News for 2007

Gloucestershire did well at this team event winning 2 silver and 2 bronze medals.
Lawrence Newton and Rhys Long were part of the 12-16 year old 7-18 mon team, they both fought valiantly with their team winning the bronze medal in the end.
Well done to both of them and the rest of the Gloucestershire squad players.

8 members of the club travelled to the training day at Bradley Stoke today and returned with medals in hand.
Evan Barber - Silver
Izabelle Butler - Silver
Kameron Butler - Silver
Paige Fletcher - Silver
Rhys Long - Silver
Brodie Nicholls - Silver
Carrie Nicholls - Silver
Luke Baker - Bronze

Georgia Newton - 8th Mon
Lawrence Newton - 13th Mon
Brodie Nicholls - 8th Mon
Carrie Nicholls - 8th Mon

Luke Baker - 1st Mon
Evan Barber - 5th Mon
Kristian Williams - 6th Mon

Dear Newent Judo Club
I went on the day out to watch the World Cup. In my letter I am going to explain what I enjoyed.
The world Cup was very exciting and a wonderful experience it showed throws we learnt at the club in action. I would strongly recommend it to anyone if it is ever considered again.
The seats were a good choice we could see both mats, the throws were incredible. The one that stands out for me is the Chinese who achieved an ippon in 6 seconds of the match it was mega quick!
The best moment was meeting Kate Howey, me and my friend Paige were the only two to get her signature.
I think that some throws you just did not want to miss, others you could afford to look away.
The crowd were encouraging with lots of noise especially for the British.
My overall opinion is that it was an unmissable day and I enjoyed every part of it.
THANK YOU!
Yours faithfully
Izabelle Butler.
See the members page for a copy of Izzy's letter.

On Sunday a large group of us travelled up to Birmingham to watch some excellent judo. It was a very long day, having to meet the coach just after 8am and then not returning till after 8pm in the evening. As well as watching the British squad come up against men from China, Cuba, USA, Canada and lots of European countries, we were able to meet the stars of judo themselves. Craig Fallon posed for a picture with 4 of the boys (see gallery). It was a very enjoyable although tiring day.

Mark Taylor - 2nd Mon
Geraldine Gibbons - 2nd Mon
Daniel Heath - 2nd Mon
Jessica Heath - 2nd Mon
James Loveridge - 2nd Mon
Jacob Barlow - 2nd Mon
Evan Barber - 3rd Mon
Helena Parnell - 3rd Mon
Alexandra Parnell - 3rd Mon
Kristian Williams - 5th Mon
Carrie Nicholls - 6th Mon
Brodie Nicholls - 6th Mon
Luke Baldwin - 6th Mon

Bryan, Richard, Lawrence and Izzy took part in the open competition in Gloucester today. As in previous years the competition was tough, all four players gained valuable experience against some top opposition. It was Lawrence and Richards first try at a competition of this level and they learned a lot from the experience. Bryan did very well fighting above his normal competition weight and Izzy fought hard against girls much older than her.
Bryan Butler (-90kg) - Bronze
Izzy Butler (-48kg) - Bronze.

See gallery for pictures.

9 members of the club travelled to the training day at Bradley Stoke today and returned with medals galore.
Damien James - Gold
Lawrence Newton - Gold
Carrie Nicholls - Gold
Rhys Long - Silver
Luke Baldwin - Bronze
Izzy Butler - Bronze
Kameron Butler - Bronze
Georgia Newton - Bronze
Brodie Nicholls - Bronze
The training session was broken into 2 weight categories, under 28kg and over 28kg. Each training session consisted of a warm up, games and some practice competitions, where everyone was put into small groups of similar weight and grade.
Kameron was our only fighter in the first session, he really enjoyed himself, even though he lost all his first 3 fights. Kameron went out with determination in his fourth and final fight, taking this to golden score and winning by producing the most attacks.
The rest of the players were in the second session. Damien was drawn in the same pool as Luke, Damien beat the other two players with big ippons, but when up against Luke had a tougher fight, eventually beating Luke by Wazari. Luke fought hard but couldn't make any headway against his other opponents. Lawrence went out against each of the lads in his group and produced a solid result winning by 2 ippons and a wazari.
Carrie went out and scored three ippons in her fights, only one player took any points off her and that was the silver medallist. Rhys is a veteran at this event and faced a couple of higher graded players and a heavier lower graded player this time. This didn't concern him though as he won by ippon against two of the players and only lost to the gold medallist. Izzy had two heavier opponents, one 10kg heavier than her, she fought hard taking one player to full time just losing out on a yuko. Georgia again was the lightest in her group, taking one player to full time and losing on a yuko, she fought hard in both her fights. Brodie had a fair share of the action this time losing to the gold medallist by ippon but taking both her other fights to full time, winning one with a koka and losing the other by a wazari.
Bryan who helped out at the session was impressed by the fighting that he saw.

We had 3 entries at the grading and they all fought very well.

