Borders judoka Rick Kenney has added another notch to his already bulging red and white belts.
The 60-year-old has recently been elected as executive president of the Commonwealth Judo Association and is keen to work towards judo being made a permanent sport in the Commonwealth Games.
A former chairman of JudoScotland and vice-chair of the British Judo Association, along with serving two terms as vice-chair of the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland, Rick is the man to make these things happen.
He told The Southern: “I look forward to developing judo across the Commonwealth over the next few years and am sure that the Glasgow Commonwealth Games will showcase our sport across the world.”
The role of CJA executive president is a demanding one, with some 73 Commonwealth countries having involvement in the sport of judo at all levels.
Judo has been one of Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth sports with gold medals won in Auckland in 1990, where Rick was the team coach, and then in Manchester in 2002, where Graham Randall won gold.
Judo was a demonstration sport in Edinburgh at the 1986 Games, when Rick was also the team coach, and due to its success, the sport was then included in the following Games.
Judo is again back on the Glasgow 2014 programme with full men’s and women’s teams competing, which will be a great opportunity to develop the sport in Scotland and across the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth Judo Championships now embrace all age groups – cadets, juniors, seniors and masters, and plans are under way for special needs judo being added to future programmes.
“Scotland has a long tradition in judo at Commonwealth level stretching back to 1986 and I see a bright future for the sport,” added Rick.
Rick was a member of the CJA executive from 1990 and was elected as senior vice-president in 1998.
He attended Commonwealth Judo Championships in this position all over the world, and was chairman of the organising committees when Commonwealth championships were held in Scotland in 1998 and 1986. In total he has been involved with five Commonwealth Games in various capacities.