After having the great honour of being awarded his 1st Dan at the Budokwai in 1962 by Koizumi Gunji and Trevor Legett, Frederick Prosser has been awarded his 6^thDan.

Starting over sixty years ago in 1958, Fred has grown to be great ambassador for judo, fulfilling many roles from player, coach, referee and administrator. As long ago as 1973 he was the Chair for the Hertfordshire region of the British Judo Association. He went on to serve on the on the management committee of the British Schools Judo Association from 1984 to 2006, supporting Mick Leigh, 8th Dan in the creation and delivery of the star award scheme. 

Freds first involvement with Welsh Judo stems back to 1996, where he was responsible for coaching of special needs players in Wales. This is an area that is still very close to his heart, and he was a key driver in our bid to host the 2019 Adaptive British Open. He has been a Director of Welsh Judo for over ten years, appointed Chair in 2013. 

During the last eight years, he has overseen a period of unprecedented success. Off the mat we have tripled financial reserves, received consistently green ratings in our governance audit and seen an increase in revenue of 30%. On the mat we have seen our first Commonwealth Games Champion, world medalist and world number 1. At EYOF 2017, three members of Team GB were from Wales, the first time in our history as well as seeing an increase in participation at all Welsh judo events. 

Darren Warner, CEO Welsh Judo, commented:

“I’d like to thank Fred for his support and leadership during his time as Chair. He has achieved a great deal during his eight-year term and it has been an absolute pleasure to work with him”

As he continues to remain an extremely valued member of our Welsh Judo community, we would like express our deepest thanks to Fred for being a great servant to both British and Welsh Judo.

Welsh Judo will be announcing their new chairperson in the coming days.