Rotterdam Training Camp

Traveled over to Budokan Rotterdam again for their annual training camp. Not quite up to it's usual standards having been cancelled last year. There were still over 500 fighters on the mat and plenty of hard randoris to end off a good year.

Tonbridge Training Camp

I missed the Tonbridge camp last year through injury and was glad to be able to go this year. There were many bodies on the mat and it was up to it's usual high standards.

British National Junior Championships 2014

Last event of the year was the 2014 British Championships. First official year as a Junior and fighting in the -66 weight group. I was in a group of 23 fighters which was packed with talent. Last years winner Tom Johnson was in it along with Leo Muniz and Danny Powell. Last years British Cadet Champion Andy Morris along with Ben Attwood and Adam Khalik would all make this one of the toughest groups of the day. Pool to pool system was being used as it is also the British trials so a very long day and lots of fights was on the cards.

Abdurrahman Chaatouf (Ernest Bevin) First Fight.

Abdurrahman wasn't seeded but certainly should have been. Not an ideal first fight and I struggled to get going. My timing was poor but my transition was good. I held Abdurrahman down for ippon to get a good first win on the board.

James Littler (Garioch) Second Fight.

James is a strong fighter and my timing was still off. Again my groundwork kicked in and I won with an ippon hold to move on to the next group.

Jack Barnes (Pyrford) Third Fight.

Had a couple of hours rest before the second pool and my judo was looking sharper. I won with two wazaris to take my third win of the day.

Adam Bolwell (Bath) Fourth Fight.

Controlled the fight well winning with a wazari and then a hold for my fourth win of the day.

There was a bit of a change to the next pools which came as a big surprise to many of us. Andy Morris had been injured in a battle with Leo. Although Andy had qualified from the pool in second place the third place fighter was promoted to the next round in his place. This changed the pools making a pool of death consisting of Ben Attwood, Leo Muniz, Danny Powell and myself. Only two of us could progress into the final pool and secure a place on the GB squad.

Leo De Moura Muniz (Tower Hamlets) Fifth Fight.

Leo is a talented fighter and we have had some good scraps. I needed my best judo which I found and won the fight by a Yuko. It was another great fight and brought me my fifth win of the day.

Danny Powell (Wolverhampton) Sixth Fight.

I was knackered and hardly had any rest before coming up against Danny. I was really fortunate to beat Danny at the Welsh a few weeks earlier and I knew he would be out for revenge. I have fought against Dan for about 12 years and he is one of the best fighters around. This fight was no different from the others. Dan attacks a lot more than I do and it is always a tactical waiting game rather than all out attacking. I was losing by a shido before I countered a weak attack for wazari and held him down to win the contest. Six wins out of six now.

Ben Attwood (Bradley Stoke) Seventh Fight

This is the first time I had fought Ben and I knew what to expect. I scored with a yuko to take the lead. Ben came at me for the remainder of the fight but I felt in control and took the win and my Seventh win out of seven.

Alec Ranford (Hardy Spicer) Eighth Fight

Alec had been pulled back in due to the Andy Morris injury but was fighting well having earlier beaten Leo. I felt in great form now and was really confident after my recent three wins. Controlled the grips before banging in uchi-mata for ippon. Eight wins out of eight.

Tom Johnson (Yoshin Ryu) Ninth Fight

In pool to pool the top two seeds are drawn to fight the very last fight and both myself and Tom had won all our fights up to this point. Winner of this fight would be 2014 British Champion. Tom had beaten me last year to take the 2013 title. I was so confident and felt really good. I followed up my first attack with some sharp transition and won with an armlock in 18 seconds to take the Gold Medal.

To win the title in a group like this is a result of a year of really hard training. My recent trip over to Israel gave me some good final prep for the event and finished off a great year for me. To go to both the Cadet and Junior European Championships was a massive bonus. next year I will start full time training at the centre and hope this will develop me further and have a good 2015. More foreign training is essential this coming year. I would like to thank everybody who has helped me in 2014. 

RESULTS

Sports Personality of the Year, Glasgow

It has been great being supported by SSE this year. Not only did they give me tickets to watch the Commonwealth games but they also sent me up to Glasgow for the Sports Personality of the Year awards.

