Picture for Paper

I thought I would post this picture. It was taken for the local paper

Southern Area Ranking Event, Worthing

This is the last event before the nationals and my second at -66kg. I was hoping for a good test before Sheffield.

First Round (Bye)

Elliot Short (Oakwood) Second Round

Scored with a yuko and then an armlock within 30 seconds.

Islem Thameur (Tower Hamlets) Semi-Final

Islem is from France and had won his first two fights easily. He was big and strong. I started well and scored what I thought was a good throw after about 30 seconds. No score was given. The fight continued and I scored a yuko. During the next 90 seconds of the fight the senior referee on the care system had a look at the earlier throw and decided to award an ippon. having looked at the throw again it was a good ippon but I can see why it wasn't scored. It was good to see the care system changing the decision.

Leonardo De Muniz (Tower Hamlets) Final

Leo generally throws big and quickly. He is a great fighter. I was really pleased to win by ippon quite quickly. I'm sure I will have many more good fights with Leo.

 Derbyshire Sports Awards 

2013

The Roundhouse, Derby

International Golf Development

Junior Sportsman of the Year

Eric Ham (High Peak - Judo)

After winning the High Peak Junior Sportsman award last month I was shortlisted down to the final two in the Derbyshire Sports Awards. Held at the Roundhouse in Derby. It was a great night and a real shock when I won the award. My award was sponsored by International Golf Development and presented to me by Guy Higton.

International Golf Development

Being presented with my Award

Pictured with my category sponsor - Guy Higton

The last twelve months have been quite eventful to say the least.

2102 Cadet British Championships Gold Medal,

2013 Cadet British Championships Silver Medal,

2013 Junior British Championships Silver Medal (as the youngest in the group), 

A place on the 2013 Junior British Squad,

Selected for England at the Czech European. Cadet Cup, 

Selected for Great Britain at the European Cadet Championships.

Started training at the new Centre of Excellence at Walsall

Knee Operation and three months off,

High Peak Junior Sportsman of the Year 2013,

Derbyshire Junior Sportsman of the Year 2013,

All the category winners

Me and Colin Jackson

 Winning this award finishes off a great year.  

One more big result at the Nationals in three weeks is all that is needed now.

Welsh Open, Swansea

I made the move up to -66 at the Welsh. Although I can make -60 this will be my weight next year so I am moving up now.

CADET SECTION

First Round (Bye)

Remi Dorey (Guernsey Judo) Second Round

My first fight at -66kg was over in 20 seconds winning with a strangle

Andrew Serdega (Kingsley School) Semi-Final

Andrew (Andrejs) is from Latvia (born 1996) and has two Silver Medals at their National Championships. He has represented Latvia at European Cups.  He had also beat Aiden Moffat and George Cullum (Twice) last year so I was expecting a bit of a beating. Far from it.  It looks like the move up to -66 could be a good one. I threw for a wazari and felt in control for most of the fight.  This was a really really good win for me.

Harry Lovell-Hewitt (Stroud) Final

Harry is a good fighter but my good form continued and I won with some good ashi-waza about a minute into the fight.

JUNIOR SECTION

This was going to be a hard group.  Competing up at -66 is hard enough at Cadet but at Juniors its another thing.

Alec Ranford (Hardy Spicer) First Round

My first fight at Junior -66 was as good as my first at Cadet. I won with drop morote after about 30 seconds

Joe Dallard (Midsomer Norton) Second Round

I continued my good form into the second fight and won with an armlock.

Tom Johnson (Yoshin Ryu)

Tom is two years older than me and one of the best Junior -66 fighters and again I expected to get beat quite quickly. I nearly caught Tom with my reverse Seio-nage but over rotated. It was a great fight which lasted nearly seven minutes.  I was dead by then and went over easily from a good drop attack from Tom.

Jacob Moore (Judo Scotland)

Jacob is three years older than me and I was knackered by now. I started well but struggled with his style and good uchi-mata. I made a good left seoi-nage attack but left my neck open and lost by a strangle.

