DJC host the 2nd Annual 'Drake Open'

Sunday the 24th of November saw DJC host the Drake Open at the LifeCentre in Plymouth for the 2nd year in a row.

2018 was a very proud moment as we hosted the competition for the first time, now 12 months on the pressure was on to produce another fantastic event

The Drake open is all about 'development' meaning that we actively encourage not only first time competitors but also young officials and referees plus encouraging older juniors to volunteer and assist with coaching,

We were very lucky that we had to again close entry early as we had reached the maximum amount of 75 players, with entries coming from Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Avon

First off its very important to say an event like this would simply not run if it was not for the DJC committee and all the volunteers who were up at the crack of dawn to help set everything up

With that in mind it is important to mention the following:

A big thankyou to Dan Brown who was shifting mats and chairs from 7am, a big thankyou to Jackie Gale and Carrie Slater who both did weigh in and a host of other errands. Thanks to DJC Head Coach Mike Nugent who was there all day doing a host of coaching and other duties

Thankyou to Charles Knape for bringing the medals and running errands all day, thanks also to Juliet who took photos and Denise and Tony who also assisted with setup

It was also fantastic to see our older junior players all giving up their Sundays to come and volunteer, thanks then to Tia, Bogdan, Lucy, Ellie, Jake, Maria and Olivia all of whom supported their younger club mates and made the intimidating prospect of a first competition a little easier.

A special mention to Andy Hay who essentially ran the whole event from start to finish from a tournament director point of view, he was assisted by Charlotte and Tyla who both did a fantastic job

Thankyou to Cornwall Chair Richard Hurst who again volunteered his time to come and oversee the refereeing, Richard has supported all of the events we have put on over the last 12 months and it wouldn't have been possible to run the event without him. Massive thankyou to Amber and Will and DJC's own Kieron Murphy for their time spent refereeing and doing such a good job

Thankyou also to DJC President Allan Perry, and DJC Coaches Mark Adams and Gary Gregory for presenting our medals.

The actual competition from a DJC results point of view

DJC had an array of players entered, 24 in total, some of which were entering a competition for the first time and for others who may be fighting at this level for the last time.

Bronze: Ronnie, Isaac, Oscar, Poppy, Charlie H, Lucie, Grace, Reuben, Angus, Beth, Sparkwell, Tavistock

Results were as follows

Gold: Allan, George, Daisy, Ollie

Silver: Ned, Eli, Olivia, Charlie W, Cafan, Isabelle, Tasha

Bronze: Ronnie, Issac, Oscar, Poppy, Charlie H, Lucie, Grace, Reuben, Angus, Beth,

Oliver L, Adair, Ayla, Libby

Overall Mike, Charles and I were very happy with the way the players conducted themselves and the effort they put in at this level it is all about experience and getting used to the competition environment.

We had some great feedback from friends of DJC on improvements we can make for the future. We now move on to 2020 and to the 'Birthday Bash'