In 2003 Police Judo started a small, humble family class at the Vancouver Police Department gym running once a week for kids from age 5 to 12 years old. The Police Judo programs have expanded over the years to include several clubs, hundreds of members (youth and adult) and a reach that has gone from local to the international stage. Police Judo instructors working with Odd Squad Productions (OSP) - a registered not-for-profit charity - designed to educate youth on risky behaviors, started to introduce physical literacy training for youth as part of their educational programming.
Judo is a perfect fit for Odd Squad as most of the principal OSP members are Police Judo Instructors, and we have extensive experience in bringing this interactive (and fun!) training to First Nations communities throughout BC, Alberta and into almost every community in the NWT over the past ten years.
In November 2020, the Junior programs for Burnaby Odd Squad Police Judo Juniors (6-8 year olds / 9-12 year olds) program were formally brought in under the Physical Literacy Pillar of Odd Squad Productions. S/Cst. Chin-I Hsiang manages the Odd Squad Junior programs and training clinics. The Odd Squad Police Judo Juniors is a certified Judo BC and Sport BC training program. In addition to the regular youth programs and classes, Odd Squad offers outreach to youth through clinics and training programs.
Our coaches continue developing their coaching skills with countless volunteer hours for mentoring and connecting youth through the regular judo classes, self-defence lessons, summer camps, day camps, and community-based judo demonstrations. Our outreach trips have ranged delivering physical literacy programs at local Indigenous communities to also exploring the cultural differences that connect us together through judo-based youth activities throughout BC and Canada, and all the way to Mexico, Europe and Asia.
Odd Squad Police Judo Juniors classes run in Burnaby at the Odd Squad Headquarters at 5487 Lane St on our state-of-the-art spring-based training floor.
Odd Squad can deliver and provide custom Police Judo camps and workout sessions for youth groups ranging in size from several kids to over a hundred youth.
By introducing structured judo training, Odd Squad finds that youth appreciate the opportunity to build on what they learn from the drug/gang education lectures, and they quickly pick up on the ethos of taking care of one’s partner, start developing interpersonal skills, goal-setting and learn resiliency skills along with self-confidence.
For more information on how the Odd Squad Team can assist your individual or organizational needs for Physical Literacy training, please contact info@oddsquad.com!
