DJC @ The Western Area Open

Saturday the 27th and Sunday the 28th of July saw DJC head off to Weston Super Mare for the WA Open,

The competition was held a week later than last year and sadly this depleted our team somewhat as the sandy beaches, camping tents and salty sea of annual holidays stopped a large number of our players from attending.

However our DJC Team that attended showed exactly how hard work and dedication to ones craft can bring results. The day was very hot and very muggy, the worst possible conditions for a Judo player but everyone took it in their stride

Day 1:

Minors

Niamh: Niamh has for a while bbeen going about her business just under the radar and this competition would prove to be a big step up for her, A solid start with a win over Amber from KSJC gave a confidence boost. in the round robin format she continued her aggressive action and was extremely competitive in all her contests, a slight issue with her footwork was highlighted which we will work on and we had a situation where at the end of the round robin, everyone had a couple of wins from everyone meaning re-fights, Niamh eventually ended up with a well earned bronze medal!

More to come from Niamh this year!

Tia: Tia is another player who has improved hugely over the last 12 months and is now becoming a problem for her opponents, she also was in a round robin format and had some good fights with the other girls in her group. She took a well earned bronze medal and may be DJC's most medalled player of 2019! good work Tia

Pheebs: Pheebs started the day off very well with a solid win in her first contest against a tough girl and we were hopeful this would have been a good day, sadly an injury put pay to any hopes of success, it looked very nasty to start with and an Ambulance was possibly going to be called, luckily it turned out to be just very badly bruised, never mind we pick ourselves up we dust ourselves down and we go again

Pre-Cadets

Jake: Though Jake didn't medal here, this has to be the best I've seen him compete overall, he won his first fight with an amazing turnover from underneath, and then his 2nd fight was over in a few seconds and Jake was on fire(''i noted also that one of the other coaches was screaming at his player ''don't go to the ground with this guy!!'') sadly Jake got a smash in the face which started a nose bleed which just made his remaining fights impossible but a blood soaked Judogi and a fantastic attitude made this my performance of the day

Olivia: Olivia was in a VERY loaded over 60's group which contained some fantastic players. Liv has some fantastic counter Judo and is as tough as old boots making her a nightmare to fight, she made it into the semi's after a good contest with Becca from Redruth and just missed out going into the bronze medal final, which ended up being a very very tough fight for both girls, the hall was so hot a muggy by this point that even just standing was exhausting, she came so close but just missed out and took a very solid 5th place, we will be working with her to get some solid attacking techniques polished further

Maddox: Maddox had a frustrating start with his first and second fight being more akin to Mongolian wrestling, both players he took on seemed very intent on lifting and not much else, 3rd contest Maddox channelled this frustration with a variety of techniques and grips, finishing with a huge sumi gaeshi which got him the win. his next contest saw the throw of the day, a left handed seoi nage from nowhere which put his opponent up in the rafters and back down with a bump! Bronze medal for Maddox who's hard training is paying off

Bogdan: Bogdan sadly had a bit of a miss-hap during warm up, ironically he was working with Maddox working on defending Ura-Nage and ended up in a sort of spear tackle and ended up on his head, this wasn't the best start and this then affected his first contest, however he next two were good with good variety and a bit more of a spring in his step - a bronze for Bogdan who has been training very well lately and has even started doing some running with Callum!

So that was day one, a very muggy and sticky day to be fighting but this did not hinder the performances

Day 2

Cadets

Just the one entry in cadets which was Callum(we will have a few more next year) this was really a toe in the water for him as obviously he has come to Judo a little older than most and our expectations we tapered, However Callum fought really well and won his first two contests(and shaking off a punch to the face) and took the fight to the 1st Dans in the group, again his TRAINING is paying off, currently He is training 4 nights a week and then coaching an additional 2 days, while this will be stepped back a little next year as he has GCSE's to concentrate on his progress especially with Gary's coaching has been fantastic - a well earned bronze for Callum today

Seniors

Kate: Kate had a very touch group in the U57's with both Charlie Bond and Fran Roode competing , her first contest could have gone either way and in the end she just missed out, she was competitive in all her contests but the quality of the group was extremely high.

Cerys: Cerys had to fight up a weight group from 48's to 52's and had a round robin with Chloe Landricombe from Team Bath, all three fights were very competitive and Cerys looked like and angry wasp as she attacked, three solid contests against a highly ranked player and Cerys took Silver

Cordy: Cordelia though eligible for both Cadets and Juniors contested just the Seniors, she won all of her contests with ippon and it was very impressive to watch, her last contest was very competitive against a solid 2nd Dan girl. Gold then for Cordy and the first 10 points towards 2nd Dan, not bad for a 16 year old girl.(same coaching same result)

Big thanks to Gary and Ross for matside coaching, also to Cerys who supported too!