May 16th 2019
Three great competitions for the Moulsford Judoka
Junior National IAPS Judo Tournament 11th May
Three Junior Judo Club boys took part in the IAPS Competition on Saturday 11th May. The morning didn’t start as planned with both Freddie C and Harry C having to change their weight categories into the U34Kg category. This meant that, along with Angus L, all three of our boys were now in the same weight group which pushed the total group number to nearly thirty Judoka.
Harry, the youngest of our team, started well winning his first match brilliantly but then being over powered by his much heavier opponents. I’m sure Harry will be training hard and be ready to have another go at winning one of those coveted medals next year.
Freddie lost his first match which meant that for him to win a medal he would have to do it the hard way as he had now dropped into the repechage section which means you have a lot more matches to get to the medal contests – Freddie battled through winning all of his contests and finally taking a well-earned Bronze medal.
Angus was in the correct weight group and he was definitely fired up and ready to win his first National IAPS Judo medal. He won his first match very convincingly but sadly lost his second leaving him feeling very disappointed. I told him that now he needed to dig deep as in judo there are always 2 bronze medals – Angus went from strength to strength gaining valuable experience from every match and eventually winning the second Bronze Medal in style.
Well done boys a great day and an even better than expected result given the challenge with the boys’ weights.
Prep School Championship on 12th May
Another great day for the Moulsford Judoka, we took an impressive selection of medals: 2 Gold, 4 Silver, 4 Bronze and 5 Spirit of Judo awards. Congratulations to Oscar G and John P who won Gold, Joshua D, Leo M-M, Noah B and Archie D-P who won Silver, Gilby B, Harry Q, Henry A and Oliver H who won Bronze and George A, William J, Robert W, Tommy H and Finn J who won Spirit of Judo Awards.
I think this is a great result considering that for most of our boys this was their first ever competition. It would be hard to for me to write a match report giving a blow by blow account of every contest as this report would turn into a book, but having said that it would certainly be a gripping page turner.
Some 13 Prep Schools turned up to this Tournament and the competition was tough to say the least - our boys really took it to them and showed them that we are a force to be reckoned with now and in the future as our younger team looks very strong.
The boys who took the Spirit of Judo awards all sadly lost their Bronze Medal match but now they have this valuable experience I’m sure they win their first medal soon.
Senior Judo Team Event Monday 13th May
As our Senior Judo Club boys sadly missed being able to defend their title as top Medal winners in last term’s Senior National IAPS Judo due to school commitments, we decided to host a team event at home. Team events always produce a highly charged atmosphere as players from both teams win and lose and as the score line gets closer and closer, the last few players really rise to the occasion and produce their best judo through the noise of their team and parents cheering them on and willing them to win for their team.
We invited the strongest local schools to our event; Brockhurst, Elstree and Cheam and although Cheam were unable to make it this year, we hope to have them at the event next time. All of the teams that took part had many current or former National IAPS Judo Champions in them so it was always going to be a tough, skilful and hard-fought event.
Elstree and Brockhust were the first two teams on and this was a very close battle with Elstree just managing to beat Brockhurst. Moulsford then took on Brockhurst which saw one of the most exciting matches of the day as both teams fought through to the last player, with Moulsford winning. We then were up against Elstree and it was effectively now the final so both teams really went all out to win with some very spectacular judo throws and holds and we held on and managed to win. The final results saw Moulsford take Gold, Elstree the Silver medal and Brockhurst in the Bronze position.
I think everyone would agree that this was an incredibly exciting event and a must for next year’s calendar.
Well done everyone who took part in one of the Judo tournaments, you were all a real credit to Moulsford Prep.
Colin Small, Judo Coach