Training in Israel

I jumped at the chance to go over to Israel and train with their National team at the Wingate Centre. I traveled over with Sam Hall to Tel Aviv for the week. This was a new level of training for me and good to see how the Israeli fighters train as well as what their national Centre looks like compared to ours. This will not be the last time I come over to train here and hopefully next time I will be able to stay for a lot longer. This was a hard week of training but great preparation for the coming British Championships.

Welsh Junior Open

I had not been well all week and looking back I don't know why I bothered fighting.

First Round Bye

Alec Ranford (Hardy Spicer) Second Round

Thankfully the first fight was a quick one winning with uchi-mata in the first 30 seconds.

Danny Powell (Wolverhampton) Semi-Final

It was a close fight for the first two minutes but after that I was gone. I spend most of the fight getting off Dan's throws. How the fight went into golden score I don't know. Dan made a mistake stepping out of the area giving me the fight by a shido.

Leo Muniz (Tower Hamlets) Final

I recovered a bit and thanks to the pace of the fight I felt a lot more in control. I had been sick after the semi-final but sadly just as the clock stopped to go into Golden Score I threw up all over the mat.

Instant disqualification.

RESULTS

European Junior Championships, Romania

Qualifying for this years Junior European Championships was a real bonus as I was still a cadet. Seventh place at the event might get me selected for the World Championships in Miami later in the year. My earlier results meant I was seeded 8th for the event and received a bye in the first round.

Rok Plesnik (Slovenia) Second Round

Rok is a great fighter and I didn't really expect much. In his first fight he defeated the Turkish fighter who had demolished me earlier in the year. I found Rok's style suited me better and I controlled the gripping scraping through the fight by a penalty.

Joao Crisostomo (Portugal) Third Round

Joao was tall and dominated me from the start. I really couldn't get into the contest getting thrown twice.

Finishing ninth was so close to the seventh place that I needed but looking back I was ending the year on a high.

Heart of England Championships

Although not a ranking event it was compulsary that the European team compete at this event although we could fight out of weight. Most of us moved up a weight and I fought in the Junior -73 section. I wasn't expecting much.

Alex Bright (Patchway) First Fight

A quick start winning with a hold.

Enrico Atkinson (Tonbridge) Second Fight

Rico is a good fighter and I won by the odd penalty.

Connor Hughes (Coventry) Final

It was a tough final that went into golden score before I won with an arm-lock.

Lignano training Camp, Italy

Centre players went over to Italy to train at the Lignano Summer training Camp. It was a tough camp and a great trip.

Commonwealth games with SSE

It was great to be a guest of SSE for the Commonwealth games. Got to see some great Judo and talk about my Judo to Guests of SSE.

High peak Junior Sportsman of the Year

This week I received my award at the club for the High Peak Junior Sportsman of the Year. This is the fourth time I have won this award. This year however I wasn't shortlisted into the last two of the Derbyshire Awards.

Junior European Cup, Berlin

Bye First Round

Elias Korkko (Finland) Second Round
Tough first fight which I scraped through to win by one penalty.

Yannick Wauters (Belgium) Third Round
Yannick is the Number 1 fighter from Belgium. This was a close fight and I lost by a penalty. Yannick had a good day going on to get the Silver Medal.

Beka Vibliani (Georgia) Repecharge
Yannick pulled me back in only to face one of the top Georgians. Beka took me apart beating me easily with a yuko and a wazari.

RESULTS

European Cadet Championships, Athens

Despite not having the best cadet season I was confident coming into the event that I could perform well. 

Balazs Hadaro (Hungary) First Round

I started really well, dominating the fight and won with a Wazari and Ippon.

Adrian Razvan Ciolan (Romania) Second Round

Razvan had defeated the fancied AZE fighter in his first fight but I was fighting well. I scored two yukos before finishing the fight with a tasty armlock.

Ismail Chasygov (Russia) Third Round

Ismail was the number two seed and had won Cadet Russia earlier this year. Russia is one of the hardest Cadet European Cups. Although I was second to the grips most of the fight I put up a great fight. It was a close contest which I lost by a Yuko. Good performance considering.

Ivan Bishkarov (Bulgaria) 

I went into the fight confident but gave a sloppy wazari away early on. I got a good score back which was only scored a Yuko but could easily have been wazari. I pressured the fight all the way and thought Ivan deserved his fourth shido on more than one occasion.

It was a frustrating way to go out and a ninth place finish was not quite what I wanted.

