DJC @ The South Brent Rumble Competition
Saturday morning saw DJC make the short trip to the mystical village of South Brent! for their Red & Yellow belt rumble. This competition was ideal for DJC as it is a designed to be a development event, which means an entry level competition designed to encourage first timers and novices to take that first step on their competition pathway, The referees and table officials on the most part are junior players(Kieron and Tony Murphy were on hand from Drake to assist in the table officiating)
Sadly Skyla and Georgia were not able to make the competition on the day due to illness, I'm sure they will be back on their feet in no time,
Largely thanks to Dan's efforts in arranging, we had a record 30 entires and took 28 players on the day, However Corey and Dan still delivered Judo sessions to our players who were not competing at the Life Centre with 30 players turning up for instruction.
I must hand it to Bruce(SBJC Chairman) and the rest of the SBJC committee they always give Drake and all the other clubs a very warm welcome and the Brent village hall soon has the smell of Bacon, cakes and coffee wafting through it as the band of volunteers slaved away in the kitchen.
I was delighted that virtually all of the parents brought our players on time except Leo's Dad who i had inexplicably given Torbay Leisure Centre as the venue to and he had a slight detour(sorry Mark)
Weigh in was done and we were under-way, now I'm sure you will understand with there being so many players it would take an age to write everything out, but i have written a few notes for each and will be speaking to Mike and Charles with specific feedback for certain players
A big thanks to Roz who ran around sorting things whilst i was coaching and to Alanna who helped coach some of the first timers
So performances
Isabelle H ''Tall Izzy looked very calm and experienced, having a tough first contest against Olivia but then beating Jess from South Brent, a mature performance''
Maria ''Dominant as usual Maria will be moving to Orange belt soon so this was one of her final mini mon events''
Olivia ''A debut to remember for Olivia who took Gold in her first competition, a product of our Tavistock School Class''
Mia - ''tough as old boots and starting to develop technique, a good performance from Mia''
Isabelle W '' another tough girl, a bit more technique and Isabelle will be a very talented player''
Isabelle C ''Bizzy has missed a bit of training since the new year due to illness but has strength and determination which is unrivaled and with more training will be a handful''
Georgina ''tough Day for George who took on a very skilful player and fought best 2 out of 3 lost the first 2 but showed amazing fortitude and took a Silver''
Erin '' was very dominant and took gold, adjusted her techniques well''
Zoe ''amazing first time in a tough tough group but had a huge smile and seemed to enjoy herself, i was very proud of Zoe''
Sarah '' showed no nerves and fought like a tiger, Sarah swore she would never step on a judo mat!''
Niamh ''keeps getting better and better is maturing into a solid player another 6 months and who knows what we might have?''
In conclusion Drake is leading the way with competitive females in Devon at the moment, it was lovely to see so many of them not only from Drake but from other clubs too, we are very lucky that we have, Ros, Corey and Kate at DJC and of course Christine who can show our girls what it possible if they really want it, our girls we like a big pack of lioness's today and i was extremely proud of all of them
Over to the boys and a few of them were making the debuts too
Will K - ''Will will hopefully be joining the squad sessions very soon, he went about his business as usual and took another gold''
Will P - ''Ever enthusastic Will fought hard and has improved from his last competition, more training and he will be a tricky operator''
Oliver H - ''Oliver was excellent in standing a little less so in ground work, two very hard contests, but his technique is improving hugely''
Oliver - ''in a tough group with the Williams, Ollie is almost ready to join our squad, as strong as an Ox and as tough as old boots''
Angus ''improving at every competition, is there a harder working Judoka at Drake?''
Jake Tavi ''Great Debut for Jake picking up his first win and taking Silver, Jake is from our Tavistock School Class''
Ethan - ''Ethan was King today with two fairly dominant victories, taking Gold, perhaps the senior sessions are paying off?''
Yannick ''Yannick sadly was in a wilderness with his weight and had to go up 2 weight groups but fought like a tiger and got Drake Ashburton its first medal!''
Joe W ''for me Joe was the performance of the day, he has made a MASSIVE step forward in skill and determination, a silver was so well deserved''
Nate ''Nate moved up in weight, the result was still the same, he took to experimenting in his first contest and won with Sode Tsuri Komi Goshi, 2nd contest last seconds, Gold again''
Oscar '' was nervous and is at the bottom of his weight group but has taken strides recently, my prediction is Oscar will be a handful for anyone in the next 6 months''
Leo '' completely dominant and will hopefully be attending SN National Training at Walsall soon''
Charlie ''first Debut and had two amazing contests, took bronze on count back but had the same points as gold
Joseph ''first debut and took gold in a tough group with Charlie, great performance getting an Ippon win in his first contest after being Wazari down''
Adiel ''did all the right things but is at the bottom of his weight group and struggled against taller stronger boys, still some of the best technique at DJC though''
Jason- ''debut on his 8th Birthday!! - unlucky in his first contest Jason took a bronze and a piece of Drake history as the youngest competitor to medal, (a record unlikely to be broken)''