St Albans Judo Club

On Saturday 22nd May, almost 80 local boys and girls aged 8 to 15 attended the 1st Annual Hertfordshire Judo Team Championships at St Albans Judo Club. The event was organised by the growing collaboration of Hertfordshire judo clubs as part of their coordinated development programme for junior players in the county which started in November last year with the inaugural "Fun Day" event.

Originally the brainchild of Bob Cleevely from St Albans and Ben Almond, Club Secretary of WGC, the Herts development programme is now actively supported by St Albans, Welwyn Garden City, Haberdashers, Bury, Luton, Rush, V&E Cheshunt and Iruka judo clubs with other county clubs now also expressing an interest to participate in what is becoming a growing confederation of like-minded coaches with a successful formula for the development of junior judo talent in the county.

In keeping with the ethos of the inter-club cooperation, all teams were a mixture of players from all participating clubs. Six teams, each with 14 player categories of both girls and boys and a variety of weights and experience levels, competed in a round-robin format for team medals. On the day, the children created names for their teams, with the "Randori Strikers" eventually taking the overall Gold medal and the "White Tigers" taking Silver. Bronze medals went to the "Knee-waza Ninjas" and "Pink Fighters" with participation medals awarded to the "Instant Ippons" and the "Gladiators" who finished in 5th and 6th place.

But the main focus of the day was not on winning, but on fun and friendly inter-club participation. For example, each contest was allowed to last its full 2 minute duration, even if there was an early winner, to allow the less experienced players to try out some techniques in a randori style contest environment.

One coach summed up the friendly nature of the competition with the following comment. "We told our kids at club last week" he said, "that we won't ask how many fights they won, but how many new friends from other clubs they made". Similar comments were made by other coaches. "Seeing how the kids interacted with each other and cheered on their new friends," said one,"was more than enough of a reward.".

Roy Smith, Senior Coach of Bury JC announced "it was a great day of friendly judo, loads of smiling faces and some very good ippon judo. That's what its all about !". Whilst Paul Barnard, coach at V&E attending his first Herts clubs collaboration event, also declared the event a roaring success. "Thanks for such an enjoyable day. I know all the kids from V&E had great fun."

The event was attended by Stacey Smithson, BJA Area Development Officer. "It is just so great to see all these different players and coaches coming together to form these teams and to see new Judo friendships forming on and off the mat. The competition has highlighted the good work these clubs are doing together for the Judo Community in Hertfordshire."

One of the parents of a player who attended wrote after the event, "What a super event you put on yesterday. Not only did James and I enjoy it but every member and parent I spoke to had a fantastic time and were all excited about what was happening. Events like yesterday's show Judo in it's true light."

Summing up, Bob Cleevely declared : "What a fantastic day ! The planning was yet again perfect and everyone soon got the gist of what we were trying to do, adapted well and tried to make sure that all the kids had a fair crack. The atmosphere was wonderful ; very friendly but still with the buzz of competitive spirit. There was a fantastic display of good judo from all age groups from the least to the most experienced judoka - a real pleasure !"

Before the event, Rod Day, Chairman of St Albans Judo Club, explained that a raffle and a "pound per Ippon" sponsorship deal would raise funds towards a new defibrillator and free training for all participating county clubs. Together with some additional donations, the event raised over £400 towards this valuable cause. "To say that we were overwhelmed by the generosity extended to our defibrillator appeal is surely the biggest understatement this year", said Bob, "We can only thank you all so very, very much".

In a footnote of appreciation to the coaches of all clubs, Bob further commented : "I am delighted at the great relations we have been building up recently and at the fantastic support you have all given to the recent events held at St Albans".

The event also formed part of the 2010 St Albans Judo Club Diamond Anniversary year celebrations. In July the club are also holding a Japanese Cultural Day where they will showcase a number of exciting items such as a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, demonstrations in Judo, Aikido, Kendo and Kata, Taiko drumming, paper lantern making and calligraphy as well as offering traditional Japanese fare such as sushi for the connoisseurs !

The next Herts county judo event will be the "2nd Annual Fun Day" which will take place in November and for which planning is already underway. For further information or to get involved in the growing success of Hertfordshire Judo, contact the organisers via their club websites : Bob Cleevely (www.stalbansjudo.org.uk) or Ben Almond (www.wgcjudoclub.com).