RESULTS

Contintal Open Panama, South America

It was a long journey but well worth the experience. I didn't expect the Juniors to be as tough as it actually was although the cadet event was a bit of a small entry

CADETS

Daniel Saborio (Costa Rica) First Fight

Ippon Win

Adrian Gandia (Peurto Rico) Second Fight

Adrian is one of the best around and we had a great fight. sadly I lost by a yuko getting countered with a sloppy attack.

Ronald Gonzalez (Panama) Third Fight

This was a tough fight but a good win by Ippon.

Juan Pablo Chapparo (Columbia)

Good work on the ground and an Ippon win secures the Silver Medal in the Cadet Section

JUNIORS

This was a really tough section. Not a massive group but full of talent.

Juan Tello (Columbia) First Fight

Juan had beat one of the favorites in his first fights David Prestes. Despite only being a Junior David competed in last Years Senior World Championships and had beat Gregg Varey earlier that year. Juan dominated his fight so I was not expecting much. Quite the opposite, I dominated the fight and although I couldnt score easily won the contest on shidos.

Eliezer Carreno (Dominican Republic) Second Fight

Eliezer was only short but a man mountain. I attacked constantly but just couldn't budge him losing the fight by a Yuko. Eliezer went on to win the event. During the fight I damaged my elbow badly which kept me off the mat for six weeks.

Daniel Saborio (Costa Rico)

It was a risk fighting for the Bronze with one arm but I had beat Daniel easily in the cadets so was confident. Thankfully I arm-locked Daniel quite quickly to win the Bronze Medal.

The elbow injury meant I could't take part in the training camp which one of the main reasons we came here. Three days in the sun by the pool made up for that.

Junior European Cup, Austria

Junior Austria is a really tough event. All the top fighters were there and there were over 70 in my group.

Tom Meulensteen (The Netherlands)

I had beat Tom in Portugal but this time I lost by a Wazari. Poor result and there was no way he was going to pull me back into the Repecharge.

RESULTS

Junior European Cup, Spain

Spain looked a tough event this year.

Sahin Bicer (Turkey) Fifth Fight
Was going really well now and threw Sahin for Ippon with drop morote.

Jordi Borrell Vives (Spain)
Won with a Hold-Down

Eemili Kangasmaki (Finland) Fourth Fight
This was a really close long fight which I lost by a dodgy Yuko

Manual Estevez Navaro (Spain)
Fast transition into an Arm-Lock and another win .

Khan Ogus Topal (Turkey)
Scored early with two Yukos and held on for the win.

Sinan Yaldiz (Turkey) Bronze Medal Fight
Sinan bossed the fight pretty well and I had to be happy with 5th place. I had fought well all day and had some great wins.

Cadet European Cup, Czech Republic

Marco Papa (Switzerland) First Fight

Not quite the start I wanted again at Cadets. It was a close fight but I lost by a yuko. Marco had a good day losing in the Final but pulled me back into the competition.

Richard Kovacs (Hungary) Second Fight

I started the Rep well winning with Ippon early on in the fight.

Jaka Bizjak (Slovenia) Third Fight

Dominated the gripping winning with a Yuko and Wazari.

Reis David(Portugal)

David is a good fighter with some good results. It was a good fight and I was pleased to win by a Yuko

Matt Naim (Switzerland)

Matt won the Dutch Espoir and has medaled in a couple of European Cups this year. This was a really close fight and I was gutted to lose 3-2 on penalties. Matt went on to win the Bronze.

European Cadet Cup Romania

Darius Volentir (Romania)
Started well winning easily with Ippon.

Balazs Hadaro (Hungary)
Balazs had won Bronze in Zagreb and he is an awkward fighter. It was a good win with Ippon

Gevorg Khitaryan (Armenia)
I never really got into this fight losing by Ippon. Gevorg lost his next fight putting me out of the event.

I was really disappointed at my performance as I expected to be a lot closer to a medal in this event.

RESULTS

I've been doing some work with the fabulous Millwood photography in Stalybridge. Here are some of the photos.

Junior European Cup, Portugal

It was great to be selected for the Portugal Junior Cup. Along with four other cadets who have been rewarded for their hard work and recent results.

Michael Zeltner (Austria) First Round, Age 20

I knew going into the fight that I had to perform to beat Michael and he was very good. I started the day off well by beating him with a rear naked strangle.