This was still a great performance

SENIOR SECTION

I wasn't really intending on entering the senior section after moving up to -66 but had entered at the lighter weight. I expected not to do very well

Jonathon Dewar (Judo Scotland)

I felt strong and had a great battle with Jonathon. I was only a penalty down right up to the last seven seconds. I had to come forward and got caught and arm-locked right at the very end.

Stuart Pateman (Erdington)

This was another great fight and I was pretty tired by now.  I went a penalty up early on and managed to hold on for the remainder of the five minute contest. This certainly was my best win to date.

Tal Almog (Israel)

Tal was super strong and attacked me everywhere.  it was still a good fight before getting caught in the third minute.

Overall I had ten fights over the weekend with some great wins and performances in defeat. I start at Walsall on the AASE next week and expect to see good gains very quick.

High Peak Sports Awards

Last night I was presented with my High Peak Junior Sportsman of the Year award.  It was presented by the leader of the Council, Caitlin Bisknell. It was great to again receive the award. It has been a year of ups and downs but I hope to finish in style at this years Nationals in December.

Derbyshire Sports Awards - Shortlisted

I got confirmation today that I have been shortlisted in the final two for the Derbyshire Junior Sportsman of the Year Category.  I now have to attend the awards night next month. I have won the High Peak award four times but this is the first time I have made it through to the County Awards.

Northern Area Senior Ranking Event

Was not expecting much in the Senior event. Didn't feel good today.

Dominic Nelson (Bradley Stoke) First Fight

Threw Dom for Ippon with drop Morote.

Danny Powell (Wolverhampton) Second Fight

Danny was still fighting well having beat Pete Miles in the final of the Cadet competition. The fight went all the way but I still lost by a Yuko.

Wade Roll (Budokwai) Bronze Fight

I was looking for a good win to give me some confidence back but Wade was disqualified for a leg grab early in the fight.

Northern Area Cadet Ranking

Connor Eaton (Newburn) First Fight

Got off to a good start winning with an armlock in the first twenty seconds

Danny Powell (Volverhampton) Second Fight

Danny was fighting well today and he threw me for ippon after about two minutes. 

Alistair Sheppard (Comberton)

Could tell I was not on form today. Struggled to control the fight. Was pleased to win with choke...eventually.

Warsaw International, Poland

Dariusz Serwaczak (Poland) First Fight

I made quite a good start to the competition winning with my Juji in the first minute

Luka Jankovic (Slovenia)

Followed on well from my first fight I won with a Yuko and then an armlock I had been working on for a few weeks.  

Karol Barczyk (Poland) Third Fight

Got dominated on the ground for once. he was really strong. Lost to a sangaku strangle. Ref didnt see me tapping and I went out 

Andrea Buiarov (Russia) Fourth Fight

Was allowed to fight on as the senior referee said the referee didnt see me tap out before I went unconcious. Strange decision but was happy to get on and dominate the fight against a good Russiam winning with Ko-Uchi gari for Ippon

Vlad Surov (Belarus) Fifth Fight

Fought well and was leading on penalties.  I got sloppy near the edge and got thrown for Ippon

All in all I was quite pleased with the competition.  I had a really good training camp

Heart of England Seniors

Bye (First Round)

Craig McColl (SJC  Alba) Second Round
It was a tough fight winning with O-Uchi Gari for Wazari and Morote for Ippon

George Goldsmith (Tonbridge) Semi-Final
George caught me sweet for ippon

Matthew Neal (Hull) Bronze Fight
Came back well beating Matthew with a hold.  was pleased with another medal in a senior event.

Heart of England Cadets

Bye (First Round)

Oliver Harris (Osaka) Second Round
Threw Oliver with drop Sode for Ippon

Harry Mustard (Sportif) Third Round
Arm-locked Harry within twenty seconds for Ippon.

Tommy Almond (Moberly) Semi-Final
Threw Tommy for Ippon with O-Soto Gari and a place in the Final

Kieran Gehlan
It was a difficult fight against Kieran and I struggled with his height. I was thrown for ippon and had to settle for Silver.

