The Veteran and Junior sections of the Pinewood Judo Club were in action last Saturday and both groups turned in excellent results.
The Veterans were fighting in the Master’s tournament at High Wycombe Judo Centre and they won 6 gold and 1 silver medal. First off was the club’s heavy weight fighter, Samson Omonua who won gold in the over 100 kgs weight group; he scored a huge throw with Kosoto gari. Geoff Torrington took the silver medal at under 100 kgs, in his age band. Also at under 100 kgs in the next age band Mark Fricker fought extremely well and had a great result to win the gold. He was followed by four more gold medals Nigel Holloway at under 66 kgs, David Rance under 81 kgs, Paul Knight under 90 kgs and Kim Tilley fighting at under 63 kgs. All of them were fighting at their peak performance, producing some superb technique.
On the same day the juniors were fighting at Dartford in an under 12 and under 16 year competition for up to orange belt Judoka. They must have felt the vibes from their older club mates because they produced a similar score, 8 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals.
In the red belt section of the under 12 year group K-C Franklin won the gold medal, an excellent result because she was the smallest in the group by quite a lot. In the second group Phoebe Deacon won bronze and Niamh Whyte won gold in the next weight.
The three Pinewood boys in this section all won gold in their groups, Noah Jones, Jay Bennett and Oliver Young. Coach Don Werner was quite impressed with them because some ideas and technique in training were producing some excellent throws and groundwork.
Also under 12 years but for yellow and orange belts the club had two boys fighting. Wade Muttitt at under 30 kgs produced some excellent Judo to take the gold medal and Ky Webb took the silver medal at under 38 kgs.
In the 12 to under 16 years section for yellow and orange belts the club had four boys and one girl fighting. First off was Callum Jones who won bronze at under 34 kgs, Eloi De Clerq took the silver medal at under 38 kgs and Tom Lichter won bronze under 46 kgs. The Pinewood coach felt Tom had some unfortunate refereeing decisions to contend with which lowered his position on the medal tally.
Cameron Charles fought in a very strong under 50 kgs weight group and won the gold medal with some excellent Judo; his transition from standing to ground work was first class.
Tara Hewitt, who only started Judo earlier this year, produced some mature technique to win gold at under 57 kgs. It seems she has inherited her Judo genes from her father who was one of the club’s top fighters some years ago.