A report by Nathan Young, secretary of Bradley Stoke Judo Club.
Firstly, we would like to congratulate the Thornbury judoka and friend of the club Sally Conway on her fantastic bronze at the Rio Olympics. Sally produced some fantastic judo and was very unlucky not to find herself in the gold medal fight. Sally is a true inspiration to our members.
Unlike most sports clubs the judo club operates all the way through the summer, with a full schedule of events in the calendar. We have had a great turn out at our training sessions with record numbers in attendance especially on a Thursday evening. On the competition front it has been full on with members of the club travelling to Spain, Poland, Berlin, Croatia and many parts of the UK for the domestic events.
In Europe, we had several players take part in the top level Junior European Cup fixtures in Spain and Poland with great success. Steph Walker travelled to Spain and brought home a bronze medal and this was followed up by Lele Nairne bringing home a bronze from the Junior Cup in Poland. This was a great achievement as this was Lele’s first competition back after 16 months out injured with a leg injury. Pete Miles also attended the cup in Poland and came back with a 7th place. Roy Walker travelled to Croatia to take part in the European Veterans’ Cup and also came back with a 7th place in a very tough tournament.
On the domestic front, Bradley Stoke continued to deliver fantastic results at the West of England Open Championships in July, bringing home numerous medals in the under-12, 15, 18 and senior categories. The club were also proud to have three of our judoka selected for the 2016 UK School Games that took place at the end of August in Loughborough. Tatum Keen and Eleanor Young were selected for England and Sam Ashton was selected for Wales. Tatum Keen produced the judo of the weekend, winning gold for England in the under 48kg category. Tatum was the youngest in the group at 14 but defeated opponents that compete in the under-18 and 21 age groups. One of the opponents Tatum defeated recently won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Judo Championships in South Africa in the under-21 category. Tatum then won a bronze medal in the team event. Eleanor Young battled to a well-deserved bronze in the under-63kg despite having to contend with illness on the day. Sam Ashton came away with 5th place for Wales in a very tough group.
It is not all about competition though, and at the start of September we sent a group of under-12s down to Plymouth for a weekend of training and fun. The group had two training sessions with the Drake and Hoshi Judo Clubs from Plymouth. These sessions were a mixture of technical work and fun which helped them all to get to know each other. After the sessions, the kids and their families had fun exploring the sights on offer in the town.
• For more information about the club, visit the Bradley Stoke Judo Club page on Facebook or send an email to bradleystokejudo@gmail.com
Photo: Under-12s in Devon.
This article originally appeared in the October 2016 edition of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine, delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,500 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