NHC Cadet Ranking Event

???? (First Fight)
Won with Ippon throw

Adam Bolwell (Bath) Second Fight
Nice transition again from a foot sweep into juji

???? Semi-Final
Won with Ippon

Danny Powell (Wolverhampton) Final
Tough fight as expected and was pleased to win with a Yuko

Eastern Area Senior Ranking Event

Jordan Knight (Bradley Stoke) First Fight
Was a good start to my first Senior Competition. Threw for Ippon with drop Sode in the first minute.

Sam Hall (Ryecroft) Second Fight
I'd never fought Sam in competition before.  It was a quick attacking fight with me catching Sam for wazari before being thrown for Ippon.

Jake Barker (Bishop Stortford) Semi-Final 
I was really fighting well winning with Juji in the first minute.

Sam Hall (Ryecroft) Final
Was a really good fight and I was pleased with how I fought Sam today.  Only lost very late in the fight

Eastern Area Cadet Ranking Event

I was on form today winning all my fights well.

Tommy Almond (Moberly) First Fight
Good transition again winning with juji within the first minute.

Marcin Dziembina (Coventry) Second Fight
Again won with an arm-lock after about a minute.

Lucasz Dziemba (Coventry) Semi-Final
Won with a sweet Uchi-Mata after 45 seconds

Tommy Almond (Moberly) Final
It was quite a tough final against Tommy. Won in the end with a wazari and then ippon throw.

Western Area Open

This was my second event at my new weight of -60kg

First Round BYE

David Saran (Ernest Bevin) Second Round

After a first round bye I was keen to get started .  It was a quick win in less than 20 seconds.

Chris Edwards (Kingsley School) Semi-Final

Chris was really on form today beating Harry Lovell-Hewitt in the previous round. It was a good tough fight which I won with an arm-lock in the third minute.

Abdurahman Chaatouf (Ernest Bevin) Final

This was going to be a really tough final. We had both won all our fights with ippons so far. I had never fought Abdurahman before but have watched him very closely and he is a very impressive fighter who throws big. This brought the best in me and my transition was bang on as usual. I would have won in the first thirty seconds but for some bad refereeing. I pounced on a weak attack in the second minute winning with another arm-lock. This was a good win.

Results

Warsaw Judo Open

I would like to recommend a competition to anybody who is interested. This year the Warsaw Judo Open will take place on the last weekend of September followed by a strong training camp.  This is a great event with first class organisation and I have been many times. The competition venue is one of the most impressive around. Details are below.  If you need any advice please ask.

Warsaw Open 2013

London Open

It was great to eventually move up to the -60kg weight group but this group will be a far tougher one than the -55kg. Most of the top fighters are all 1997 which will make qualification for next years events a very tough prospect.

First Round Bye

Brandon Ortega Casey (Moberly) Second Round

My transition was bang on for this first fight and I won with a strangle within the first minute.

Andy Morris (Wirral) Semi-Final

Andy is ranked number three on the GB rankings and is very awkward.  This was a long tough fight which I won with a Wazari.

Danny Powell (Wolverhampton) Final

It has been a long time since I had fought Danny in competition.  Danny is ranked number two in GB. This was a very close fight with no scores right up to the last five seconds.  I made a big mistake stopping fighting just outside the area with Dan on his knees.  I presumed the referee would call Matte and stopped fighting...........Big Big mistake that I should not make as Danny pounced with a Ko-Uchi gari to score Yuko.

This was a good result at my first -60 event and I look forward to some great battles over the next twelve months with some very strong fighters.

Results

National Team Championships

I was picked to represent the North West at this years National Team Championships held in Walsall.

I was selected at -60kg alongside Andy Morris from the Wirral. I wasn't able to make -55kg so it was great to be able to move up and also get some fights.

We were up against the Midlands, Northern Area and the Western Area in our pool.  Andy fought against the Western Area where we scraped home on points after drawing the match 5-5. I fought against Jack Curry in the next match-up against the Northern Area with us winning 7-2. We were then up against the Midlands Area in our last group match which we lost 7-2.

