Excited & Nervous for this big event,
We waited to start for an hour or two,
We had plenty of time to go to the loo!
Then about 10.30 we were ready to fight,
All hoping & praying we would do all right.
We started off well & 2 medals were won,
Steph & Beth even looked like they had some fun!
It didn't stop there, we all carried on,
Getting loads of points from Koca to Ippon.
Bradley Stoke were awsome through & through,
And we all stood proud in our Sea of Blue!
After Steph got her Gold, it was silver for Beth,
Then Elliot & Jack accepted thier Bronze from the ref.
Kelly & Jack Wheeler were next on the mat,
They saw the bronze & said "I'll ave some of that!"
Kayne Dan and Louis fought with all their might,
Some things on the day don't always work out right!
Eddie and Adam had some tough opponants too,
Boy oh Boy there was just too much to do.
Bradley Stoke Judo Club stood out from the rest,
As supporters went we had the very best!
We all shared our biscuts AS FAMILIES DO,
Pete and Gem ITS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU !
Tanya Andrews, BSJC Fan Club Member
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Today we took 11 players to this event in Bristol, coming away with 6 medals, 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 4 bronzes. This is a tough competition, with teams from all over the country competeing.
First up was Steph, who trains with us from Swindon JC. She got off to a flying start with a beautiful o-uchi-gari ippon in about 5 seconds. She then won her second fight with a hold-down and her third with a great seionage. A comfortable win for Steph, and a well deserved GOLD medal.
Next up for BSJC was Eddie, who fought well and made good attacks but could not get past the two pinewood players put out in front of him. Still a sound performance though, well done Ed.
Then it was Beths turn. After a long fought battle with nerves, she fought incredibly well! She won her first fight with a footblock, followed by a hold down. With the first fight out of the way, and an emotional me still by her side, she went into her second fight a much m ore confident player. She was a wazari up, with 2 seconds to go, and threw the girl for ippon!
Her Next fight she won with a mazzive maki-komi, and she looked great going into the final against the favourite. She fought well, making great use of her feet, but was thrown in the end, making her a very well deserved silver medalist. Well done Beth!
Next up, our light weight boys Kayne and Jack Reeves. Jack won his first fight, after an emotional start with a very nice counter. He then went on to lose his second fight, which left him in the bronze medal fight.
Meanwhile, Kayne, who has been injured for a few weeks was struggling with his opponants and ended up also fighting for bronze ... unfortunatly it meant that Kayne and Jack had to fight each other. Kaynes injuries meant that he had to pull out early in this fight, and Jack took the medal, both boys were looking good!
Elliot and Louis were also in the same group, but in different pools. Louis, who I feel had the stronger pool was attacking like a champion, but could not get the better of his two opponants and was out of the competition.
Elliot had a great first fight, strong attacks and good groundwork won him the fight in golden score. His second fight didn't go so well, and he lost on penalties. He needed to win his next fight to go through to the medals, and he just managed to pull it off on the flags, a very hard fight for Elliot. He had to fight the same lad that beat Louis next, and he put up a fight but was thrown with a fantastic sumi-gaeshi, which left Elliot with the bronze medal.
Next up was Adam, who is usually a strong contender for a medal. Today he could not gain his focus and got beat in both his fights which put him out.
Daniel was fighting in the same category as Adam, and he won his first fight with a good o-soto-gair style throw. His second fight was against a medalist at last years Nationals (I really rate this player!) and Dan fought him well, but was beat with a couple of perfectly executed throws. He also lost his last fight, but with being one of the lightest in the group he did very well!
Now the wait was on for our older players, Jack and Kelly to get a fight... and a wait it was!
Jack Wheeler was on first, and he comfortably won his first fight. The next fight was against a strong player from London who completely out-attacked Jack. Jack lost in the golden-score with a yuko. Next up he had a very tough fight, with Jack attacking more but this again went to golden-score, and then to the flags, which Jack won 2-1. He then had to fight a lad from Dowty JC, and Jack made hard work of this fight but eventually won it to take the bronze. Some hard fights and lessons learnt from Jack, but it was a good day for him.
Bringing up the rear as usual was Kelly. Kel was having a tough week, battling with nerves and her mindset, but was made aware on many occations today that if she didnt want to fight, she didn't have to. In the end, she chose to, and she is glad she did. Her first fight was against our friend from hampshire, Jess Black. Both girls fought well, and Jess eventually countered Kelly for ippon. Kelly knows why this happened, and will be working on this in the future. Next up Kelly had another girl she has fought a few times in the past, a girl from pinewood. Kelly was quietly confident, and this showed in her judo, and in her face whilst she was holding her opponant down looking up at me and grinning for 25 seconds! This put Kelly into the semi final against the girl she was worried about at the beginning of the day, but not now... Kelly fought hard and showed the girl she's not a push over, but did eventually lose to a good throw and took home the bronze medal.
In all, a very good day for Bradley Stoke Judo Club, everyone who fought today made us proud and you all deserve to be very proud of yourselves! Well done. A great start to what promises to be a great year for us!
Gem
Western Area Grading - 18th January 2009
We travelled to the senior west of England gradings today which was held in swindon.
Due to start at 9.30 am we had the usual slow start which lots of judo players have become acustomed with.Fighting started around about 11 am 2 mats available but only 1 mat used the whole day.Kelly was off first fighting the older girls ,fighting a player she felt confident about ,but she was defeated with 2 wazaris .Kelly was devastated with defeat and struggled to deal with it .So kel's day was over.
Judo can be a sport of great highs but also great lows the latter are painful for all of us but we need to find ways of dealing with it.
Next up Matt Bourne [kayne & Adam's dad] fighting for his black belt he was very nervous and worried about the outcome I'e hospital visit.
First fight he lost in in 10 second without doing anything.I was not impressed which I let him know in my unique way. We addressed this problem for the next 2 fights winning both with ippon.this gave him the chance to fight 3 brown belts in a Row 1 after the other.This he wasn't relishing ,murmuring about he was now exhausted those of you who train with Mat know's that he was in fact telling the truth but I was having none of it.
Out come our warrior on to the mat lined up in front 3 players wanting to beat him.rei hajime we were away Mat totally dominated the first fighter eventually winning with ippon.
Next fight a close affair Mat countered this player twice with pickups but struggled to get the full rotation to spin this player on his back 1st one the score went to mat a wazari the second one went to his opponent this was ippon ,Mat's day was over but excellent 30 point on his 1st time trying a great start to his black belt campaign .now he knows it's within his grasp.
Gemma was also there looking to fight but only 1 other girl turn't up from Plymouth so it was not worth fighting.
Welcome Back! - 4th January 2009
I hope you have all had a great xmas, and a better new year! Whilst Santa is off on his holidays, it's time for us all to get back to judo.
There is a lot of things happening this year so keep your eyes on the diary page for updates!
See you all soon!
