News Archive

The Pinewood juniors were fighting in the North West Area age banded tournament last weekend. It was a ranking event for the British Cadet, Junior and Youth squads held at the Sutton Leisure Centre St Helens.

On Saturday the pre Cadets did well in spite of some unfavourable refereeing decisions. James Widman moved up to the under 34 kgs weight and although he was giving away considerable weight he had a brilliant day’s Judo. The top three in the weight all lost one fight so they ended with the same number of wins. It was then decided on points and he finished in a close third place for bronze.

William Von Mallinckrodt also had a good outing fighting in excellent form, he won the silver medal at under 60 kgs. 

The girls kept in touch, Holly Eccles started the score winning a bronze at under 32 kgs. Kiera Bateman fought very well, she won the bronze medal at under 40 kgs after some rather shaky refereeing decisions. Eva Thomas won silver in the strong under 44 kgs weight group. Olivia Spellman also had a good day, she took the silver medal at under 48 kgs. All of this squad are fighting well and seem able to hold their own in this age band.

On Sunday Pinewood’s Cadets were fighting and Emma Pang fighting at under 48 kgs produced an amazing performance. She won all of her fights by maximum points, well within each contest time. One or two injuries have given her some trouble of late, but although she still felt some pain in her damaged foot Emma seems back on form again.

Leah Blair fought well to win bronze at under 52 kgs, a rather basic error kept her from the final but this result keeps her place in the squad. Nicole Brown also had a good result she won bronze in the under 70 kgs weight group.

The club will be fighting in Goole next weekend and in Belgium the week after that.

Last weekend the Pinewood Judo Club was fighting in two events, both on the Sunday. The juniors fought in Bromley at the Haberdasher’s Academy, the organisation was excellent and the numbers in attendance were better than usual.

The event was for up to orange belt level and the standard was good, however the Pinewood squad still managed a fair score of 15 medals, 8 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze.

The under 25 kgs weight group was first to fight and club’s light weights produced an all Pinewood final. Alfie Thomas won the gold and Noah Jones took the silver medal. Harry Woodhead won bronze at under 27 kgs and Declan Whyte stormed through the under 30 kgs weight group to win the gold medal.

In the under 34 kgs weight group Ky Webb won gold and Oliver Greatrex took the bronze medal. Tom Lichter showed excellent form to win gold at under 42 kgs and at under 50 kgs it was another all Pinewood final, Cameron Charles won gold and Ryan Wilcock the silver medal. Emily Brown won bronze at under 36 kgs to round off the under 12 year’s section.

The other group was for 12 to under 16 year old Judoka and at under 50 kgs Harvey Williams did well to take the gold medal and relative new boy to competition judo Tom Huckstep took the silver for the Pinewood squad. Daniel Brownlie took gold at under 60 kgs and the two girls entered had quite a good day, Niamh Whyte equalled her brother by taking the gold at under 44 kgs. Crisse Webb rounded off the club’s score with a silver medal at under 57 kgs.

Four Pinewood seniors were out fighting at the Basildon Sporting Village. Matthew Sallis fought at under 73 kgs but failed to medal, he was fighting extremely well but just lost for bronze; which put him in fifth place. In the veteran’s section Paul Knight won silver at under 81 kgs, Mark Fricker took gold and Geoff Torrington took bronze in the under 100 kgs weight group.

The last nine days have been an extremely busy one with a great deal of success for the Pinewood Judo Club.

On Saturday 21st of January the younger Judoka fought in the youth section of the British closed championship at the English Institute of Sport Sheffield, this event replaces the national trials.

Emma Pang came second at under 48 kgs, she lost the final fight by two minor penalties. Paige Brazier was fighting well at under 57 kgs until she injured her knee quite badly and had to with draw. However, Paige reached the last four so will probably claim one of the squad places when the injury is sorted out.

On Sunday it was the turn of the seniors and Matthew Purssey took second place at under 90 kgs as did Alex Farbon in the under 73 kgs. Alex was a little unlucky because he had, what appeared to be, a clean throw disallowed in the final. The two Pinewood ladies fighting both finished in third place, Charlotte Farbon under 48 kgs and Megan Fletcher under 70 kgs.

On Monday 23rd the Commonwealth championship was held in Cardiff Wales. This first day was for the Veterans. Jason Picton did well to win the gold medal at under 66 kgs. It was around twenty years ago that Jason was the first Welshman to win gold for Wales, in a Commonwealth Championships; so this brought back a host of memories for him.

Rob Smith usually fights under 60 kgs but there were only two entrants so the organisers decided to join them with the 66 kgs. This was a little disappointing because he had worked very hard to make the lower weight group. Most of the weight groups when this occurred just fought it out as a final. However he had a good day because he won the bronze medal. The 66 kgs weight group is quite strong for the club because in the M7 section Nigel Holloway won the silver medal; in spite of having to fight in the age group below his own.

Tuesday the 24th was for Cadets and Youths and the club only had two girls entered, both in the cadet section, Leah Blair under 52 kgs and Emma Pang under 48 kgs. The result was a little disappointing because they both took the silver medals. Leah fought well but could not break through her opponent’s defence. Emma was winning her final with some ease and looked quite comfortable, when an error of judgement cost her, the result. It was a tough pill to digest; but that is Judo.

Wednesday 25th was set aside for the seniors and we produced two more gold medals. Jon Purssey won the gold medal at under 90 kgs and Charlotte Farbon also took gold at under 48 kgs.

