Two Pinewood fighters, Will Mallinkrodt and Kiera Bateman, were selected to represent England at last weekend’s prestigious Sainsburys School Games in Manchester.
Will at U73 kg started with a tremendous throw to defeat his Scottish opponent by a maximum 10 point score. He was unfortunate to lose his next contest by the narrowest of margins on a single penalty and a further loss to his England team mate O’Shea left him with a Bronze medal.
Kiera Bateman was on devastating form taking each of her 5 opponents by a maximum 10 points. 3 by hold down, 1 by strangle and 1 by throw.
This performance put her into the Gold medal position and left no doubts about her future potential.
Both Will and Kiera then took part in the team event, gaining a Bronze medal apiece.
At The Heart of England Championship in Walsall a small group represented the club with Holly Eccles at U44kg taking Bronze, her big sister Jade Eccles at U57kg went one better fighting well to a Silver medal.
Catlyn Clark who entered this event to gain experience delighted coach Mark Fricker with a comfortable win in her pool over the eventual Gold medalist.
Sadly her lack of experience in her next fight meant that she was forced to settle for an eventual 5th place, a good result for her.