In the Semi-Final we lost to the impressive Scottish team who went on to retain their title. I had a great fight against Neil Macdonald

European Cadet Championships, Tallinn, Estonia

2013 ECC Venue

Last weekend I was selected to represent Great Britain at the European Cadet Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. I was in a team of seventeen players who had been selected to travel to Tallinn.

Great Britain Team in Tallinn

Final Results

Ofek Shani (Israel) First Fight

My first fight was against a strong fighter from Israel. Ofek was ranked number 12 for the event and had won a Silver Medal at the European Cup in Portugal. This was a hard fight but I felt in control for most of it and was really pleased to win by wazari.

Denis Vieru (Moldova) Second Fight

I needed to win this fight to put me into the repecharge and at least a seventh place finish. I had expected to be fighting the number fifth seed from Ukraine who had beaten me at the CZE cup earlier in the year but Denis had beaten him easily, and on paper I had a much easier task. It wasn't the best fight I had fought and it was a very dodgy penalty for not attacking only ten seconds after a very good attack. Only losing by one penalty was very frustrating.

After a good first fight and a very close second I can take heart from a good performance. I will now move straight up to -60kg and prepare for the Nationals in December.

From my first fight against Ofek Shani

European Cadet Championships

I received the new today that I had been selected to represent Great Britain at next months European Cadet Championships in Estonia. This is great news after the last few months.

British Team

Mars Milk Fund

Today I received news that I had been awarded a £300 Mars Milk fuel award. Thanks to everybody who voted for me. This will help towards my training and competition costs over the next few months.

European Cadet Cup, Teplice, Czech Republic

This was my first competition back after injuring my knee eleven weeks ago.  After a hard week training at Dartford I seem to be back to speed quite quickly. The Czech Cadet Cup was the biggest European Cup so far and with most of Europes best fighters attending it was going to be a tough event.

Bye (First Round)

Flavio Di Marca (Belgium) First Fight

Flavio is a great Belgium fighter who has medaled in European cups before as well as a good silver medal in Bremen last year where he beat the number one Japanese fighter and the KAZ who won Romania Cadet Cup last year. It was a great start to the contest and I felt good . My transition was again working well and I won the fight with a strangle to get through to the next round.

Roy Koffiberg (The Netherlands) Second Fight

Roy is one of the top group of fighters they have at -55kg. They have the strongest group of fighters out of any country at this weight. I have only fought Roy in training and he is fast and technically excellent. Roy got the Silver medal in this event last year. I think I showed him far to much respect and was given a judo lesson. I know that I can do much better against him

Dominik Jurkovic (Croatia) Third Fight

Roy won his next fight which put me back in the competition. I was fast out for this next fight and jumped on a weak attack winning after arm locking Dominik.

Kiril Peev (Bulgaria) Fourth Fight

Kiril is a top fighter with many good victories behind him. It was a very hard fight but I got through to the next round winning with another arm lock.

Karo Marandain (Ukraine) Fifth Fight

Karo had recently won Silver medal at the Ukraine European Cup but I gave him a really tough fight. I was still fighting really well and nearly caught Karo with a couple of armlocks. It was a close fight that I lost on a dubious yuko right near the very end.

I was really pleased with my seventh place after such a long lay off.  I hope I have done enough to be selected for the ECC in June

Results: CZE European Cup

This weekend is the Czech European Cadet Cup. I am in a team of eighteen selected to represent England at the event. I have no great expectations after nine weeks off the mat, but it will be great to compete at this high level again. CZE is also one of the hard Top Ranking Cups on the calender. Hopefully a good performance here will help towards my chances with selection for the European Cadet Championships in June.

If you want to keep up with the draw and hopefully a live feed from the event then keep looking on this link.

Update:
An update on the EJU website says this will be the largest cadet European Cup ever. There are 20% more entries than any other event with over 800 judo players from 37 different countries already entered.

