Rotterdam Training Camp 2011

This was the fourth year I had done this training camp at De-Korte Judo Club. There were over 400 judoka on the mat for four days of high level Randori. I was also able to get in many more fights as I doubled up on the u15/u17 sessions making this a very hard camp. I travelled over with my dad and SKK judo club.

There were only 8 players from Great Britain at this years camp

Details of the camp are on: http://judo.dekorte.nl/

2011 British Championships

This weekend I fought in the Cadet British Championships in my final competition at -42kg. I will move up to -46 at the Welsh next month. I had trained really hard for the last few months in preparation for the event and was confident that I was in good form.

Harry Walkley (First Fight)

I was pleased with the way I started the competition and threw Harry for ippon in 14 seconds.

Jacob Gehlan (Second Fight)

My second fight was a bit harder but I won with 2 wazaris.

Danny Laws (Semi-Final)

Danny was on good form today and was difficult to control but I threw him for ippon to reach the final.

Alexander Short (Final)

Alex is a good fighter and very strong. Alex beat me at Kendal but I got revenge at the Heart of England. I knew he was strong with the seoi-nage and I controlled him well staying well on top in the fight winning by three penalties.

This was my fourth British Championships final in a row and my second sucessive title. This was a good result as it was my first year in Cadets.

Link to Results:

http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/pdf/BritishChampionships2011Results.pdf

Competition Report:

http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/pdf/BritishChampionships2011Results.pdf

This weekend I fight in the 2011 British Championships. I hope to retain the title I won in 2010.

http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/home/2011BritishChampionships.php

North West Championships

I went to St. Helens for the North West Championships. There are not many people enter this event any more and it is very weak. I entered in the -46 kg for a bit more of a challenge but there was nobody else in my group so I had to go with the -50kg. This was no problem and I won all three of my fights by ippon.

Heart Of England Championships

This year the Heart of England had been moved to Walsall from the NIA. I used to love the NIA and hate Walsall. I fought in the -42kg weight group but there were only 5 in my group. It was a tough group as Calum McDonald and Alex Short were both in it. Alex had threw me for ippon last month at the Lakeland open.

I fought well and controlled the fights as I wanted. I won all four of my fights which got me 10 points and Number 1 on the ranking list as well. I hope that there will be more in my group at the Nationals.

I really hope that they find another venue next year.

Results:

http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/pdf/Heart%20of%20England%20Championships%202011%20Results.pdf

Sportif Training Camp

Sportif Judo Club put on a really good training camp in Edinburgh. We stayed at a campsite with the Parks Judo Club and Connor Potts. We had a great time and the camp was really good. There were some great technical sessions and Nuno Delgado took the classes.

http://www.sportifjudo.com/international-tour-camps/

West of England Open

I went down to Swindon for the West of England Open and wanted to fight in the -46 weight group to get me ready for later in the year. This was a tough group with some big fighters in it. I won my first fight and then lost to Chris Ling by a yuko. I then lost to George Lawes in the Bronze Medal fight. George threw me for ippon right at the end of the fight.

NHC Open

I went down to High Wycombe for the NHC Open. This was my first comp back after a month away with my broken wrist. I wanted to see how strong it was in competition. I was very slow but won all my fights. In my fight against Jordan I won it on flags but then was sick on the mat and after 10 minutes I was brought back on the mat and disqualified. I really didn't care and was glad to be back on the mat.

London International

I went down to London for the London International and fought at -42kg. There were eight fighters in my group. I won my first fight in seven seconds. In my second fight I fought Lewis Richardson from Tonbridge who is a tough fighter. I threw Lewis for Yuko in the fist minute but landed on my hand when I threw him. It was really sore but I carried on fighting with one hand and managed to win the fight. After the fight I could see that I had broke my wrist so had to pull out of the final. I went to hospital in London and it was put in a cast. I was really gutted as it meant that I would miss both Venray and Kent.

Results

http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/pdf/London-International-Open-2011-Results.pdf

Mions International, France

In April I went over to France for the Mions International. This is a very strong event with very large groups and is followed by a good training camp. I have done this competition for the last three years and we have stayed with Monique and Antoine at their house. There were 34 fighters in my group and it was my first event I had done at -42 kg.

Results sheet 1

http://www.judomions.fr/uploads/fichiers/Tournoi_2011/MinimesM/-42_1.pdf

Results sheet 2

http://www.judomions.fr/uploads/fichiers/Tournoi_2011/MinimesM/-42_2.pdf

I won five of my six fights and won the Bronze Medal. In the three years I have fought here I have won 1 silver and 2 bronze medals and the standard of fighter has been really good.

International Sparda-Cup, Duisberg, Germany

I travelled over to Germany for the International Sparda Cup in Duisberg. This was an event only for under 15 boys and there were over 300 entered. I had moved up again in weight to the under 40kg section and was in a group of 38. There were entrants from Germany, The Netherlands, Russia, Belgium and Germany. The quality of the judoka was very very high and I would need to fight very well to get near a medal..

Vadim Shenk (Germany) First Fight

I did not get a good draw and my first fight was against one of the German favourites who had won a big event a couple of weeks earlier. I won with a yuko in Golden Score. Vadim won all his remaining five fights to win the bronze medal.

