DJC @ The Patchway Inter-Club
Saturday the 12th of May saw many of DJC's Gen2 players head off up the M5 to Bristol to take part in our first Patchway Inter-Club competition. Hosted by Patchway Judo Club
We had a very good entry of 12 players(sadly Yannick and Bizzy were not able to make it because of injury and illness respectively)
The nice thing about this particular competition was that it involved DJC players who are not perhaps at the forefront when it comes to competition and it provided some precious experience for our older lower graded players, also the fact that the weigh ins were 12pm and 2pm was most welcome.
We were warmly welcomed by Patchway JC which is run by WA secretary Alison Finn and a fantastic bunch of volunteers whom some of our players would have recognised from other local competitions
All of our players were weighing in at 12 apart from Will who as the highest grade in our party was fighting in the afternoon session(2pm),
First up was the Big Boys! Callum and Ethan,
Callum was in good form dispatching his 2 bristol based opponents fairly easily including a 4 second Ippon! his toughest contest of the day came from Ethan,
Ethan dealt with his first opponent fairly easily and was unlucky to have been judged to have been thrown in the last second of his 2nd contest which he was ahead in. His last contest against Callum was the usual good tussle between club mates with Callum just taking the honours
Up next, Joseph was appearing in only his 2nd competition and gave a fab account of himself sat with his older club mates, he took a very well earned bronze
Next up were Niamh and Nate
Nate has been in a league of his own this year and it proved so again, his opponents all dispatched with beautiful technical Judo and dealt with relatively easily, I cannot really say much more other than a number of the other coaches were discussing him!
Niamh has really come along since joining the Wednesday squad session and used her superior spirit to dispatch her first 3 opponents in the biggest group of the day including a huge throw which was caught on film by the photographer, sadly i don't have a copy with me but will get Phil to put one up
She narrowly lost her final contest to take a very well earned silver medal in one of the best performances of the day
Next up were siblings Joe and Isabelle Walker, Isabelle has been working on some of her technical aspects and this proved to be evident as she won her first contest and was very competitive in her next two losing by a whisker, big things are coming from Isabelle watch this space, Joe was making his return to competition after a broken ankle and had some very tough bristol boys in his group, fighting with his usual determination(best scowl in the club!) and his very precise technique Joe was competitive in all his fights giving the audience some fantastic contests to watch, The Walker family took away 2 bronze medals though i predict they will be of a different colour next time
Leo was up next in a best of three with a local Bristol player, he took his usual very physical style onto the mat and won the first contest very quickly, sadly the player did not want to fight Leo again and so this proved to be the only fight and Leo took Gold, we are looking forward to some very big things for Leo this year including potentially training with the SN Great Britain squad
Charlie Warwick and George Jenkinson were up next, Charlie was in a tough group and was only competing in his second competition, a couple of tough contests led him to his 3rd fight for a bronze medal, a fantastic Tai-otoshi followed by a text book hold-down gave Charlie his first victory at competition, a bronze medal and a day to remember.
George started off still asleep and got caught by her opponent, a Kumi-Kata adjustment and she powered through her remaining contests to take a very well earned Silver medal.
Next up was Olivia who was competing in her 2nd tournament(she took gold at the SB Rumble) a mix up with her weight meant that she had to enter the higher graded part of the competition and have a best of 3 with a heavier girl from Team Bath, Liv produced a hardworking effort to win the first contest by a hold down, in the 2nd contest she countered her opponent with a huge Ippon throw, the girl also requested that the 3rd contest be fought, Liv won this with 2 wazari's a great result and a 2nd consecutive gold, FYI Olivia has come through our school class at Tavistcok College
Last up was our highest grade and senior player of the day William, who had waited a long time to go on the mat, he also has just graduated to a new weight and is giving away a lot of mass (and height) to his oppoents, we have discussed this and we know that it will take time to adjust so it was with held breath we watched Will take to the mat with his first opponent being a giant Orange belt, William had to take a shido as the boy was dominating him in grips but patience was the order of the day and superior technique defeated strength and Will took his first big win in U38's and took home a bronze at the end of the day.
Everybody made it home safely(albeit after a few scares!) it was as usual a pleasure to travel up with all of you and watch you compete, Our judo is getting better and thats all a coach can ask
Ross