Stephen Beattie - Head Coach
My name is Stephen Beattie and I am founder and Current Head Coach of TeamTetsu in Northern Ireland. I have been coaching Judo for nearly 6 years but practising the art of Judo for nearly 10 years.
Qualifications/Achievemnts:
- UKCC Level 2 in Judo
-Safeguarding and Child Protection Certified
- First Aid in Sport Certified
- DBS Checked
- Young Coach of the Year 2016
Timeline:
Where is all began...
Previous to starting Tetsu I was a member of Kasei Judo Club in Carrickfergus. My coach was and still is Chris Donnelly who was also my Form Teacher and P.E Teacher in Ulidia Integrated College. At the age of 16 I was completing my Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award at which I had to complete a volunteering module. I asked Chris if he wouldn't mind if I helped him with the younger group. - This is when I knew I wanted to become a Judo Coach.
I coached at this club for 4 years before I opened up my own club, I still coach at his club which is now held in my old Secondary School - Ulidia integrated College.
Training to be the best...
At the age of 19 I completed my Level 1 Coaching Qualificaiton which enabled me to coach a class without being supervised. I wanted to do even better than that - I wanted to open up my own club. At this time I was studying at University but my real passion was Judo. A lot of friends, coaches and family wanted me to concentrate on my studies, but being as stubborn as I am I decided against them, I booked for my Level 2 Coaching Course which was held in Londonderry. It took place in the summer of 2014. I completed the course over 3 weekends and passed in September 2014, 4 months later Tetsu - School of Judo was born.
Demonstrations/First Class...
Leading up to my first class I visited 3 schools in Larne. St. Anthony's Primary School, Cairncastle Primary School and Larne and Inver Primary School. My biggest obstacle for starting my own club was mats. Judo mats can cost a lot of money and it is the biggest barrier which stops coaches from opening up a club. However, my coach who very kindly lent me his Judo mats he had for his club. I packed 23 mats into the back of my Citreon C4 and started doing Demonstrations in each school. Two of which I started afterschool classes in.
I started my first every Judo class in Larne Leisure Centre on Sunday 8th Febdruary 2015. I was able to use the centres mats which was brilliant. On the first class I had 18 kids, now I have up to 250 kids. After only 6 weeks of coaching in Larne Leisure centre I wanted to go into Primary Schools. SO, I contacted a few Primary Schools and they invited me in to do a Judo Demonstration. I started up two aftershcool classes in Larne, one which is in Cairncastle Primary School and is still going to this day.
I thought it was about time I bought some of my own Judo mats. At this time I was only working in a Restuarant, doing Judo and studying too. However, instead of spending my student loand on my studies I was able to buy my first set of Jigsaw mats. Neadless to say my lecturers werent too happy when I arrived without any books to class.
Afterschool Programme...
With my new mats I was able to set up multiple Judo classes in Primary Schools in Larne. However, I decided I wanted to go into smaller towns which didn't have many sport clubs for the kids. That is when i visisted Ballyclare. Mrs Matthews from Fairview Primary School allowed me to use their sports hall. Now Ballylcare is my biggest Judo class to date. I currently run classes in Ballyhenry Primary School, Acorn Primary School, Greenisland Primary School, The Model Primary School and Fairview Primary School.
YOUNG COACH OF THE YEAR!
On January 2016 I was nominated for Young Coach of the Year by a good friend of mine and mentor Mark Montgomery. I am the current and only Young Coach of the Year in Northern Ireland.