Coach's Report:

Im going to keep my report short and sweet as there are several parents and competitors who will be doing the same report. Firstly i want to say a massive thank you to Roger Harris who sorted every thing out and did an outstanding job with every part of the trip- coach, ferry, hotel , competition with all being organised to perfection. I would also like to thank Tom the busdriver who was very understanding towards Judo being a regular chauffer for the Leceister area.

Team B.J.C. took 17 competitors, 1 referee (who did a brilliant job over the 2 days and that we had to kidnap him on the sunday pm as our fighters had finished by 3pm!) and 16 parents who were very supportive and approachable to all members of the team.

We met up with the Trayners on the Sunday morning who fitted in really well with the rest of the team. Judoka ranged from 9 to 16 years, some new to the international scene- others more accustomed to the differing languages!, with each person impressing our group doing the best they could depending on their personal situatios. A couple of fighters wished they had `1 more go` just to prove themselves, yet everyone praised them for their achievement. The main thing that was visable was the outstanding `ippon judo` shown by the B.J.C. members who regularly shone with superb 10 point techniques. The reason these could be shown was the understanding and practice of the modern fighting judo with gripping, strength and the true competitive element which all fighters regularly practice alongside traditional methods. It was clear we need to combine the 2 methods for our future team players to hold there own in I.J.F. type comps, rather than members feel they need to train in other clubs to `crisp up their judo`.

Being a national coach it will always be difficult to `coach` on the side of the mat when i only see my players 6 times a year and could never be fully aware of each persons individual techniques. Rather than go through each contest i will end with the list of results but i would like to thank everyone who made this trip a pleasurable, sucessful one for me.

Gold
Joe Wathan
Kyle Trayner
Tamsin Hook

Silver
Emily Hull
Leigh Patrick

Bronze
Jade Hamilton
Jemma o`dwyer
Josh Plant
Heather Goodman
Rachael Hill

5th place
James Stephenson
Matthew Lynsey
Elrik Starbuck
Rebecca Emmerson

Unplaced
John Hisee
Aaron Harrison
Charlie Bizley

Dave Hamblin - Team BJC Junior Coach

Parent's Report:

The seniors had already had their trip to Venray and now it was the juniors turn.
It was a lovely sunny morning, the birds were singing in the trees… no, I am sorry but I cant lie – I will have to tell the truth.

Half past six in an ASDA car park in Leicester with ice thick on the tops of the cars is no place to be. But us hardy souls who were getting picked up were all bright eyed and bushy tailed in anticipation of the weekend that lay ahead.

Once on the bus our driver, Tom, on the way to our next pick up point, in Thurrock, services, kept us informed of any places of interest that we past. After a quick stop we were on our way to Dover to pick up our main man (Dave Hamblin) and the rest of our squad.

As we waited for the ferry everyone tried to get a glimpse of the water (phew!! It was pretty calm). Once we were on it didn’t take long to get to Calais and our onward journey to Belgium started.

We arrived at the hotel for about 7 o’clock and Dave and Dave Dyer (our great referee and Dave Hamlin’s right hand man for the weekend) gave all the kids their talk about the do’s and don’ts for the weekend (judo and otherwise).

Next day we arrived at the Ssporthal ‘Venneke for the Tournoi Van Merksem competition just after 8.00am.

We were the first ones to arrive and by the time of the weigh-in the hall was getting full. The competition started dead on 10 o’clock and we didn’t leave till nigh on 6 o’clock in the evening (not that we were blaming anyone Dave Dyer). I must explain that Dave was refereeing and his mat was the last one working on the day.

Once the competition had started it seemed that there was at least one of our squad on one of the three mats all of the time. Every single one of them where a credit to the team and they got plenty of encouragement from the assembled parents and squad members alike - have you ever tried to sit in front of young Tamsin and Rachel when they are shouting as hard as they can!

As the day went on it was obvious that, although the categories weren’t massive (on average about 10 or 12 contestants) the standard of judo and the commitment of the players was high.

Nevertheless on the day we came away with 1 gold medal (Joe Watham, Quorn,U15 years ;U60kgs), 2 silver medals (Emily Hull, Countesthorpe, U15 years; u48kgs and Leigh Patrick, Southamton Samurai, u17 years; over70kgs) and 4 bronze medals (Jade Hamilton, Washington, u15 years;u40kgs, Jemma O’dwyer,Marshallswick, u15year;s u52kgs,Heather Goodman, Vale, u15years;u57kgs and Josh Plant, G.E.C., u17years; u81kgs).

Of the other 7 team members that fought on the Saturday 4 of them came 5th just missing out on a bronze (Mathew Lyndsey, Farringdon, u15years; u42kgs, James Stephenson, Washington, u15years; u42kgs, Rebecca Emmerson, S.R., u15years; u52kgs and Elrick Starbuck, S.R., u17 years; u60kgs).

The remaining 3 team members (Aaron Harrison, Quorn, u17years; u60kgs, John Hissee, Northbrooke, u17years; u66kgs and Charlie Bizley, St. Ives, u17years; u73kgs) all gave good individual performances but on the day found the opposition just too strong (what do they feed them Belgiums on!).

Not a bad day for starters but we still had our three little tigers to fight the next day and they didn’t disappoint.

On Sunday morning, having now some local knowledge we took only 15 minutes to arrive at the Dojo.

All the contestants on the Sunday were 12 years or under and we ended up with 2 gold medals (Tamsin Hook, Leicester Leys, u32kgs and Kyle Traynor, S.R., u46kgs) and a bronze medal (Rachael Hill, Countesthorpe, u26kgs).

A quick photo opportunity on the grass outside the hall saw the squad as they had been all weekend – together as a team.

A nice certificate to honour the occasion was given out to each representative and the weekend was virtually at an end. All we had now was the 10 hour sojourn back to Leicester dropping off some of the term at various points.

One thing of note was that the water on the ferry crossing back was ‘choppy’ to say the least but the kids weren’t bothered because they had enjoyed the weekend so much (except poor John who just doesn’t like boats!).

Apart from the above mentioned Sensei I must mention Maureen Oliver who did a great job to and from Leicester and of course again all the parents (and guardians) who looked after all the kids as if they were their own.

Chris Stephenson - Washington Judo Club