Road Ninja!

The Drake Judo Club judo ninja and her trusty scribe / taxi / cheerleader / hunger monster slayer have been on their travels again. Another weekend, another sports hall! As this was the first weekend of the school holidays, this entailed a trip to Appledore to collect the babysitter for the holidays - Nanny! It also served as an excuse for a cheeky judo practice enroute, so a detour was made to join the Western Area N/S training at the Kingsley School in Bideford. For Lottie, this was an opportunity to meet up with some of her new judo friends and spend a day gawping at all the England badges on display. Well I think she was staring at Max Gregory's badge but I can't be too sure. All colours of belts were on display, with a healthy 50 judoka roughly split between A banders and pre-cadet against cadets. After the warm up, the cadets were sent outside into the glorious sunshine and the nippers having a technique session - another turnover to learn! Not sure how much went into the judo ninja's brain as she seemed to always be on the wrong end of the groundwork randori, but there was a smile, so probably all part of a cunning plan to lull her compadres into a false sense of security! After an hour or so, the nippers were sent out for the conditioning session. Running (not happy about that!) then circuits to get the heart pumping, I was knackered just watching! A light lunch of sausage rolls and pork pies (obviously Lottie hasn't read the BJA nutrition guidance) and then an afternoon of randori with specific attack and defend phases. Again, the judo ninja was on her back too much for her liking, although she did have a propensity to pick orange & yellow belts! Bouts with a red belt or two addressed the balance and the spring reappeared in her step. After 5 hours of judo related activity and the team photos on the playing field, it was time to get Nanny and return back south. Did Lottie enjoy it? Oh yeah! But the best bit came at bed time when the little voice confided that the best thing was seeing Max and Cordelia fighting as it was really inspiring. Being a little star struck might not be a bad thing after all ......