Your Summer Break, sorted
Two activity sheets, two books, and two solo drills to keep judo alive over the holidays. Take what you need.
Summer holidays are here.
The dojo empties out. Kids scatter. And somewhere, the judo they spent all year building starts to fade. The Japanese terminology. The movement patterns. They begin forgetting they are judoka.
Some of them won’t come back in September.
That’s not drama. It’s just what happens when six weeks of summer sit between a child and the mat.
Sensei Vince Skillcorn, who runs a club of over 500 members and specialises in helping coaches build sustainable dojos, put it plainly when I interviewed him earlier this year: “If members only think about judo when they are physically on the mat, engagement is shallow.”
The fix isn’t more classes. It’s giving kids and parents something to do with judo when they’re not at the dojo. Something they actually want to do.
So I’ve pulled together the best Koka Kids resources for exactly this moment. Activity sheets they can do on a long, hot afternoon. Books they can flip through on the sofa. Solo drills they can practise in the garden. All designed to keep that thread alive between now and September.
A handful are free for everyone. The rest are part of the KK+ Library — and if you’re a free subscriber, this is exactly the kind of moment a paid subscription pays for itself. One summer of keeping kids engaged, and you’ve got them back on the mat in September instead of starting from zero.
First, a quick word about our sponsors, Pembee.
The Koka Kids Coach Newsletter is proudly sponsored by Pembee. Pembee is an online booking system that helps grassroots judo clubs cut through the admin that eats into actual coaching time. It’s free for 30 days, with 25% off for the Koka Kids family.
What do other judo coaches think of Pembee?
Here’s a post about when I trialled Pembee to see if it’s a tool that actually saves time and how easy it is for a coach to set up.
Coach Mark Fricker has been using Pembee for the last few years. Here is how it has helped him get his time back.
OK, let’s get back to the topic of keeping kids engaged and thinking of judo by using some off-the-mat tools. Here are some you might like:
Print-and-go activity sheets
Learn Judo Terminology 🔓
A downloadable activity sheet that helps children learn Japanese judo words. Crosswords, word matches, the kind of thing a child can do on a sunny afternoon and still feel connected to the dojo. Accompanies the Learn Judo Terminology: 85 Judo Words book, but works perfectly well on its own. Free for everyone.
Learn the Judo Moral Code🔓
An activity sheet built around Jigoro Kano’s Moral Code. Helps children understand each value — courage, respect, friendship — and how they apply at school, at home, and in the dojo. A good one to send home at the end of term, when those values are freshest. Free for everyone.
These two are free for everyone. Print them, send them home, see how your kids respond. The next four resources — the books, Shadow Judo, and the Uchi-Komi Challenge — are how you turn a one-off worksheet into a whole summer of engagement.
Books that keep judo alive at home
No partner needed. No mat needed. Just a sofa, and a book that makes judo feel like theirs — even when the dojo is closed.
Learn Judo Terminology: 85 Japanese Words
The book that goes with the activity sheet above, and then some. Eighty-five judo words with illustrations that make the Japanese stick. Kids can flick through it on their own, test themselves, and walk back into the dojo in September still knowing their Obis from their Zoris.
There’s a free online version if you want a preview. But the paperback is the one that ends in the dojo bag, and in the car on the way to camp. Available on Amazon.
Jigoro Kano and the Moral Code
Eight values — courage, respect, friendship, honour, modesty, politeness, self-control, sincerity — each explained through stories and examples a child can recognise from their own life. Not a technique book. More a why-we-do-this book. The kind of thing a parent and child can read a page of at bedtime and actually talk about. Available in paperback on Amazon.
Drills that judoka can do safely at home on their own
Shadow Judo (Tandoku-Renshu) 🔒
Shadow Judo is used widely in Japan. During warm-ups, judoka spend up to twenty minutes moving around the mat, practising solo, against their shadows. I brought it into my own training after spending a month in Japan, and the great thing about Shadow Judo is that it can be done by absolutely anyone — any age, any level — and kids love it.
The KK+ resource includes a step-by-step teaching card and a certificate. Send it home and tell them to practise in the garden. No partner needed. No mat needed. Just a bit of grass and a shadow.
Summer Uchi-Komi Challenge 🔒
Five levels, starting at 100 Uchi-Komi and building to 2,500. Kids tick off each level over the summer — solo, against elastic bands, or alongside the Shadow Judo resource. Every level completed earns a certificate to bring back to the dojo in September and put on the dojo wall. Five printable certificates included. KK+ members only.
Take the Uchi-Komi Challenge — KK+ members →
Why KK+ pays for itself this summer
A child who drifts away over summer costs your club in lost membership fees, month after month. One of those, and a KK+ subscription has already paid for itself. The subscription pays you back in time you’d otherwise spend your own evenings creating resources from scratch.
If you’re running summer camps, I wrote a whole post on that too: Your Summer Camp, Sorted has six drills from an Olympic champion, an IJF referee, and three national team coaches — all ready to drop straight into your camp.
Grab a couple of these resources, and give your judoka a reason to remember they’re a judoka this holiday.
See you on the other side of summer.
I will be taking a break in August, and be back with you in September.
All the best,
Nik x