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

British Junior Championships

After my Bronze Medal at the Cadet Nationals I really needed a good result in the Juniors. I knew I would be giving away a few years on most of the fighters but felt I was capable of a placing. I was still well under weight and it is a different feeling not having to cut weight before a big event. I think having to cut a couple of kilos focuses the mind a bit when preparing for a big event. There were seventeen in the -66kg and the competition was run pools to pools. I was in the pool of five and needed to finish in the top two to go through.

Tyler Smith (Ernest Bevin) First Fight

I felt really sharp and won with an arm-lock in the first minute.

Jack Dreher (Ryecroft) Second Fight

Still feeling good won in the first twenty seconds.

Sean Martell (Westcroft) Third Fight

This was quite a hard fight but came through winning with wazari then Ippon to guarantee getting through from the group.

Jacob Moore (SJC Alba) Fourth Fight

I had lost to Jacob at the Welsh a few weeks earlier and I was fighting really well that day. This was an important fight as the winner would finish first in the pool and get a slightly easier second pool. I kept up my attack intensity winning by a Yuko to go through in first place of the pool.

Elliot Thackray (Pudsey) Fifth Fight

I had fought Elliot before in training but when I was much lighter. Was a great result to hold Elliot down and win by Ippon.

Andy Morris (Wirral) Sixth Fight.

This would have been a big fight.  Sadly Andy got injured the fight before and had to pull out.

Aiden Moffat (Tayside) Seventh Fight

This was the last fight of the pool and both of us were through to the final pool. This result would carry over so it was an important fight. Aiden is a great fighter but I was still fighting well.  I scored with a yuko to win the fight but was really hanging on near the end as Aiden pushed forward.

Adam Khalik (Erdington) Eigth Fight

Adam is an awkward left fighter.  It was a great result to beat adam with a good Ko-Soto.

Thomas Johnson (Final Fight)

This would decide the Gold and Silver and it was great to reach this stage. Tom had beat me a few weeks earlier but it had taken seven minutes. This was a good fight but I lost by a wazari.

As one of the youngest in the group Silver was a great Result and big points for the ECC

Results

Junior Ranking List

British Cadet Championships

This was my last year as a Cadet and I was fighting at -66kg as the Nationals was the first event for 2014 ECC qualification.

Bye (First Round)

Ian Roberts (Kettering) Second Round
Not a brilliant start and my timing was well off. I threw Ian for Ippon in the second minute.

James Littler (Garioch) Third Round
Got going a bit better and won with a hold after about 45 seconds.

Leonardo De Muniz (Semi-Final)
When we fought at the Southern two weeks earlier I won quickly.  This fight was a really hard one. It was a close fight that went well into Golden Score.  Leo rarely throws for less than ippon and sadly for me I got caught with easily the biggest and best throw I have ever been thrown with. Only Leo has the power to catch anybody like this......well done Leo

Joshua Awiti-Alcaraz (Enfield) Bronze Medal Fight
Josh is a strong fighter and never easy to fight. It was really difficult to get back up for the Bronze fight and my timing was still well off. I really scraped the win with only one penalty on the scoreboard.

Although not the result I was after it was good to pick up my ninth National Medal and good points towards 2014 ECC qualification

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