{"id":810156,"date":"2026-03-07T13:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T13:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/810156\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T13:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T13:26:17","slug":"britains-female-fighters-festival-ijf-org","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/810156\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain’s Female Fighters’ Festival \/ IJF.org"},"content":{"rendered":"

International Women\u2019s Day arrives on Sunday 8th March, a major day in the sporting calendar, in all calendars; a day to take stock of where we are on the road to equality and a chance to celebrate some of the achievements of women in judo who give everything in so many different roles. Leaders, coaches, programme co-ordinators, athletes, administrators, medical staff; women now occupy roles at every level, to the great benefit of all our sporting communities.<\/p>\n

Now firmly established as a key date in the British judo calendar, the BJA ran their latest edition of the Female Fighters Festival, at the National Training Centre in Walsall, England. The BJA said, \u201cIt\u2019s a weekend centred around connection, confidence and community, bringing together female judoka of all ages and grades in an environment focused on enjoyment, learning and shared experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tHaving fun at the Female Fighters’ Festival in England.\n\t\t<\/p>\n

Karen Roberts, BJA Development Director, reflected on the development of the event in recent years, \u201cThe Female Fighters Festival is a programme that we\u2019ve been running for quite a few years now and, since its inception, it\u2019s just grown and grown and grown. It\u2019s been a way of trying to engage the female judo community; it\u2019s a really fun environment every year. It\u2019s not focusing on competition or fighting each other. It just focus\u2019 on having a good time and bringing everybody together to share in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is accepted that the majority of clubs around the world have fewer women than men, fewer girls than boys, and so this festival provides a rare and powerful opportunity to participate in judo activity on a tatami filled entirely with female judoka.<\/p>\n

Roberts added, \u201cSometimes there may be fewer girls on the mat than there are boys. So, it\u2019s nice to come to an environment where you can connect with girls from all over the country, from lots of different clubs, and make friendships that could last a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BJA explained further, \u201cAcross the weekend, that sense of belonging was clear, from first-time participants experiencing their very first judo session, to experienced competitors sharpening their skills alongside international medallists.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tEnjoying their first judo experience.\n\t\t<\/p>\n

The weekend includes a fine array of guest coaches from the worlds of elite sport and education. With the Commonwealth Games returning to Glasgow this summer, the 2026 festival\u2019s coaching line-up showcased a number of Commonwealth Games medallists from past editions. Sally Conway (won bronze for Scotland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games), Megan Fletcher (won gold for England in 2014), Natalie Powell (won gold for Wales in 2014), Nekoda Smythe-Davis (won gold for England in 2014) and Emma Reid (won gold for England in 2022) came together as an inspiring coaching team. Conway and Fletcher, for example, were rivals but are now close friends. They delivered dynamic and engaging technical sessions together.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tSally Conway, Natalie Powell and Megan Fletcher.\n\t\t<\/p>\n

Sally said, \u201cI flew in from Sweden; I was really looking forward to this weekend and to seeing all these young girls enjoying their judo, trying and learning new things and just making new friends as well. Everyone who came has met somebody else, someone different and, who knows maybe a friend for life. Megan and I led a judo session together, which was an amazing experience because we were competitors and now we\u2019re very good friends. To share this with Megan was just an amazing experience. The girls were having so much fun; it was great to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fletcher highlighted the importance of creating these shared experiences, \u201cI think it builds that confidence and new friendships; everyone came to enjoy judo, to get better. They all had a great time and that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

In closing, the British Judo Association wrote, \u201cFrom energetic warm-ups and technical masterclasses to situational randori and shared stories from the international stage, the Female Fighters Festival once again demonstrated the strength and spirit of women\u2019s judo. More than just a training camp, the festival continues to provide a platform for confidence, connection and community, ensuring that every girl who steps onto the tatami feels supported, inspired and part of something bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: British Judo Association.<\/p>\n

Photos: British Judo Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"International Women\u2019s Day arrives on Sunday 8th March, a major day in the sporting calendar, in all calendars;…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,389,2266,393,24732,24730,4884,24729,24728,24734,24731,24733,1144,20299,18041,712,93,16,15,1764],"class_list":["post-810156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-britain","tag-children","tag-education","tag-england","tag-federation","tag-fij","tag-great-britain","tag-ijf","tag-international-judo-federation","tag-jigoro-kano","tag-judo","tag-martial-art","tag-northern-ireland","tag-olympic","tag-peace","tag-scotland","tag-sport","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116188124915882832","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}