Walderslade

April News

Walderslade Judo Club Championships

Walderslade Championships 2008

Our annual championship is probably the biggest event we organise each year, and what a day it was. As normally happens in the build up to the day, I start to worry about how many judoka are likely to turn up to the training session, how many will enter the championships and whether any clubs will enter a team in the team championship. It's the same every year, and every year there is a great turnout. This year was no exception.

It really all started on Friday night, with the hall needing to be completely cleared even before the mats for the Friday sessions could begin to be laid. It was all hands to the pumps, moving tables, chairs gym equipment and setting up in the canteen. Lots of parents and club members became involved, which was great and meant that everything that had to be done on Friday night was achieved with no disruption to the normal classes. The banners went up and the hall started to look great once again.

Just before 10:00 on Saturday, judoka started to arrive for the training session. Then they kept on arriving!

When everyone had assembled on the mat and we looked around, I realised that I had made a good decision to once again invite a guest instructor to take the class. Lining up on the mat the with the other 7 Dan grades present we were faced with 102 judoka, the largest group ever assembled on our mat at any one time!

So, with a general welcome given and some formal introductions completed I was relieved to be able to say to our guest instructor "Over to you Dave".

Our special guest instructor this year was Dave Dunsford, 3rd Dan, from Bexley Judokwai, and what an exceptional job he did. With such a wide range of grades and ages present and with so many having turned up for the session it was important to ensure the safety of those on the mat. Dave had the judoka laughing and enthused during the warm-up and then working hard covering methods of breaking down a partners attack and countering them.

The morning finished with the traditional Dan Grade line-up but for the first time this had to be cut short as we were running out of time and steam!

The individual championships began about 30 minutes behind schedule, but once under way started to move ahead at a good pace. Two groups at a time were called to both mats and medal presentations were made on the stage by Mr Dunsford.

A total of 112 juniors contested the event, split into 29 groups. It was very pleasing to see that 36 club members had taken part, all of whom did really well, winning 9 gold, 8 silver and 19 bronze medals between them.

The evening's team event did as usual produce excitement, drama, cheers and even a few tears.

Five clubs entered the championships, Akzo, Bexley, Parkwood, Walderslade and Wrenwa.

Previous winners Parkwood were seeded into the pool of 2 and lots were drawn to see who would join them. Bexley was picked leaving Akzo, Walderslade and Wrenwa to compete in the pool of 3 for positions in the final four.

After some exciting contests Akzo were eliminated and the remaining four teams moved to the semi finals.

The second semi final saw Wrenwa facing Bexley for a place in the final and what an exciting and drama filled contest this was. Big throws and high emotions saw the lead move one way then the other. The final score was an unexpected result with 5 wins each and only ippons having been scored. This meant both teams had equal wins and equal points.

Lots were drawn by the team captains to choose a weight that would fight off to decide the winners. The Girls U36 kilo group was selected but at the end of a long hard day the Wrenwa fighter decided she did not want to re-contest the bout and the round was awarded to Bexley, who now went into the final against Parkwood.

Our third and fourth place play-off was against Wrenwa who had already beaten us in the opening pool. It was unlikely that Walderslade would have been able to turn the tables on such a strong Wrenwa team and so to save any risk to our younger and least experienced judoka we forfeited a number of contests and so settled for the 4th bronze medal place.

The final was, as usual, a noisy and exciting affair.

Parkwood were declared the winners with 6 wins to 4 and retained the Millennium Shield for the second year running.

And so the championship ended for another year. It was another great success for the club and I have received a great deal of very positive feedback already.

A great deal of hard work goes into organising and hosting an event which starts at 10:00am and finishes after 9:00pm and I want to say a big thank you to all of our club members, volunteers, parents and coaches and all those from other clubs who put in so much effort in order to make the day the huge success it was.

Our junior members who took part in the championships and fought for the club must also be praised. There were some excellent contests and some exceptional judo being performed.

This event is really our annual test on how club members are comparing against those from other clubs and it is clear from the results that they are all doing really well.

Those who represented the club in the team event did especially well with some having only limited competition experience.

We ask a lot from our juniors at this event. Some of them are there for the training at 10:00 in the morning and take part in the individual championships as well as the team event and it is a long and tiring day.

Hence, we are all very proud of the efforts they put in. We knew that this year we had a strong boys side to the team but were lacking in experience on the girls side. Three of our 5 girls had been doing judo for less than a year and so we were very pleased with the efforts that those three girls in particular put in. We are excited about the future and think that we now once again have the makings of a strong team which hopefully will improve as our judoka gain more experience. We also have a number of youngsters who will in time be strong enough and heavy enough to compete in the team event and we think there are good times ahead but we may need to wait until some of our younger judoka have grown a few more years and gained a few more kilos.

The most important thing for us is that their technique is good and they are applying basic principals correctly.

The full results and some photos appear later on in this edition. The Walderslade Team for 2008 was:

• U26 Jarad Kemm
• U36 Liam Banbury
• U46 Adam Bale
• U56 Alex Helm
• U66 Wayne Russell

• U26 Caitlin Penny
• U36 Charley Harvey
• U46 Isabella Austen
• U56 Catherine Smith-Dance
• U66 Anna Parsons

The only disappointing part of the day was that Georgia Kirkpatrick later discovered that she had broken her collar bone during the individual event. This plucky youngster made no fuss on the day or the next and even went back to school before asking to be taken to the hospital, where an x-ray confirmed that she had in fact broken the bone. Georgia will now have to wait for around 6 weeks before resuming lessons.

We all wish her the best of recoveries.

Don't forget that the photographs taken by DE Photo can still be viewed and purchased through their website at www.dephoto.co.uk

There are some really excellent photos on the site, taken both during the championships and also during the morning training session.

BJA Kent Closed

One of the year’s biggest disappointments so far was the change in date of the BJA Kent Closed to the middle of the April end of term holidays which then meant a number of club members were unable to attend. That being said, six club members did manage to get to the event and four came away with medals. In the Red Belt category both Molly and Charley Harvey took part and demonstrated some excellent judo, both coming away with Gold medals and further points on the club’s Championship Points Table.

For Charley in particular this was her third Gold medal within almost as many weeks, having won Gold at the Walderslade Championships, BJC (MAC) Under Yellow Belt event and now the Kent Closed.

In the junior categories we had two members taking part. Alex Helm and Wayne Russell. For Wayne this event is has been jinxed. In 2007 he injured his back and was taken to hospital for treatment and 2008 was to prove to be no different. Having won his first contest with relative ease Wayne went into the second round more confident than in previous years. However, he was thrown awkwardly and again had to be taken to the local hospital as a precautionary measure. Fortunately he was ok and has now made a full recovery. We are all hoping that 2009 with be 3rd time lucky for Wayne at the Kent Closed and he will survive the whole event unhurt.

Alex Helm was next up in the U60kgs event. Although not his best performance, Alex gave it his all and came away with a Bronze and qualification for the Kent Squad. This makes Alex the first Walderslade junior to become qualified for any official BJA squad and we are all very proud of this achievement.

The senior entry for this event was disappointing low. However, both of our senior members who entered fought hard and both gained silver medal places after some tough contests. Steve Stacy gained his silver in the Mens U90kgs category and Louise Parsons gained hers in the Ladies Open category. Well done to all those who took part.