Tuesday 13 October 2009

National Championships Sheffield

Ford Judo Club have 3 new National Champions after they gave fantastic performances at the weekend at Sheffield. The 3 Havering youngsters showed their class beating all their opponents. The Olympic Combat Sport requires fitness, strength, speed and flexibility to overcome their opponents and all 3 of the Ford players demonstrated these elements to win all their bouts. Matthew Kavanagh 15, was fighting in the -66kg division, winning his first 4 fights, winning his first fight in an amazing 8 seconds throwing his opponent for a maximum ten points, this earned a place in the final, which was to be a repeat of the Heart of England final which was held at the NIA Birmingham which Matthew had won. The final was hard fought and Matthew went down a score halfway through the fight, but kept his composure to throw his opponent for a greater score with 20 seconds to go to take the National title.

Chloe Jackson - 52kg was on great form, looking fit and fast. Chloe worked her way through her first 3 opponents, dominating each fight with great control. Her speed and strength along with her technical ability gave her 3 victories to take her into the final. This was to be a repeat of the final from last year against the same opponent where Chloe had to withdraw in the early stages of the fight with a broken arm. Chloe put this out of her mind and concentrated on the task ahead. The fight was to go into golden score as neither player had a score at the end of normal time so 2 minutes of sudden death judo was to come, after a barrage of attacks from Chloe she threw her opponent for a 5 point score to take the title. Both Chloe and Matthew work with Carly Green, a strength and conditioning coach at David Lloyds, this really paid off for them.

Tom Williams fighting in the -81kg looked in great shape, the 18 year old moves a step closer to be in number one position for next years Junior World Championships. Tom won his first 2 fights convincingly then met the number one Scottish player, this was to be a great fight with Tom picking up a score against him. Keeping focused he lifted his game throwing his opponent for maximum score. His next fight was to be the semi finals against an old adversary, these are usually great battles that could go either way, but it went Tom's way with Tom throwing him for maximum score in the early stages of the bout. The final was a repeat of the UK School Games final in August which Tom also won. Totally dominating the fight it looked very one sided with Tom's constant attack, although his opponent avoided being thrown for a score, picked up enough penalties to make Tom National Champion. Tom is at Camberley Judo Centre training full time in preparation for the Junior World Championships and setting his sights of an Olympic place.

Brandon Tutthill -55kg, Brandon who is part of the England Talent Squad found himself in a new age category which did not cater for his former weight which was -50kg so had to fight up a class. Brandon's first fight was against the final winner, although giving away a lot of weight Brandon gave a great performance. The lose put Brandon in the knockout section, here he showed the confidence he had gained from the previous fight and went on to win his next 2 bouts with excellent performances. His forth fight was against the Scottish number 1, a mistake from Brandon was capitalised by his opponent who pinned Brandon to take the points, a great performance for Brandon.

Kelly Staddon -48kg and Richard Jackson -55kg Narrowly missed out on medals taking 5th places, both players missed out loosing their semi final matches by referee's decision as no score was gained in their fights the referee awarded the fights to their opponents. Also Danny Irving -38kg and Charlie Jackson -42kg both showed improvement in their contest judo gaining much needed experience in large events. Both players came away with a win under their belts and are eager to use this experience to further their competition judo.

The club members now join James O'shea who won the A Band Nationals the week before. Four National Champions, a great performance and hopefully will give encouragement to their club mates who are training hard along side the Champions..

Bill Taylor

Wednesday 7 October 2009

Didn't You All Do Well

Another National Champion for Ford Judo Club, James O'Shea gave an impressive performance at the Goresbrook Sports Centre where the age banded National Judo Championships were being held. 11 year old James beat all 4 of his opponents by maximum score to take the over 46kg title. James who weighed in at 50kg was giving away 10kg in the final but produced a fantastic throw in the early stages of the fight to take the title, hopefully this bodes well for his club mates who are participating in the older age bands this weekend at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. Also taking part were James Allen and James Cliff, both gave very good performances in what were very high calibre weight categories, and are sure to be contenders for the future.

Also The National Masters Championships were being held at Goresbrook on the Saturday, Good performance came from George Madrick, Kenny Wickens and Mike Allen who was placed 5th in the -100kg division, which was a good result as Mike usually contested the -90kg division.

Nicky Jackson who is training for her UKCC level 1 Coaching award was competing in her first veteran competition and although picking up a elbow injury in her last fight had done enough to secure the bronze medal position, a good result for Nicky which should secure her place on the Masters National Squad.

Tom Williams continues his International success winning a Bronze medal in Alicante, Spain. Tom is showing his potential for 2012 competing in a Senior event and medalling even though he is still classed as a Junior Player, just turning 18. Tom will be favourite to win his place in the -81kg division to compete in next years Junior World Championships.

Bill...