CZE Cadet Cup

Black Belt

After nine weeks off and then five days hard training I went straight to Coventry to try and get the remaining 37 points I needed for my black belt. There were lots of 1st Kyu's at the grading all older and heavier than me.  Age, weight and strength mean very little in Judo and  a skilled smaller fighter should be able to defeat bigger stronger opponents. This I did with ease winning with five ippons and with five different techniques.  It is nice to get my Black Belt at only 15 especially as I only weigh 55kg.

European Championship Preparation Camp & ETD Camp

This weekend I was invited to attend the Senior European training camp as a training partner.  Mainly I was there to train with and compete against Connie Ramsay from Scotland.  We had lots of great fights throughout the week.  It was good to be around the senior squad whilst they prepared for the Europeans. Later in the week was the ETD camp. Although I had been off for nine weeks it didn't take long for me to get back to full fitness and everything seemed to click back into place quite quickly.

England Selection for CZE European Cup

I was pleased to be selected for the Czech European Cadet Cup in April.  Hopefully I will be fit to compete

Cadet Cup Selections

Knee Injury

In the eleven years I have been doing Judo this injury will keep me off the mat longer than any other.  I have torn my cartilage in the very last second of my fight with Kieran.  I am safe in the ECC and EYOF ranking list at number two so its job done and at least I can afford to miss the North West age bands. I will have to miss this as well as the ONST and ETD camps in Kendal.  I also doubt I will be fit for the European Cadet Cup in Ukraine in five weeks time as I am in a lot of pain and on crutches and in a knee brace?

Keep up with my knee recovery: Knee Rehab

Midlands Under 21

This weekend was the Midlands area Ranking Event.  It is the third of the four ranking events for the ECC and EYOF selection.  Only players finishing in the top 2 after these events have a chance of being selected. I was in second place behind Pete Miles after losing to him in both the British Cadet and Junior Championship finals. Another good result today would see me safe in the number two position

Tom Ingram (South Brent)

I won my first fight with some good transition beating Tom with an Arm-Lock.

Danny Irving (Ford)

Danny has been a top fighter for years but has had a lot of time off through injury.  It was still a hard fight but like my first fight I won with an Armlock

Kieran Davin (Moberly)

I have lots of good fights with Kieran for many years.  This fight went right to the last second when I threw for a yuko. I landed funny on my knee and straight away I knew it was a bad injury. There was only one second left so I was able to stand up for it and got through to the final.

I was unable to even stand up properly so could not fight in the final against Pete (again) but another Silver medal means good points on the ranking list

British Junior Squad

I was pleased to receive a letter today from the BJA confirming my selection onto the British Junior Squad for 2013. Only the top four on the Junior ranking list form the Junior Squad but after my Silver Medal at the Junior Nationals I was Co-Opted onto the squad. It was a great competition as I was the youngest in the event.

British Junior Squad 2013

British Junior Championships 2013

After my Silver at the Cadet Nationals I had entered the Junior Nationals. This was going to be far harder than the week before as I was the youngest fighter by at least six months and the only 1997 player who had entered.  Most players in the group were 2/3/4 years older than I was. With the form I was in anything could happen.

Dominic Reilly (Sportif) First Fight
I had beaten Dominic in the final of last years Nationals and was pleased to start the competition well again winning with a strangle after some more good transition.

Jack Laidlaw (Danderhall) Second Fight
Jack was a difficult fighter and I had to rely on three penalties to get through this round.

Renz Vallejera (Tora Judo Kai) Semi-Final
This was the first time I had fought Renz  who was the number one seed for this competition. I was fighting better and knew I needed to keep off his uchi-mata I scored with a yuko before winning with a wazari late on in the fight.

This meant as the youngest fighter in the group I had reached yet another British Championship Final. In the same final as the cadet competition I would again be up against Peter Miles from Bradley Stoke.

Peter Miles (Bradley Stoke) Final
Unlike last week I tried to do more of my own judo and it was a much closer final. Although the result was the same I only lost by a yuko and will take more confidence into the next fight with Pete.

