Northern Home Counties Junior Age Banded - 10 December 2006
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8 St Albans judoka entered this competition, 4 came back with medals. Abigail Wilkins and Megan Taylor with silver, Tomi Borzak and Jamie Pearson with bronze. The other 4, Gemma Wright, Lucy Day, Philip Wilkins and Victoria Cleevely may not have won medals but they did themselves proud with their performances. Victoria was the smallest in her group but made it difficult for her opponents. Better luck next year.
Senior Nationals - 19 November 2006
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Nine St Albans Judo Club seniors set the right example for their students when they competed at the senior nationals.
The squad collected 11 medals with sisters Lisa and Gemma Paveley leading the way when they clashed in the final of the Ladies Dan Grades. Lisa took the gold medal with Gemma taking the silver. They also competed in the Open, each winning bronze.
Danny Anderson took on a combined weight group and won gold after demonstrating some superb ippon judo in the under 100kg veteran Dan grades.
Ian Rollo was first up on the day and, after several hard contests, finished in bronze position. Sam Beale competed next and fought very well but was unable to retain her title and had to be content with bronze to add to her collection.
Club chairman Bob Cleevely competed in the Veterans over 45 years Dan grades for the first time and also proudly went home with bronze.
Next up was 16-year-old Abigail Wilkins, who has just recently been awarded her Level One Coaching certificate. Abi chose to move up to fight in the adult Kyu grade section instead of the 16-18-year-old group, having won national gold twice at that level this year. It was a brave move for the talented youngster and, after exciting battles, finished with a silver medal, having been beaten with some skilful judo by a BJA dan grade. Abi also claimed a silver medal in the Kyu Grade Open.
Kar-min Yeung was again involved in a hotly contested group and fought well but finished just outside the medals.
Inter-County Team Tournament - 29 October 2006 at Leicester
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BJC (British Judo Council) Herts area sent 9 teams to compete in 7 categories in this year’s tournament and came back a very happy squad.
Each of the 9 teams was made up of 5 members and were represented by judoka from St Albans, Bury, Sandridge, Marshalswick, Kento Kwai and Dacorum judo clubs.
The day started with the primary (under 10 yrs) boys. Both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams contested well but did not reach the medal positions.
Next up were the primary girls who gave herts their first medal: a well deserved silver.
The junior girls followed suit and also came away with silver. As with the primary boys the junior boys ‘B’ team couldn’t do enough to secure a medal position. The junior boys ‘A’ team made up for this by winning gold. This was the start of the gold rush. The remaining teams, Senior Male Kyu Grades, Female Kyu & Dan Grades and the Male Dan Grades had to follow suit and all came away with gold.
The final result was 4 gold and 2 silver medals, which was enough to win the overall team trophy.
Well done to all who competed and thanks to all those supporters that cheered the teams on. They are all looking forward to next year’s competition when they hope to retain the trophy.
Northbrook Open International - 22 October 2006
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Ten St Albans judoka were entered into this competition. What a day. It started with a gold for Victoria Cleevely and finished with a gold for Abigail Wilkins. In total, they came away with 6 gold and 4 silver medals.
Gold medals were won by Victoria, Megan Taylor, Philip Wilkins, Abigail Wilkins, Dave Clarke and Lisa Paveley, silver medals by Tomi Borzak, Jordan Butler, Gemma Wright and Kar-Min Yeung.
The competition was well run and everything seemed to go smoothly. The standard of judo was good with some excellent techniques displayed.
As usual, the supporters made themselves heard cheering not only the St Albans judoka but also those from Luton Judo Club, who are regular visitors to St Albans.
Thank you Northbrook for a good day.
Leicester Open 1 October 2006
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Eleven medals. That was the final result for the ten St Albans Judo Club members that travelled to Leicester to compete in this tournament. The day started well with the youngest member of the squad, Victoria Cleevely, winning a gold medal in what is now becoming her trademark: great style.
Megan Taylor was next up and took away silver with some of her best performances to date. The rest had to follow suit.
Victoria, Abigail Wilkins, Lisa Paveley and Dave Clarke, who didn’t disappoint by producing some stunning throws, won gold medals. Silver was won by Megan, Gemma Wright and Jamie Pearson, who won 2 silvers, one in the junior group and one in the senior over 90 kg group.
Tomi Borzák, Philip Wilkins and Jordan Butler took bronze.