Darvin Just (Germany) Second Fight

My second fight was against a strong local fighter which I won with four yukos.

Yannic Zieke (Germany) Third Fight

Yannic is a tough fighter from Bayer Leverkusen and this was a very tough fight. I found it hard to score but kept up the attacks to win 3-0 on flags.

Tim Schwab (Germany) Fourth Fight

Tim was in good form as he beat the Belgium champion, Jorre Verstraeten, in the first round. I scored with a yuko and then an ippon right at the end of the fight.

Sylvain Cerny (Belgium) Semi-Final

I know this was not going to be an easy fight. Sylvain had beat Luis Haubold in 9 seconds the last fight. Louis had earlier beaten the Russian fighter Kirill Akimov who had won the Antwerp Open in January. This was the hardest fight of the day which went all the way and I was pleased to win with a yuko and reach the final.

Magnomed Musaev (Germany) Final

Magnomed Musaev was in great form winning his quarter and semi final fights in 7 & 13 seconds. His semi-final fight was against the Russian fighter, Vladislav Urvantsev. Scores were level at a yuko each when Magnomed caught me with a good uchi-mata throwing me for ippon

I was really pleased with the silver medal in an event with so many top fighters in one group.

Pool Sheets : http://www.nwjv.de/download/2011/duisburg/duisburg_40.pdf

Results: http://www.nwjv.de/index.php?mf=/aktuell/2011/apr/0409-10a.htm

Sportif Judo Camp.....July 2011

I will be attending the Sportif Judo Camp up in Edinburgh on the 15-18th July 2011. There is a great line-up of coaches and there will be some quality randori. I would recommend this to any of my foreign friends as this will be a great camp. This will be great much needed summer training. Have a look on their web page below and I will see you there.

http://www.sportifjudo.com/Internationalcamp2011.html

North West Age Band, St. Helens

I was not looking forward to this competition. I had only trained twice since the Midlands two weeks ago because I had Tonsillitis. This was my last time at under 38kilos and I wanted to finish the weight group with a win.

Harry Walkley (Bishop Challenor) First Fight

I started well throwing harry for Ippon with O-Soto Gari

Francis Millward (Sportif) Second Fight

I had beat Francis at the Midlands in January but this was a much harder fight.

Cameron Ishmail (Gendros) Final

I fought Cameron in the final two weeks ago winning by a yuko. Cameron was dropping a lot stopping me getting any good attacks in. I controlled the fight when I could get hold winning 3-0 on flags.

Link to Results:

http://www.judotechnologies.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/North-West-Age-Band-Championships-2011-Saturday-Results.pdf

Midland Under 20's

After three hard events in France, The Netherlands and Belgium I was back to fighting at home. I was pleased with the way I fought at the Midlands and this will be one of my last comps at under 38's. I felt very strong and won all my fights beating Cameron Ishmail in the final.

Francis Millward (Sportif) First Fight

I threw Francis with Kata-Guruma

Callum McDonald (Sportif) Second Fight

Callum is a top fighter and is the under 34 British Champion. I threw Callum for a yuko and controlled the fight well. Callum had to attach and I caught him for ippon with one second left.

Cameron Ishmail (Gendros) Final

We have fought many times and the fights are always tough. I scored a yuko early on and kept in control.

Link to Results

http://www.judotechnologies.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/North-West-Age-Band-Championships-2011-Saturday-Results.pdf

Antwerp Open 2011, Belgium

Antwerp is always a hard competition and I did not start well losing my first fight to Giles Bonnema of the Netherlands. Giles had to get to the semi-final so I could get into the Repecharge. This was never going to happen so I was one and out again at this competition. The group was won by Kirill Akimov from Russia who I will be up against in Duisberg and Erfurt this year.

Last weekend was the Dutch Espoir in Eindhoven. This is a very big competition and there were 59 in my group. In my quarter of the draw was Mohamed Kochich (German Favourite), Jeffrey van der Vleit (2009 Champion) and Jorre Verstraten (Belgium No1). This was going to be very tough.

I fought well winning my first two fights against strong Dutch fighters. My third fight was against the strong German. I fought well and managed to make a good fight. Mohamed attacks at every chance and always comes forward at you. It was a good result to only lose the fight on flags.

I then had to fight Jorre Verstaratten in the repercharge. Jorre was on great form. After beating me he went on to win a Bronze Medal with all ippons. Most of the same fighters will be in Antwerp next weekend for the Antwerp Open.

Christmas Training Camps

This Christmas I was picking my training up in preparation for the Dutch Espoir and Antwerp open in January, as well as the Midlands and North West ranking events. For four days before Christmas I went down to the Tonbridge International camp in Kent and there were more than 350 players on the mat. I went with Connor Potts and Liam Tarandij. We only just made the camp because of the snow. The Tonbridge camp was really strong as some top Dutch fighters came over (Jeffrey van der Vliet, Matthijs van Harten and Ziggy van den Brink ). All three top Dutch fighters and the Randori was very tough.

After Christmas I went over to Rotterdam for the Budokan Camp where there were nearly 500 judo fighters there over the three days. Like the Tonbridge camp it was only Randori and for most of the sessions we had to do 10x4 minute randori without any rest between fights. This was a very strong camp and very tiring.

I will now have a week or so rest before a very tough January.