MEET THE COACHING TEAM
Our coaches are fully qualified with the British Judo Association and hold Safeguarding and Protection Certificates, First Aid Certificates, and are DBS checked.
Head Coach: Mike Nugent - 3rd Dan - UKCC Level 3 Coach
Mike has been involved in Judo for over 30 years and has run several judo clubs in that time, an area champion during his competitive career and involved with England Youth training. Mike oversees all the coaching that takes place at Drake Judo Club, including setting technical theory and lesson plans for our other coaches. Mike personally takes charge of our ‘Squad’ session on Wednesday evenings and is also one of 3 examiners within DJC. Mike has a ‘Judo for All’ ethos which runs through the spine of our club believing that every child or adult deserves the same amount of time and support.
Junior Coach: Ross Taylor - 3rd Dan - UKCC Level 2 Coach
Ross started his journey in Judo 30 years ago as a 7-year-old novice. Since then he has been involved in coaching at several different clubs with judoka of all ages. Ross has twice been selected for the Great Britain Masters team and has two silver medals from National Championships. He oversees our Saturday morning classes in Plymouth with a focus on competition technique. Ross also runs our Sparkwell Classes and delivers
taster sessions to schools around the Plymouth and Tavistock area
Ross is one of our 3 examiners within DJC.
Elite Coach: Gary Gregory – 2nd Dan – UKCC Level 2 Coach
Gary takes care of the Elite side of our Judo meaning the players that are looking to make the step up to national level can benefit from Gary’s experience, his sessions focus on competition techniques and scenarios and many of our players have seen huge benefit from the work Gary has done with them, Gary is an England Judo Support coach. Gary is a competitive 2nd Dan and has won numerous National Medals himself subsequently becoming part of the British squad, he has been involved with Martial Arts for virtually all of his life. His record of developing players from novice to champion is unrivalled.
If you have a bad habit Gary will spot it a mile off and get it removed!
Elite Coach: Lewis Keeble - 4th Dan - UKCC Level 4 Coach
Lewis is one of the most successful players to ever come out of the West (he trained under Roger Downs) and was part of the golden generation which surrounded the 2012 Olympics (he was reserve in the U66 for the games)
He is a multiple time National Champion in cadet, junior and senior categories.
As an International he has taken medals in numerous world cups and won the African Open.
He has fought all over the world and on virtually every continent and is renowned by his peers for being one of the very best technical players.
As a coach he is a UKCC Level 4, spending time at university to achieve this.
Mark Adams: Senior Coach – 4th Dan – UKCC Level 2 Coach
Mark started his Judo career almost 20 years ago as a junior with Plympton St Maurice club, since then Mark has gone on to be one of the most successful players from the Western Area having won championships all over the UK as both a Junior and a Senior, he is a former British Number 1 ranked player as a senior and a former British Champion and has fought at many European and World events as a Master culminating in a Bronze Medal at the World Championships. Mark has also trained in Japan in some of the world’s top dojo’s, Mark is based in our dojo at FLO Martial Arts and coaches a variety of beginners, intermediates and advanced players.
Kylie Adams: Senior Coach – 3rd Dan – UKCC Level 2 Coach
Kylie began her Judo career at the age of 8 in Cornwall and through hard work and determination managed to achieve consistent National rankings, she has won many many different championships all over the UK and abroad. She is a two time former British Champion and a European medallist, she also represented GBR at the 2012 Olympic Test Event in London, as a competitive 3rd Dan she is one of the most highly ranked females in the area and has a passion to promote Ladies and Girls Judo which is her main focus here at Drake Judo Club, she is based in our dojo at FLO Martial Arts. Kylie is also an Examiner within DJC.
Junior Coach: Ros Lucas - 1st Dan - UKCC Level 1 Coach
Ros is well known within the Western Area under her maiden name Lucas. She was a member at the Launceston Club for many years and represented Great Britain at Pre-Cadet, Cadet and Junior levels, being selected for National Squads at all 3 age levels. Countless area titles and national and international medals make Ros one of our most successful individual players at Drake Judo Club. Ros is currently a support coach for the Western Area and also mat-side coaches for our players at competition passing on her considerable experience to our players at that level.
Junior Coach – Rob Hutton - 1st Dan – UKCC Level 1 Coach
Rob is originally from Kent and spent his junior years there before joining the Royal Marines, he is a former national medallist and being a lightweight is an important part of our junior coaching team, he is also still competitive and has taken numerous medals in the area and at Combined Services events, Extremely quick and agile his Judo is very technical and explosive.
Cornwall Coach: Steve Coles – 2nd Dan – UKCC Level 2 Coach
Steve has been practicing Judo for over 20 years and was part of the Great Britain squad as a cadet, he was also selected for the Great Britain Squad for Masters a few years ago, Steve is very passionate about understanding the movement and flow of technique and brings to the club his unique coaching skills, Steve has a deep Judo knowledge base and adopts a very Japanese style of coaching he attends session for both Seniors and Juniors
Junior/Senior Coach: Dan Brown – 1st Kyu – UKCC Level 1 Coach
Dan started Judo as a result of his son taking up the sport and has progressed very well since starting,
he is one of our founder members and remembers when we only had 7 players on our main class!
He is currently a 2nd Kyu Blue Belt and has won more medals at competition than any other Senior player.
Dan currently ‘floats’ and takes many sessions across all our centres, He is also a qualified Mat-Side Coach and can examine up to Orange belt
Junior Coach: Corey-Ann Lidstone - 1st Dan - UKCC Level 1 Coach
Corey-Ann is a Plympton girl and started Judo here in the city as a child. She is a rare 3rd generation player, with her Dad and Grandad being well known Plymouth players, a national medallist in her competing days, she trained under Roger Downs in Saltash, which is evident in her style of Judo and coaching, focusing on core strength, movement, positioning and overall gymnastics. Corey-Ann currently coaches the biggest classes here at Drake Judo Club at our Saturday morning Intermediates class. Extremely popular with our younger players.
Corey has been with DJC since our inception.
Bristol Coach: Gavin Whitfield – 1st Dan – UKCC Level 2 Coach
Gavin is Head Coach at our Bristol Satellite Class and is one of the most experienced coaches in the Area, having started Judo as a Junior picking up Area honours he took the unusual step of moving into coaching at a very young age whilst he was still in the prime of his competitive career, Gavin has coached at a number of clubs in the Bristol area and has now in a position to take on his own Drake club and build it around his own personal vision.
Gavin also has lots of experience of coaching players in competitions abroad and is a vital part of the Drake Judo Club coaching team in this regard, he has built Drake Judo Bristol into a well populated, fun, hardworking club
Dave Aston
Rowann Ford
Samantha Hamilton
Fran Roode
Amber Pascoe
Nick Down