Those that rarely get a mention, the spectators, were also in fine form giving plenty of vocal support for those competing on the mat. Had they been awarding medals for this then we probably would have taken 1st place.

Well done to all for giving us a memorable day.
Heart of England 10 September 2006
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The Heart of England held at the NIA in Birmingham on 10 September 2006 again proved to be a very tough competition. With 10 mats on the go all day it also proved to be very busy.
Although an excellent competition, we only saw one medal come home to St Albans, a bronze that was won by Lisa Paveley.
Tomi Borzak showed some excellent skills and produced some of his best performances to date. Alas, It did not prove to be his day. Tomi, Abigail and Philip Wilkins, Dave Clarke, Jordan Butler, Megan Taylor and Victoria Cleevely all tried but did not make the medals, next year it may be different.
A huge well done to all.
BJC Welsh Junior Nationals 25 June 2006
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The BJC Welsh Junior Nationals was held at Hereford this year on 25 June 2006.
Those that travelled from St Albans Judo Club saw Abigail Wilkins win gold to add to the gold she won at the BJC Junior Nationals earlier in the year.
Victoria Cleevely and Jamie Pearson both won fine silvers. Ricky Cleevely and Megan Tayler brought bronze medals home.
Tomi Borzak, Jordan Butler, Philip Wilkins and Gemma Wright fought well but were unfortunate not to get through to a medal position.
Congratulations to all those that won and well done to all that entered.
BSJA Herts Area Open 18 June 2006
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St Albans Judo Club enjoyed another successful event at the British Schools Judo Association Competition in Berkhamsted. Victoria Cleevely, Jordan Butler, Liam Rowles and Jamie Pearson all produced some excellent judo to claim gold medals.
In his first competition, Mike Duplock overcame his nerves to take home a bronze medal. Other bronze medal winners were Tomi Borzak and Christopher Williams.
Sisters Kelly and Gemma Wright entertained with a high standard of Ippon Judo as they won silver medals which were also won by Liam Field, Adam Tan, Megan Taylor, Philip and Abigail Wilkins, and Robert Williams.
Liam Rowles, Jakob Hayley, and Conner Nash fought with tremendous spirit, but narrowly missed out on the medals. Better luck next time.
South of England Open Junior & Youth Championship 11 June 2006
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There were 4 entries from St Albans Judo Club, Victoria Cleevely, Tomi Borzak, Abigail Wilkins and Ricky Cleevely. The first to compete was Tomi followed by Victoria. Both fought well but were unfortunate not to make it into a medal position. Next up was Ricky who, 5 fights later, walked away with a very well deserved gold medal. Abigail was the last of the St Albans judoka to compete. She didn't disappoint by taking a hard fought for bronze medal.

They all fought well and did the club proud. Well done.
Herts Area Closed – 7 May 2006
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St Albans Judo Club hosted and entered 36 competitors in this year’s event and what a successful day it was for the club. 29 judoka came away with a medal: 14 gold, 5 silver and 10 bronzes.
Gold medals went to Tomi Borzak, Victoria Cleevely, Sarah Tan, Robert Williams, Jacob Haley, Liam Rowles, Joseph Tan, Jamie Longland (junior category), Jamie Pearson (junior category), Abigail Wilkins, Gemma Wright, David Clapworthy, Dave Clark and Alan Kirk.
Silver medals went to Lawrence Rowles, Megan Hayley, Adam Tan, Jordan Butler and Bob Cleevely.
Bronze medals went to Daisy Shinn, Lucy Day, Tom Webb, Christopher Williams, Philip Wilkins, Sam Shinn, Del Pearson, Jamie Longland (senior kyu category), Jamie Pearson (senior kyu category) and Alex Horner.
The whole day went well, there were many competitors and even more spectators. A lot of good judo was displayed, at times helped along with a bit of (loud) encouragement from the spectators, which all added to the atmosphere.
We can't wait for the next one.
BJC Junior Nationals – 30 April 2006
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This year 9 judoka travelled to Hereford for this competition.
Victoria Cleevely was first up and started the medal tally with a fine silver medal in the Primary over 31 kg group (last year she had to pull out due to injury).
Danny Browne, Tomi Borzak, Jordan Butler, Jamie Pearson and Philip Wilkins all competed well at this high level but were inched out of the medal positions by strong opponents.
