold to club members. Some clubs use the DVD as part of a “sign up package” for new young students.

Affiliate or commission based program - Earn 35% comissions !
This program pays commission to clubs, based on sales they refer to us. The program is easy, simple to use and it only takes moments to sign-up and get started, There is no membership fee, no minimum to sell and nothing to buy. It’s completely FREE. This is open to all Judo Clubs in the UK, USA and Canada (Expanding to other regions in the future)

Here is how it works:
1. Fill out our on-line registration to sign up
2. We review you application (basically confirm you are a Judo Club)
3. We provide a free club listing on our website with a “buy now” button next to your club
4. Direct your club members to our site and your club listing, they click on the link and buy the DVD from us, we pack it and we ship it for you.
5. Your club is automatically credited with 35% commission !!

All Clubs get a free listing so NO WEBSITE IS NEEDED to participate, but if you do have a Club Website then (optionally) you can paste a banner or link on your site (which we provide) and anyone who clicks through from your site and makes a purchase will earn your club 35% commission.

You can check your sales, commissions earned and payments made to you online via your own account login, and we settle all accounts monthly so you receive commission payments quickly.

We will even supply a FREE copy of the DVD to all clubs who we approve, so clubs can screen it for members to help generate sales.

Please goto http://www.interactive-sports.com/interactive-sports.com/ and click on the big “club listings button” at the top of the page to see how the program works.

Interactive DVD Grapples with Junior Judo

Multimedia production company, Interactive Sport (http://www.interactive-sports.com ), is releasing a very 21st century teaching aid for children learning the ancient Japanese art of judo. The debut UK release for the company, 'Learn Judo with the Gokyo Gang', is an interactive CGI training DVD designed specifically to keep young judo practitioners motivated and entertained between coaching and practice sessions.

The DVD is a new concept in interactive and instructional training for children’s sports. With judo, in particular, the products currently on the market are compilations of adults performing advanced techniques, ideal for experienced judo aficionados but confusing and intimidating for children new to the sport.

In contrast, 'Learn Judo with the Gokyo Gang' combines friendly 3D animated characters, live video and selectable camera angles, so that children can see a technique from all directions – something they cannot do in class.

Interactive Sport co-founder and professional judo instructor, Steve Hutton, explains: “I’ve taught judo to thousands of children over the last 10 years but unfortunately the dropout rate is very high. If they’re only attending a short weekly lesson, in a big mixed ability group, it’s easy to see why kids lose interest and become de-motivated. And the products currently on the market simply aren’t suitable for, say, a seven year old beginner.”

The DVD set is broken into six sections, with each disk tailored towards the knowledge needed to achieve a specific belt grade. The programme helps children learn and understand the Japanese terminology used in judo, and the DVD’s easy to understand menus and navigation are designed with children in mind.

Steve Hutton adds: “Our DVD isn’t designed to replace hands on coaching – it’s not ‘teach yourself judo’. But it will help kids maintain interest in the sport and advance quickly, and it’s great fun too!”

Judo has been heralded by the British Judo Association as the ideal sport for inner city kids, giving them a focused and legitimate physical outlet for aggression. The sport is credited with improving strength, flexibility, balance and coordination, as well as developing discipline, respect, confidence and mental control.

The only martial art discipline recognised as an Olympic sport, judo has received £10.2 million from Sport England for grass-roots development over the next four years. Interactive Sport’s DVD will complement the training provided through the judo club network.

Nicola Fairbrother, MBE – 1992 Olympic silver medallist and 1993 Judo World Champion – says: "It’s an achievement to break down judo moves in a technically correct way that’s also good fun for kids. These DVDs are a great enhancement to instruction and a way of motivating youngsters, and they’re highly recommended.” 
More information and a video trailer can be found on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCU8SbHHAd4  
A free copy is available to editors on request. Please call Steve Hutton on 01256 470195 or email steve.hutton@interactive-sports.com

Ends

Notes for editors
Formed in 2009, Interactive Sport has its UK and European office in Basingstoke, Hampshire, and Americas office in California. The offices share DVD production and product distribution to their respective markets. The company provides direct sales to end users via its website and wholesale distribution to judo clubs and retail outlets. In addition to DVDs it also provide a range of high quality custom judo suits.  
Co-founder Steve Hutton is a full time judo coach, Black Belt 1st Dan, level 3 senior coach, instructing 400 - 500 young students weekly.

For further information and DVD copies, please contact:
Steve Hutton, managing director, Interactive Sport Ltd
Tel: 01256 470195
Email: steve.hutton@interactive-sports.com
Site: www.interactive-sports.com

New Trailer for Judo DVD #1

We have just released the trailer for the first DVD in the Judo Series "Learn Judo with the Gokyo Gang"

Finding a Judo club near you

Interested in Judo? trying to find a club?

In the USA there seems to be a Taekwondo club in every strip mall, but few Judo clubs. This link is useful http://judoinfo.com/contacts/browse.php if you’re having problems finding a local Judo club. This is a fairly comprehensive and easily searchable online database of Judo clubs throughout the world.

For children there is another interesting quarterly publication for kids 5 and up. “KokaKids Magazine” http://www.kokakids.co.uk they also have a searchable online database of Judo clubs http://kokakids.co.uk/nd-judopagesfac3.asp

If you have a Judo Club and are not listed in either of these databases, they both let you upload your club info.

Hope these links are useful..