Link to the Results

Me & Pete in the Final

British Cadet Championships 2013

After a hard couple of months training I was ready for the British Championships.  This year was going to be the toughest yet and I was going for my fourth title in a row. I had moved up to the -55kg weight group where Peter Miles was also going for 4 in a row so was really expecting a very tough day.

Scott Thomson (Danderhall) Second Round

As a top seed I received a bye first round and was then up against a fighter I had never faced before. This was the start I wanted with me winning by ippon in 25 seconds.  As usual I found top form for the big competition.

Freddy Hendy (Polkyth) Third Round

Freddy is a strong fighter and had won the Pre-Cadet Nationals in October.  The last time we fought I had struggled to beat him.  Today was different, and with a wazari and an ippon within 36 seconds, I was in the semi-final.

Billy Goldsmith (JSC) Semi-Final

Billy is a top fighter who I had only fought in training. I had to control the fight early and was pleased to score a wazari before ending the contest with a strangle. I was now in my sixth final in a row at the Nationals.

Peter Miles (Bradley Stoke) Final

I knew this was going to be a hard fight and had planned my tactics beforehand.  Sadly so had Pete!!! Many say it was a good fight but in reality Pete was all over me.  Silver medal was what I deserved but certainly a great result for me.

I was in my sixth National final in a row and I have now won 3 Gold and 3 Silver....hard work does pay off.

Link to Results

Koksjide ETD Training Camp

No sooner was Christmas over and I was back on the mat. We went over to Belgium with the ETD squad for the Koksjide Training Camp.  It was a tough camp and only a week before the Cadet Nationals so it was pleasing to return with no injuries.

Budokan Rotterdam Training Camp

For the fifth year we went over to Rotterdam for their annual randori camp. There were nearly 500 judoka on the mat over the 3 days and I finished off my year with over 70 tough randoris.  This was really hard work but needed before January.

Zantaraia & Tonbridge Camp

After a good days training at Dartford with Georgii Zantaraia and Vladimir Soroka organised by the England squad it was a thrill to stay down with Chris Bowles for a couple of days before the Tonbridge Camp.  Chris inspires judo players without even trying and really motivated me to push myself further in the sport. This year the Tonbridge camp was as hard as ever with many fighters my size and was just what I needed before the 2013 season starts. If you want the best randori camp Britain has to offer then this is the ONLY camp of its type in the country.  No logs, hills or mud just full on scrapping in a venue not to be beaten anywhere.

link to the Camp

Harnes International, France

Harnes is a really tough event and generally you can have about 50 in your group.  This year there were other events on the same day so many top French did not come. There were many top fighters who had travelled from Belgium so the event would still be tough.

Kobe Persyn (Belgium) First Fight
After a first round bye I had a tough fight against this tough fighter from Belgium. Kobe lost out in the final of Venray this year losing to Danny Powell although he did beat Danny in Flanders. I knew it would be a hard fight but I threw Kobe for ippon in golden score after we had both scored wazari's in normal time. This was a good start to the event.

Dorian Lesaffre (France) Second Fight
My second fight I won easily with ippon against a French fighter I did not know.

EZ-Zerrad Naoufal (Belgium)
My semi-Final opponent was going to be a hard fight.  He had recently won Gold at the Flanders Cup in a large group consisting of many top -55 players including Roy Koffiberg. I came out attacking and fighting well and threw with Te-Guruma for which the referee scored ippon. Sadly both corner judges only scored Wazari which was suprising as one of them certainly could not have any idea what the score was. I let this decision get to me and was sloppy the rest of the fight getting thrown for ippon. My mistake...

Coen Van Winden (Netherlands) Bronze Fight
I recovered from my defeat well in time for the Bronze Fight and was up against the Dutch -15 National Champion who had defeated Callum George the fight earlier. In top form I won with yuko and then an armlock to take the Bronze Medal.

Results Link

Southern Area Open

After the Nationals I moved quickly up to -55 for good and this was my first event.  It was important I did well to get up the -55 ranking list in time for the nationals. I was bang on form and won my earlier rounds well beating Kieran Davin before meeting James Fowler in the final. I controlled the fight scoring a couple of times before throwing for ten and taking the title.

