JACK PETCHEY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The Jack Petchey Foundation was established by the successful East London entrepreneur, Jack Petchey, in 1999. It is now among the largest and most influential London charitable foundations. It gives grants on projects and programmes that benefit 11-25 year olds. The Foundation is eager to help young people take advantage of opportunities and play a full part in society.
The club is on the 'Bronze Award' with three awards presented every year. Winners are voted for by the students. The award is for students aged between 11 and 25 in recognition of achieving the three E's:-
Effort; What you put into the club through training and support
Endeavour; Working through difficulties, striving to achieve your goal
Exceptional achievement; This is about the outcome of the other two Es.
The winners receive a certificate from the Foundation and a Cheque to be spent on the club or other students. At the Annual Awards ceremony in November, a formal presentation of a special boxed medallion will be made to the year’s winners.
Previous years winners can be found on the 'Previous Award Winners' Page under Jack Petchey Awards.
Jack Petchey Achievement Award Winner - Spring 2026 - George Bender
George Bender
George is one of our newer students, who has been attending twice a week since he joined with his brothers. Unfortunately he has sustained a number of injuries from his other sport of Rugby.
The most recent injury to his knee kept him off of the mat for over 6 weeks just as he was preparing to take his first grading along with his brothers. His brothers took their grading and passed.
However on his return he has worked extremely hard to get back to where he was, working on both his theory and techniques with the added pressure of his brothers having already graded.
At the end of November 2026 he took his grading and moved up two full grades to a junior 5th Ko-Kyu (Yellow Belt), surpassing his brothers.
He is always polite and regularly seeks to develop his judo further. He has also taken on helping with the Little Dragons class for the 3 to 5 year old students and helps stack the mats at the end of training and ensuring the store cupboard is correctly put away.
Jack Petchey Achievement Award Winner - Summer 2025 - Pandora Caton
Pandora Caton
Dora has been doing Judo for 5 1/2 years and in the last year has greatly improved both her knowledge and execution of the techniques taught.
Initially not a confident fighter, but as her confidence has grown, so has her shiai (fighting).
She is one of the club's most regular attendee, training on both a Wednesday and a Saturday.
She has been the club's "Student of the Month" a total of three times and the club's "Most Improved juvenile of the Year" in 2021.
She is also part of the display team and has been for several years. She works hard at training and tries to improve with every lesson.
A valuable and solid member of the club whose behaviour is always exemplary. A model student.
Dora has decided to pay for club members to go for a session at AirJump, which is a trampoline type park.
Jack Petchey Achievement Award Winner - Autumn 2025 - Jamie Bender
Jamie Bender
Jamie is one of our newer students, who has been attending twice a week since he joined the club with his brothers. Initially not a confident student or fighter, as his confidence has grown, so has his shiai (Controlled fighting).
Although at times he needs some encouragement, once on the mat and warmed up, he then works hard at training and tries to improve with every lesson.
He recently undertook his first grading, which was successful and a testament to the effort he has put in. A valuable and solid member of the club whose behaviour is always exemplary.
The award is for his perseverance given that at times his motivation wavers.
He has decided to spend the money paying part of the cost to hire a coach so that the club can attend an invitational competition in Birmingham. Without this support instead of a squad of 13 going, the club would not have been able to enter and the cost to each member is minimal. The club came second overall.