Flanders International Belgium

5 players represented Ford judo club in Belgium the weekend with mixed results, from under performing to rising to the challenge and giving personal best performances.
Kelly Stadden competing in the -48kg was under par losing 2 of her fights then withdrawing from the 3rd due to a knee injury. Tom Williams -81kg competed in the under 20 section and the 18 year old looked impressive. Dominating his first fight and winning comfortably. His second was against an opponent he had met previously. His low wrestling style of judo spoilt William's upright judo this and took him out of his rhythm, a low leg grab from Williams opponent gained a minor score which he could not recover from, new rule changes due in 2010 will prohibit this style of judo which will bode well for the pure judoist. Tom won his next 2 fight convincingly but unfortunately came up against the same opponent he had lost to earlier, although a much better fought fight, the outcome was the same.

Sunday had 3 members fighting, Matthew Kavanagh - 66kg, Richard Jackson - 55kg and Chloe Jackson -52kg. Matthew beat the strongest 2 players in his pool but seemed to run out of steam in his 3rd just losing out on a minor score. His next fight which he needed to win to progress was over to soon when he was caught with a throw gaining maximum points to knock Matthew out of the competition. The 2 players he had beat progressed out of the pool and on to compete for medals.

Richard Jackson was on fine form, looking fit and fast and carried a positive attitude throughout his bouts. He won his first fight controlling his opponents with his grips and using forceful attacks to win by points, he then battled well on his next but lost to the eventual winner. This was a particular hard competition with 15 countries competing and the task was made harder as only one bronze medal was being contested for when normally there are 2. Jackson won his next 3 fights which would normally have given him 3rd position but not this time, the two 3rd place players had to fight off, a small mistake and a loss of control gave his opponent the upper hand and a small knock down resulted in Jackson getting pinned to lose the fight, but this was a solid performance from Jackson and produced one of the throws of the day.

No relation But Chloe Jackson was running on high from her recent National Championship title, Jackson won her first fight in 7 seconds with a lightning fast throw, this put her against one of 2 strong French players, this was closely contested, both giving their all. No score in normal time see Golden Score time added, first to score wins, this was to go against Jackson which only left a possible bronze medal to contend for. Winning her next fight meant she had to meet the other French player who had seemed to be the better of the 2 French girls. Knowing this was for the bronze medal and the last fight of the day, all eyes were on her mat. Finding her form once again she hit the French Player with very strong attacks, one of which gained Jackson 7 points, from here she pinned her opponent to finish the fight and gain maximum points. Her medal was presented by Neil Adams MBE, 2 times World Champion and 2 times Olympic Silver medallist.


The K2 Venue at Crawley hosted an Orange belt and under competition which gave the clubs less experienced players a chance to take part in a grade restricted tournament of Orange belt and under.

First up for was Thomas Medaglia, who again put in a good performance and although he lost both of his contests, fought some high graded fighters and gained some invaluable experience. James Allen was next up, competing well and displaying some great judo also showed that he has learnt from his last couple of competitions by eradicating a couple of technical issues, and in his second fight, was leading well until being caught by a very debatable ten point score which ended his progress. Next it was the girls turn with Martia Medaglia. Despite just about moving up to the next weight she showed great determination and fought against much more experienced girls, and took home a well deserved Bronze medal. Then Alana Stephenson fought amazingly well. Winning her first fight by maximum ten points in under ten seconds, and then her second fight with a 7 point throw, following the girl down to hold her to complete the maximum score. In the final, she faced a girl who beat her a couple of weeks ago. Alana fought extremely well, and took the fight to her opponent, but unfortunately lost by a small point in golden score, a fantastic performance by her. Finally, Sarah Allen took the gold medal in her merged category, fighting some girls a lot bigger than her, the highlight being her 1st fight showing real grit to dig deep and throw a much taller girl for two 7 point scores which gave her the outright win, and once again showed that when she is determined she can produce the results that we know she is capable of.

A great effort by all the kids.

Bill...

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

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...

A Busy Weekend...