Alberto Martin Gaitero (Spain) Second Round, Age 17

Alberto was a cadet like me and I knew he was a strong fighter from watching him last year. He had a Gold and two Silvers from Cadet Cups last year as well as Third at EYOF and Fifth at the ECC. I carried my good form from my first fight into this one winning in 15 seconds with a standing seoi-nage. 

Antoine Bouchard (Canada) Third Round, Age 20

Antoine had a gold and Silver from this event the last two years and looked and felt four years older. I was dominated for most of the fight and only to lose by one penalty didn't really tell the story of the contest. Antoine went on to win the event again pulling me back into the repecharge.

Hjalte Nielson (Denmark) Rep First Fight, Age 19

Got lucky in this fight. Just managed to get out of a hold with three seconds to go and then got thrown for with but he used his arm to assist the throw and got disqualified.

Tom Meulensteen (The Netherlands) Rep Second Fight, Age 17

Tom was a very strong and awkward fight for me and I struggled to throw him until the last 30 seconds where I threw him for a yuko with uchi-mata to win the contest.

Jelmer Touw (The Netherlands) Bronze medal Contest, Age 19

Jelmer has been one of the top Dutch fighters for years now. I wasn't sure what to expect but was pleased with the way the contest went. I dominated the grips and countered his ashi-waza attempts twice and scored a yuko with one to finish the contest off with quick transition into juji-gatame.

Judo Inside Results

ippon.org

Junior English Open

This was the first time I had entered the English Open which was held at the impressive Ice Sheffield Venue. I love this arena and I won all my three British Championships here. Fighting at -66kg I was obviously one of the youngest in the group which was packed with top talent. Leo and Edgar were the other Cadets fighting in the event as was British Champion Tom Johnson and most of the other top Junior fighters. Aiden was still recovering from his knee injury but hopefully will be back soon. With Aiden missing I was seeded number two for the event.

Sina Dehdari (Hillingdon) First Fight

Started well and controlled the fight winning with a throw and a hold.

Edgar Polovinkins (Ernest Bevin) Second Fight

Edgar is a really good fighter. Took a while to get control of the grips but when I did the fight turned my way and I won with an Ippon.

Kyle Clark Harweood (Moberly) Semi-Final

Kyle is a top fighter but has been away from the circuit for a while. It was a close contest which I was leading by penalties before Kyle went old school and grabbed my leg and was disqualified.

Thomas Johnson (Yoshin Ryu) Final

Reaching the final was a real bonus and I was up against Tom who had beaten me to take Gold at the Junior Nationals a few months ago. I have settled well into both my weight group and the Junior section and feel I can match most players now. My gripping was bang on today and I had no issues with the new rules. I felt good through the final winning with a Yuko. Tom had a great fight in the Semi-Final defeating Leo who had earlier narrowly beaten George Goldsmith.

This was a great preparation for next weekends Junior European Cup in Portugal.

Results

SSE Next Generation and Sports Aid Workshop

Had a great couple of days at the Sports Aid and SSE presentation and Workshop held at Loughborough. It started when we arrived on Monday Night and received our SSE kit and checked into our rooms at the Link Hotel. We had a great night meeting other SSE Next Generation Athletes as well as Cycling legend Sir Chris Hoy and Olympic Diver, and Splash Judge, Leon Taylor. We had a fabulous dinner with a sports quiz and it was great to have Sir.Chris Hoy on our team. That night we were presented with our funding cheque and also told that we will be going up to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games. The next day was a day full of workshops put on by Sports Aid. There were some great sessions on Media Training, Anti-Doping. Mentoring and Nutrition. Tim Lawler from Sports Aid and Leon Taylor ran the show all day as well as talks from other SSE ambassadors and Rebecca Adlington's mum who gave a talk to all the parents and coaches.

SSE have made a four year commitment to Sports Aid and to be involved in the first year and also the Commonwealth Year is a real honor. Hopefully I will get a chance to do some work with Sports Aid and SSE in the run up to the Games.

Link to my Sports Aid Profile

North West Age Bands

James Ryan (Stewart Acadamy) First Fight
Ippon Win

Luke Condie (Whitburn ) Second Fight
Ippon Win

Ronay Hoey (Tayside) Third Fight
Ippon Win

Alex Hampshire (Gateshead) Final
Ippon Win