The Espoirs (16-18 years) kept the club on the edge of their seats as Matt Browne fought hard and collected a bronze medal. A huge Te- Guruma saw Ricky Cleevely off to a good start eventually winning 3 out of 4 fights for a well deserved bronze Medal.
Abigail Wilkins improved on last year’s silver by continuing her winning streak and taking The National Title with straight wins for gold. The club’s Chief Instructor, Andrew Paveley, said "Its been a great day for the club, I am extremely pleased for them. They can all be very proud of their achievements today. I’m sure the future will hold some wonderful moments for them all".
They are all looking to improve in next year's tournament.
BJC Grade & Vets - 2 April 2006
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9 Judoka from St Albans entered this competition. Of these 4 came away with medals; all silver. They were Abigail Wilkins, Dave Clarke, Dave Toy and David Clapworthy.
The rest, although not finishing in a medal position, produced some excellent judo. Next year, who knows, it could be gold all round.
Epping – 12 March 2006
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Three judoka from St Albans entered this competition but went away with 5 medals; Silvers for Tomi Borzak and Victoria Cleevely and gold, silver and bronze for Jamie Pearson. The competition began with a reminder of illegal techniques and was well run from start to finish. It was a pleasure to watch some good standard judo.
South London Area Open 4 March 2006
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7 Judoka from St.Albans Judo Club competed in the South London Area open.
Victoria Cleevely started what turned out to be a very productive day by taking Gold with a series of Ippon wins.
In the under 38kgs Tomi Borzak fought extremely well, pulling off some excellent throws, however 1 Wazari and 4 Ippon wins was only enough to take him to Silver medal place.
Jordan Butler fighting above his weight group in a combined pool, had an uphill task, but rose to the occasion defeating higher grades on his way to a well earned Bronze.
Winning 3 out of 4 fights Phillip Wilkins won a silver medal in the under 46 kgs group
Not to be outdone by her younger brother Abigail Wilkins dominated the under 57 kgs girls with a series of Ippon wins, one of them a Harai-Goshi for Ippon in 4secs flat.
In the senior over 90kgs Ricky Cleevely matched his younger sister by being presented a gold medal after a bruising contest, which he won with Ippon
Dave Clark finished off the day in superb style winning Gold in the lightweight Dan Grade event with some awesome throws and armlocks. Dave then took Gold in the Dan Grade open contest with 3 straight Ippon wins. He was also awarded a "Spirit of Judo" trophy.
BSJA 26 Feb 2006
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Brothers Daniel and Matthew Browne claimed a double success at the Herts Schools Judo Competition in Berkhamsted.
The duo, who are members of St Albans Judo Club, were representing Sir John Lawes School, Harpenden, and they each claimed gold medals to lift the Junior Trophy.
Abigail Wilkins also collected a gold medal and there were a number of other impressive performers. Victoria Cleevely, Jordan Butler, Nicole Payne, Danielle Evans, Jake Freeman, Laurence Rowles and Megan Haley each won silver medals. Gemma Wright battled through six fights to get her bronze medal. She was joined by Andrew Gillon, Kelly Wright, Tom Webb, Liam Field and Jamie Longland who all demonstrated their determination and also claimed bronze medals. Coach Andrew Paveley said: "All who took part did themselves and their schools proud.
London Judo International 11/12 Feb 2006
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There were 64 entries from St Albans Judo Club in categories ranging from primary contest to kata. This year, for the first time, there was a junior kata section.
The first to put St Albans on the medal table was Francesca Cross, who won gold with two wazari and two Ippon wins. Her display boosted the other club competitors and Lucy Day, with only six months experience of judo, put up a spirited effort to win a bronze medal.
Junior Kata TeamThe celebrations continued with the Junior Kata team, led by Timothy Charlewood and Tyler Nash, taking one silver and two bronze medals.
On the second day of competition the club celebrated three gold medals, with Sam Beale, Adam Breed and Seb Gray all gaining the top prize.
Other medal winners from St Albans Club were Daniel Ackers (bronze), Victoria Cleevely (bronze), David Clapworthy (silver), Ricky Cleevely (silver and bronze), George Burrow (bronze), Lisa Paveley (bronze)
Danny & Sam and Danny Anderson who won a bronze and then a silver medal with Sam Beale in the Ju-No-Kata.
A total of 4 gold, 4 silver and 8 bronze medals were won. There were also 5 5th places.
Well done to all who entered, you should all be proud of your performances.