New Interactive 3D DVD's to help children learn Judo

Interactive Sport has developed a unique supplemental teaching aid for Judo coaches, clubs and parents to maintain the motivation and interest of young children learning Judo.

Why Judo?

Judo is an excellent sport for children. Translated Judo means "the way of gentleness" because its a combination of throws and holds with none of the violent punching and kicking associated with many other Martial Arts. In fact, Judo is now considered a "Sport" rather than a martial art and is the only “martial art” discipline recognized as an Olympic sport today.

This makes Judo a well suited sport for very young children, boys and girls alike as it’s generally much safer. Unfortunately (in the USA anyway) it is a little harder to find a Judo class among the many Karate, Taekwondo, and Jujitsu classes being offered. Jujitsu is very similar but adds to the traditional Judo throws and holds with more direct attack techniques involving hitting and kicking. Judo is a more formal and disciplined sport using traditional techniques and Japanese terminology, whereas Jujitsu tends to be less formal and uses English terminology.

Aside from self defense, Judo teaches discipline, respect and self-confidence, and is a great way to remain fit and healthy, all of which are attributes all young children today should be educated in. Judo is an ideal sport for any child 5 and up to participate in, that is providing you can find a local Judo club.

Interactive Sport was founded in part by a professional Judo Instructor, who has been teaching children Judo for many years. He was searching for a Judo DVD (or Video) he could recommend to the parents of his students to help maintain interest and motivation in the sport. There were no products available that were suitable for the young "beginner" audience. Sure, there are lots of Judo books available (which most children will not bother to read) and a lot of videos and DVDs showing adults performing a myriad of advanced Judo techniques, and adult competition footage. Certainly entertaining and useful for experienced Judo "aficionados", but only confusing and intimidating for say a 7 year old just beginning the sport.

With nothing readily available we decided to found Interactive Sport and produce something we felt would address the needs of younger students aged 5-teen. Eventually we plan on branching into other sports, but Judo is our first project.

The DVDs are not designed to replace a Judo class providing personal instruction, its not a "teach yourself Judo" DVD, far from it. Nothing can replace professional instruction in a safe environment. These are designed only as a supplemental teaching aid which can be used by students between lessons to help reinforce what they are taught in class. Think of it as "interactive" homework.

Unfortunately, the dropout rate for sports of this kind is very high for youngsters. Often, most sports activities are initially approached with unabated excitement and eagerness, but the novelty often wears off quickly, children lose interest, eventually dropping out. Aside from the disappointment, parents are left with a large investment in kit and lessons, not to mention the time spent taking them to and from classes. What causes this loss of interest? Well, we think there are a few key contributing factors.

• Low frequency of the lessons – Judo lessons are normally in the form of a weekly class for a couple of hours. The time in between lessons is idle time with no further interest, practice or attention spent on the sport.

• Group learning environment – Classes usually have many students at different levels, where some advance more quickly. It is difficult for the instructor to spend quality time with a student who needs additional help in this group teaching environment.

• Motivation – Children require constant motivation. It is easy to be intimidated in a group setting when first starting Judo lessons, and any failure to advance will often cause a rapid loss of interest.

Interactive Sport addresses some of these Issues with the launch of a brand new style of supplemental teaching aids in the form of fun and easy to use Interactive DVDs.


Focused content – Each DVD is goal driven, focused on achieving the next belt grade. Each subsequent DVD builds on the accumulated knowledge for the next belt grade and so on. This keeps the children focused on the specific things they need to learn to achieve the next higher belt grade. While they may be taught a wide variety of techniques in class, which are all important, the DVD reinforces most of the things they need to know and understand to get that next color belt. The excitement, reward and sense of achievement of getting the next belt color are priceless motivation for children to continue with the sport.

Fun 3D characters – We use lovable animated 3D characters in a virtual Dojo to demonstrate each technique. The female voice over is relaxed, easy to understand, informative and non-intimidating. The 3D characters are important for the younger viewers who more readily bond to fun “cartoon-like” characters who never intimidate. We also provide 4 camera angles of each 3D technique, so the children can look from all angles – something they cannot do in class when shown a technique. We run the 3D action slightly slower than normal speed [not so it is noticeable] so the techniques are easier to comprehend and follow.

Terminology – The children need to learn and understand the Japanese terminology used in Judo. We have a section on the DVD where they can see, hear and read the Japanese terminology as well as learn the English translations.

Live Video – When the children select a specific technique to study on the DVD they can see the 3D characters perform the technique, with voice over instruction. They can also play a live video clip of real children demonstrating the same technique a few times (sometimes not always perfectly). It is better they see children their own age rather than well accomplished black belts showing very aggressive technically perfect execution - that refinement can come later. What’s important for a beginner is to maintain interest, motivation and not be intimidated.

Easy to use menu system – We opted for an interactive DVD format because almost all families have a TV set with DVD player and remote, which children can readily use. (The DVD can also be played in a computer) We wanted to stay away from a CD Rom that requires a PC as parents are not always comfortable (or willing) to give up the family computer for the children to play with.

Designed with children in mind, the DVD has very easy to understand menus and navigation. This lets the children choose exactly what they want to see rather than having to play through the complete DVD, or fast forward or select chapters to find what they are looking for.

Coming Soon!
We are currently market testing the first Judo DVD in focus groups with children and parents to fine tune the navigation and get valuable feedback, which has been very positive so far. We plan to have the first DVD in the series available for purchase in September 2009.


Please visit our website for more information
http://www.interactive-sports.com


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