Last weekend see Ford Judo Club travelling to Holland to compete in 2 competitions, 1 in Belgium for the Flanders Cup and the other in Holland to Meilo. Saturday at Flanders was a mixed day, with some players looking a little out of salts while some strong performances were given by others. Kelly Staddon, although not complaining was feeling poorly and lacked her usual sparkle, even fighting well under par, it showed her mettle by getting in to the final but was not able to perform to her usual standard but credit to her still took silver.
Dru Oakes fighting Europes number one first fight was caught cold and was armlocked early in to the fight, although putting in a good performance on his second fight was unable to progress further.
Tom Williams got a couple of good wins under his belt before meeting Belguims number 1 player, unfortunately Tom received a penalty near the end of their fight for a infringement they were both doing, Tom had no choice but to chase the score. A good performance from Tom who is in a transition period trying to address his style of fighting..
Both Matthew Kavanagh and Richard Jackson fought well under their normal standard but this was accepted as a bad day and redemption was possible as they were both entered in the comp the next day..
Frankie Goulding had a good day, giving away a few kilo's in his category he never looked out classed in any of his fights. His semi final fight went in to golden score after the referee's neglected to award what was in my opinion a score before the final time. The fight went against Frankie in golden score but a good performane by Frankie.
He went on to win the bronze medal, giving a strong performance and some good judo..
Sunday at Meilo was a good day as judo was concerned. In my opinion it was some of the best judo I had seen from the age groups attending. Many ippon scores were being seen on each of the 6 mat areas and I believe this spurred on the Ford players to raise their game.
Charlie Jackson was the first to fight Having a bye first fight, with restrictions in place Charlie had to tighten up his performance, and he certainly raised his game, winning the next 3 fights to take gold.
Matthew and Richard were fighting at the same time but there timing was good as one finished the other was going on. Matthew had an extremely hard fist fight with his opponent attacking with strong seoi nage's but Matt was able to ride them and controlled the fight and went on to win. losing out in the semi finals Matt dug deep to put in a great performance to win the bronze medal.
Richard had a bye first fight and then caught his next opponent with a fast ippon seoi nage for ten in the first 30 seconds of the fight, next was the semi finals and again Richard dominated with his grips and unsettling his partner with some good judo.
Richards transition work in the final was superb and good to watch. After a knockdown Richard was able to turn his partner with a sangaku turnover, although Richard held on long enough for a yuko score his opponent escaped only for Richard to repeat the feat and hold for ten..
A contrast in the boys performances from the previous day, but it was more of a reflection on what they are capable of acheiving....
Well done to all, a great weekend overall..
Bill...
Thursday 30 October 2008
Thursday 16 October 2008
A Band Nationals
Sunday the 5th of October see 3 players from Ford Judo Club travel to Walsall to take part in the under 12 National Championships. Charlie Jackson, Tom Thurston and James O'Shea all fought and hopefully one way or another come away wiser than before they fought? Charlie had a bad day and just did not have a chance to get in to his stride. The results of his 3 matches did not reflect in his judo ability at all, and we've heard it many times before, it was just one of those days..
James had some tough fights and was in a pool of 5. James is relatively new to competitive judo but made a good account of himself which bodes well for the future. James won his last fight securing him the Bronze medal..
Tom, also in a pool of 5 looked strong from the beginning, looking sharp and ready for action. He won his first 2 fights which would have been enough to put him through in the other pools which had four players. He then lost his next 2 unfortunately and was then knocked of of the comp.
I have high hopes for these players, they show committment and skill and are very eager to make it to the top..
Well done everybody..
Bill...
James had some tough fights and was in a pool of 5. James is relatively new to competitive judo but made a good account of himself which bodes well for the future. James won his last fight securing him the Bronze medal..
Tom, also in a pool of 5 looked strong from the beginning, looking sharp and ready for action. He won his first 2 fights which would have been enough to put him through in the other pools which had four players. He then lost his next 2 unfortunately and was then knocked of of the comp.
I have high hopes for these players, they show committment and skill and are very eager to make it to the top..
Well done everybody..
Bill...
Tuesday 14 October 2008
National Championships
Well done to all who competed in this years National Championships. What a contrast to last year. Saturday see 5 Ford players fighting with great performances from all. Our 2 youngest, DJ Irving and Duncan Ward both gave their heart and soul with both of them placing. DJ gained a 5th place while Duncan a 7th, both very entertaining to watch and both gained essential experience for future competitions.
Great performances from our three squad players see all 3 gaining medals and valuable points to get them re appointed to the National squad.. Richard Jackson put in another strong performance and collected a Bronze medal to go along with the Bronze he won at the Heart of England.
Matt Kavanagh had a good days and was a far reflection of last years Nationals, much more focused and positive. matthew won his way through to the finals but I think the long wait between the rounds and the finals took its toll and Matt had lost a bit of his sharpness, but did very well to win the silver medal.
All 3 had some great throws on the day and Brandon Tutthill was ammong them, not sure what the referees were looking at but thanks to Mike Varey the photographer we had an instant reply of one of the best ippons of the day, but yes you guessed it, the ref's gave it wazari? Again a good perfromance from Brandon see him through to the finals.. Unfortunately, again Brandon was caught a little flat footed, a good Silver to go along with his Silver he earned at the Heart of England.
Sunday see the elder players fighting and the B and D band girls. Again, I was pleased with all their performances, it was touch and go whether Frankie and Dru would compete as both had picked up tummy bugs leading up to the weekend. I think this had a larger effect on Dru as he was not he's usual self, although he won 3 of his 5 matches he never really looked himself.