It was a very busy and successful weekend for Ford Judo Club, with 3 competitions being contested by the club. The UK School Games were being held in Swansea and Chloe Jackson -52kg weight division was fighting for England while Tom Williams was competing in the -81kg division. Tom had the privilege of being captain of the boys team, an honour he relished. Tom narrowly missed out last year winning a Silver medal in the final, he made sure that was not going to happen again and went on to win the final bout for gold medal position.

Chloe Jackson was a bronze medal winner, losing out to another English girl in the dying seconds of the bout, a lack of concentration let her opponent in to make a minor score but was enough to prevent Chloe going through to the final, but a good performance was given by Chloe throughout the day.

Trials were held at the High Wycombe judo centre Saturday, with 6 players competing for a place in the National Championships to be held at the EIS Sheffield in early October. With some strong performances from Richard Jackson and Matthew Kavanagh who were both on top form. Tom Williams and Chloe Jackson, both got automatic entry as they were representing their country when the trials were being fought.

Danny Irving, Charlie Jackson, Brandon Tutthill and Kelly Staddon all won their place to compete in the national championship.

The busy schedule continued as the club members travelled to Birmingham to compete in the Heart of England Championships at the NIA. This is a huge competition and is a point scoring event for the National squads of the home countries and a forerunner to the national championships. The morning had Julianne Florey competing in the senior section +78kg. Julianne was carrying a wrist injury which prevented her giving the performance she was capable of but fought hard. The young 12-13 year olds see Sarah Allen, Danny Irving and Charlie Jackson competing. This was to be Sarah's first major competition and although nerves created some minor mistakes fought extremely well. As did Danny Irving, despite picking up a large bump on his cheek bone Danny fought well, building on his performance from the previous day.

Richard Jackson started well competing in the 15-16 year old section, winning his first 2 fights and was looking sharp but failed to find his for his next 2 fights but produced a 7th place. Kelly Staddon -48kg, was looking strong, and was controlling her fights extremely well in the 15 to 16 year old section, winning her first 3 fights to get to the final, Kelly was the younger of the 2 players and a small mistake was enough to let her opponent in to win the fight, but it was a well earned Silver for Kelly.

The 2 remaining players were fighting in the same age band, Brandon Tutthill was on supreme form competing in the -50kg division. He displayed a wide and varied array of techniques to take apart his opponents, a very good days work for Brandon taking gold.

Matthew Kavanagh to displayed a peak performance, -66kg. The work the players strength and conditioning coach, Carly Green of The David Lloyd centre has been doing with the players really showed as Matthew dominated all 5 of his opponents, Matthew threw all for the maximum 10 points in each of his fights, the equivalent to a knockout in boxing, he too won Gold.

All in all it was a good performance from the Ford Judo Club Players that are based at Bretons Farm, Upper Rainham Road, and the mistakes made will hopefully be ironed out for the National Championships in October.

Bill...

Ford 2 Day Training Sessions

Thank you to all the players that attended th 2 day sessions on the Bank Holiday weekend, Especially Eric who travelled all the way from Manchester. Thank you to the visiting coaches and parents, I hope they can all take away something from the weekend. Also to the clubs support team, as hard working as ever to make it happen.
Any feed back by the comments button would be appreciated, good or bad, in preparation for the next one.

Bill...

Dave Starbrook

30 Aug '09 Open-Invitation Coaching Session & Randori

Dave Starbrook (9th Dan, Olympic silver and bronze medalist, multiple World and European champion) will be giving an open-invitation coaching session with open randori to be held at the University of London Union Judo Club on August 30, 2009 from midday to 3 pm. The cost is £5. Contact tel. nr. 07836 335 468.
For location details please refer to the ULU Judo website (http://www.ulujudo.co.uk/index.htm) under ‘Contacts’.

Website: http://www.ulujudo.co.uk/index.htm

2 Day Training Sessions

Thank you to the clubs that responded to our invite, it looks as though it will be well attended. Can all players remember to bring with them trainers and such for some out door fitness work.
Also pack lunch and plenty of fluid.

Looking forward to seeing you all.

Bill...