Rhys Long went from 7th mon to 9th mon.
Richard Peryer successfully converted to senior grade, gaining his 4th kyu (blue belt), an improvement on his junior green belt.
Sam Scholey went from 6th mon to 7th mon.
There were a lot of experienced junior players, so the results for Sam and Rhys were very good.
====
On the 13th of May I went to the Japan Martial Arts Club in Bristol with Sam Scholey, Richard Peryer, Sam's Dad and my Dad.
I had three fights: I won one, drew one and lost one. Sam had three fights - he drew two and lost one. Sam got 7th mon and I got 9th mon.
There were about 30 people there who took the grading. Unfortunately there was not enough room to allow our Dads to watch - which was a shame, although it meant that we were able to surprise them when we came out at the end !
Glad that we went.
Rhys Long

Club Coach Elaine O'Connell travelled to Salisbury and came away with the Gold medal for U70kg women.

6 members of the club travelled to the training day at Bradley Stoke today and returned with medals in hand.
Paige Fletcher - Gold
Evan Barber - Silver
Carrie Nicholls - Silver
Luke Baldwin - Bronze
Rhys Long - Bronze
Brodie Nicholls - Bronze and a special spirit of judo award
The training session was broken into 2 weight categories, under 28kg and over 28kg. Each training session consisted of a warm up, games and some practice competitions, where everyone was put into small groups of the same weight and grade.
In the first session was Paige who won both her fights, the first with an ippon and the second with a koka to win the group and a gold medal.
The rest of the players were in the second session. Evan enjoyed his three fights, losing the first to the winner of his group, then winning his second by scoring a yuko and a wazari and winning his third with an ippon to secure silver. Carrie also lost her first fight to the group winner, then won her second with an ippon and her third with a yuko to come in second for the silver. Luke was in a tough group where the winner made mincemeat of all the opposition, he narrowly lost one of his fights after missing out on a hold down victory. Rhys was not as victorious this time, but still enjoyed his fights as they gave him much needed fighting experience against strong opposition.
Brodie was placed in a group of very experienced players, this did not faze her at all, after each fight she got up brushed herself down and came off the mat looking ready to face her next opponent. All the players were graded higher than her, the winner being 11th mon to her 4th. This performance resulted in her being given a special spirit of judo award for her guts and determination on the day.

Club Coach Elaine O'Connell travelled to High Wycombe with 20 points to get for her 2nd Dan and was successful in doing so. Her first fight against an -78kg GB senior squad member was very close and neither she nor her opponent managed to score, the fight ended as a draw. Elaine went into the next two fights knowing she had to score ippons in both, the second fight she dominated and scored a wazari followed by a hold down for ippon within the first minute. The third fight proved more of a challenge, two minutes into the fight there were no scores on the board and then Elaine managed to get her opponent into a hold down by trapping her shoulder, ready to put an arm lock on if she should wriggle free, this was enough to score her final ippon needed.

Mark Taylor - 1st Mon
Geraldine Gibbons - 1st Mon
Kristian Williams - 3rd Mon
Damien James - 4th Mon
Luke Baldwin - 5th Mon

After many delays, weather finally allowing we finished off the Awards ceremonies on the 27th February.

Certificates of participation: Paige Fletcher
Georgia Newton
Lawrence Newton
Tom Webb
Kameron Butler
Harriet Campbell
Issy Prickett
Sam Scholey

Certificates of achievement: Luke Baldwin : Gained his 4th mon.
Evan Barber : Gained his 1st mon and had a good attendance record
Jacob Barlow : Gained his 1st mon and had a good attendance record
Izzy Butler : Bronze medal at the West of England Open and gained her 8th mon at her first competitive grading.
Iain Campbell : Gained his 12th mon.
Damien James : Gained his 3rd mon.
Rhys Long : Gained his 7th mon at his first competitive grading, took part and fought well at the West of England Open and got a Gold medal at the Bradley Stoke competition/training day.
Joshua Osborn : Gained his 6th mon.
Guy Osborn : Gained his 6th mon and a good attendance.
Alexandra Parnell : Gained her 2nd mon.
Helena Parnell : Gained her 2nd mon.
Matthew Peryer : Gained his 11th mon at his first competitive grading and took part and fought well at the West of England Open.
Richard Peryer : Gained his 12th mon at his first competitive grading and took part and fought well at the West of England Open.
Kristian Williams : Gained his 1st mon and had a good attendance record.

Attendance: Luke Baldwin : First tie 39/47
Alexandra Parnell : First tie 39/47
Helena Parnell : First tie 39/47
Caitlin Roffey : Second 38/47
Joshua Osborn : Third 37/47
Geraldine Gibbons : Excellent attendance (100%) since starting in October.
Mark Taylor : Excellent attendance (100%) since starting in September.

Trophies:

Most promising Newcomer : Geraldine Gibbons

Most improved player : Kristian Williams

Coach player of the year : Rhys Long

Club player of the year : Luke Baldwin


Well done to them all.