Three times British Champion

A picture taken at school with my three British Championship Gold Medals

British Championships 2012

This year should have been my last as a cadet and this Championships should have been for 97/98 fighters.  Due to the change in cadet ages in Europe the BJA left this years competition at the same age band as last year 96/97. They have also changed next years Championships to 96/97/98.  This was my last competition at -50 and I am going to move up to -55 after this competition. I came into the competition hoping to win my third British Championships in a row.

Elliot Gladwin (Alpha) First Fight

I had never fought Elliot before but started the event well and won with a strangle after about 30 seconds.

Jack Murphy (Pro Judo) Semi Final

I have fought Jack many times and controlled the grips well before winning with a sangaku strangle.

Dominic Reilly (Sportif) Final

Dominic is tough but I was still fresh and fighting well. I jumped in on Dominics first attack and won in 22 seconds with a strangle.

Winning all my fights with strangles was very pleasing but most of all it was winning my third Championships in a row.  As a bonus I picked up my first 10 points towards my Dan Grade. Next years British Championships has been brought forward to January and with me just moving up to -55 this will be a hard challenge......but I like hard challenges !!!!

2012 Results

Focused or what

The moment before victory

The moment of victory

British Champion 2012

Medals with Winnie G

High Peak Sports Awards

I was again invited to attend the 2012 High Peak Sports Awards which were held in the Pavillion Gardens, Buxton. It was a night where the High Peak celebrated the 2012 Olympics and welcomed home some of its medalists. At the end of the night the High Peak Sports Awards were presented.  For the fourth time I won the Junior Sportsman of the Year Award and was presented with a nice trophy by our Paralympic Gold Medal cyclist. I will now hopefully get nominated to attend the Derbyshire Awards later this year.

Warsaw Open 2012

This year the Warsaw Open was again held in the massive Torwar sports hall.  There were 8 contest mats and a raised platform final mat.  There were nearly 1200 fighters from twenty countries and this is one of the strongest events of the year.  Only 3/4 of the Cadet European Cups are harder than this competition. Each mat also had a video care system for all ages u14/u16/u19 and two big screens kept all the fighters up to date with the running order.  There was also a live internet feed with updated results on their web site. After the competition there was also a three day training camp which was attended by more than 200 fighters.  In preparation for the British Championships I decided to fight up at -55kg ready for me moving up in November. There were 43 fighters in my group with many National Champions making it a very difficult group.

Martynas Kvedaras (Lithuania) First Fight

This was a tough start to the competition as I knew Martynas was a good fighter.  I was happy to start the competition well winning with 2 wazaris.

Patryk Kastner (Poland) Second Fight

My second fight was against a Polish fighter.  It was a tough contest which I won with a yuko.

Alexey Gruntov (Russia) Third Fight

Alexey had finished third in this years Russian National Championships.  It was a tough fight and I got thrown for ippon.  I needed Alexey to reach the Semi-Finals for me to get pulled back in. Alexey won his next two fights and also went on to win the weight group without really being challenged.

Me with Alexey at the training camp.  I fought him six times at the camp and did manage to throw him quite a few times. Alexey finished fifth at this years Cadet European Cup in Tver so I was pleased how the fights went.

Matej Vidmar (Slovenia) Fourth Fight

This was going to be a really hard fight.  Matej is the Slovenian National Champion and he had also won the Warsaw Open the previous year.  He is a big fighter but half way through the fight I threw him for ippon with a technique I picked up at the Zantaraia camp a few weeks ago.

Adam Kovacs (Hungary) Fifth Fight

I was fighting well and threw Adam for Ippon after about 90 seconds.

Ruslans Soha (Latvia) Sixth Fight

Ruslans is a strong fighter and the current Latvian Champion.  It was a close fight all the way through and I got caught late on in the fight.  This was a fight I should have won but was pleased with the way I had performed in the 55's at such a tough event.

I had some great fights in the training camp with all the Russian lads and look forward to coming again next year.

2012 Results