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.