Mistakes are made to learn from and hopefully Frankie has learnt from his mitake in his first fight, completely dominating the fight and several scores ahead, including 1 wazari, Frankie attempted a very weak attack which his partner gladly took advantage of.. Frankie then came back putting that fight behind him to win the Bronze medal, a good performance.
Ryan had been given a task to go out and play his partners. Move and hit, move and hit.. His 1st fight see him against the evential silver medallist but gave him a great fight achieving what he set out to do, nearly catching his opponent in the opening seconds.. A good performance from Ryan and we hope he gets to reach the potential I know he has.
Tom's weight were called early and Tom was first up, although his opponent was at the same disadvantage as Tom, he seemed to cope with it better than Tom. After Tom collected a penalty, the fight slipped from his control.
After a little disagrement whether he did or did not want to continue, Tom returned to the fighting area and continued to win his way through to the Bronze medal.
Shaun Fauzens had a good day winning 4 of his six fights in a new weight category for him. A change in fighting style is required for Shaun and we see the biginnings of this at the weekend, a good effort and a 7th place gained.
Kelly Staddon too fought very well in her early rounds winning some in the first few seconds of the match. Her final pitched her against an opponent who Kelly had lost to at the H of E quite early in the fight with a nice ashi-waza. It was a much closer fight this time with Kelly doing much of the attacking, unfortunately they were not to be decisive enough for points. Another strong performance from Kelly and a well earned Silver medal.
Chloe Jackson was again on form and was looking forward to meeting some of the older girls in the group, although not 16 till November Chloe was a strong contender for the finals. She won though the quater finals to meet the Scottish player that had beat her in the H of E, controlling the fight very well and as planned, Chloe had won her place in the final. Unfortunately Chloe picked up a wrist injury in the first seconds of the fight but continued to fight on until the wrist got caught up in her opponents gi which then falsed Chloe to withdraw from the bout and visit the hospital where it was discovered she had a fracture of the Radius bone? just above the wrist...
All in all, apart from a couple of mishaps a good weekend, and if I believe the information I have received is correct finished 2 in the medal tally?
Good job everyone...
Bill...
Great performances from our three squad players see all 3 gaining medals and valuable points to get them re appointed to the National squad.. Richard Jackson put in another strong performance and collected a Bronze medal to go along with the Bronze he won at the Heart of England.
Matt Kavanagh had a good days and was a far reflection of last years Nationals, much more focused and positive. matthew won his way through to the finals but I think the long wait between the rounds and the finals took its toll and Matt had lost a bit of his sharpness, but did very well to win the silver medal.
All 3 had some great throws on the day and Brandon Tutthill was ammong them, not sure what the referees were looking at but thanks to Mike Varey the photographer we had an instant reply of one of the best ippons of the day, but yes you guessed it, the ref's gave it wazari? Again a good perfromance from Brandon see him through to the finals.. Unfortunately, again Brandon was caught a little flat footed, a good Silver to go along with his Silver he earned at the Heart of England.
Sunday see the elder players fighting and the B and D band girls. Again, I was pleased with all their performances, it was touch and go whether Frankie and Dru would compete as both had picked up tummy bugs leading up to the weekend. I think this had a larger effect on Dru as he was not he's usual self, although he won 3 of his 5 matches he never really looked himself.
Mistakes are made to learn from and hopefully Frankie has learnt from his mitake in his first fight, completely dominating the fight and several scores ahead, including 1 wazari, Frankie attempted a very weak attack which his partner gladly took advantage of.. Frankie then came back putting that fight behind him to win the Bronze medal, a good performance.
Ryan had been given a task to go out and play his partners. Move and hit, move and hit.. His 1st fight see him against the evential silver medallist but gave him a great fight achieving what he set out to do, nearly catching his opponent in the opening seconds.. A good performance from Ryan and we hope he gets to reach the potential I know he has.
Tom's weight were called early and Tom was first up, although his opponent was at the same disadvantage as Tom, he seemed to cope with it better than Tom. After Tom collected a penalty, the fight slipped from his control.
After a little disagrement whether he did or did not want to continue, Tom returned to the fighting area and continued to win his way through to the Bronze medal.
Shaun Fauzens had a good day winning 4 of his six fights in a new weight category for him. A change in fighting style is required for Shaun and we see the biginnings of this at the weekend, a good effort and a 7th place gained.
Kelly Staddon too fought very well in her early rounds winning some in the first few seconds of the match. Her final pitched her against an opponent who Kelly had lost to at the H of E quite early in the fight with a nice ashi-waza. It was a much closer fight this time with Kelly doing much of the attacking, unfortunately they were not to be decisive enough for points. Another strong performance from Kelly and a well earned Silver medal.
Chloe Jackson was again on form and was looking forward to meeting some of the older girls in the group, although not 16 till November Chloe was a strong contender for the finals. She won though the quater finals to meet the Scottish player that had beat her in the H of E, controlling the fight very well and as planned, Chloe had won her place in the final. Unfortunately Chloe picked up a wrist injury in the first seconds of the fight but continued to fight on until the wrist got caught up in her opponents gi which then falsed Chloe to withdraw from the bout and visit the hospital where it was discovered she had a fracture of the Radius bone? just above the wrist...
All in all, apart from a couple of mishaps a good weekend, and if I believe the information I have received is correct finished 2 in the medal tally?
Good job everyone...
Bill...
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