Pinewood has always had an excellent record in the Commonwealth Championships. This year was also quite good, the club won 3 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medals.

Last Saturday and Sunday the Midland Area held their open championships at Walsall University Campus. It is quite an important event because it is one of the ranking tournaments for the National squads.

The two day event brought the club 6 gold, 6 silver and 6 bronze medals and Leah Blair came fifth in her weight group. Leah lost the fight for bronze by a rather doubtful penalty but the placing will give her some points for the squad.

The gold medals were won by Declan Whyte, Cameron Charles, Kiera Bateman, Olivia Spellman, James Widman and Emma Pang. Emma damaged her foot in the first fight she mastered the pain and won the gold in good style.

The silver medals were won by Christian Tepper, Sam Blair, Eva Thomas, Harry Woodhead, Ryan Wilcock and Nicole Brown. The bronze medal went to Laura Tapping, William Von Mallinckrodt, Holly Eccles, Amy Adams, Kymran Shergill and Chrisse Webb. On Sunday Kiera Bateman fought at Worthing in the South Coast green belt and under event where she took the gold medal. Also on Sunday some of the Pinewood seniors travelled to St Helens for the North West Open and they did quite well. Samson Omonua had an excellent day, he won gold in the Veterans heavy weight section and the senior heavy weight group, this gave him a great many fights.

In the Dan grade section at under 63 kgs Laura Tapping won a gold medal and in the under 70 kgs weight group Dominique Brown won gold and Laura took the silver medal.

In the Kyu grade section up to blue belt Elliot Fricker won gold at under 81 kgs and Dan Young took the bronze medal in the open weight group. Two veterans rounded off the event for the club, Paul Knight won gold at under 90 kgs and Mark Fricker won the silver medal at under 100 kgs. They rounded off quite an eventful nine days for the club with success at many levels of competition.

Last Sunday the Pinewood Judo Club was fighting in the Eastern Area’s lower grade tournament for children and adults. They had a slightly smaller group than at the Welsh event the week before but still managed a quite creditable 12 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals; on a par with last week’s performance.

The first group to fight were the under 12 years red belt. Harry Woodhead was the first off and he won the gold medal in the under 27 kgs weight group. Daniel Franklin had a good day winning gold at under 30 kgs and Robbie Deacon in his first contest won the bronze at under 38 kgs. Robbie fought well and as he gains experience he will be an excellent addition to the Pinewood squad. Tom Lichter showed some good technique when he won gold at under 42 kgs.

The club had only two girls fighting in this section, at under 36 kgs Emma Meyerhoff looked good when she won the gold medal and Emily Brown took the silver.

The second group of under 12 year fighters was for yellow belts. In the under 27 kgs weight group Wade Muttitt won gold and Alfie Thomas took the silver medal. Alfie usually fights in the under 24 kgs weight group, but it was poorly attended so he moved up a weight.

At under 30 kgs Oliver Greatrex won the gold medal and at under 34 kgs Ky Webb won silver. Two more gold medals in this group came from Ryan Wilcock under 46 kgs and Cameron Charles under 50 kgs. The club had no girls fighting in this section.

The 12 to under 16 years section was for red and yellow belts and the club had only three fighting. Thomas Huckstep fighting in only his second contest had an excellent result, the gold medal at under 55 kgs. He showed some superb technique and as he gains in experience great progress looks certain.

The two Pinewood girls in the group did well too, Niamh Whyte fighting in her first contest took a bronze medal and Chrisse Webb won gold at under 57 kgs.

Only two Pinewood adults were fighting in the green belt and under section, John Eckert under 81 kgs and Dan Young who fights in the over 100kgs weight group. Both fought well and took gold medals in their respective weights.

This was a great result for the club but at the grading held at the end of the tournament Dominique Brown put the icing on the cake when she was recommended for her 1st Dan Black Belt. The organisers should be congratulated for this day of Judo; it held many levels of interest for Judoka from beginner to Dan grade.

The Pinewood Judo Club fought their first tournament of 2012 last weekend in Wales and they took a fair share of the trophies, 17 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze. The event was for juniors under 10 years 12 years and 16 years, also seniors of green belt and below. The event was better attended than usual and well organised to give everyone as many fights as possible.

The first group was for the under 10 years group for red and white belts, Daniel Franklin did well to win a bronze at under 30 kgs and Antonio Perez-Quane took the gold at under 42 kgs.

In the yellow and orange belt group Alfie Thomas produced some superb judo to win the gold at under 25 kgs. Wade Muttitt was also in superb form to win gold under 27 kgs and Ky Webb had a good day to win gold at under 34 kgs.

In the under 12 years group in the red and white belt section Tom Lichter won gold at under 42 kgs and Samuel Perez-Quane also won gold at under 46 kgs. The two Pinewood girls fought at under 36 kgs, Emma Meyerhoff won gold and Emily Brown the silver trophy.

In the yellow and orange belt section the club had four boys fighting and they all won gold trophies, Declan Whyte under 30 kgs, Oliver Greatrex under 34 kgs, Ryan Wilcock under 46 kgs and Cameron Charles under 50 kgs.

In the under 16 years section Thomas Huckstep won gold at under 50 kgs, in the red and white belt section with some excellent judo technique.

In the yellow and orange belt group Pinewood only had three entered and they all won gold trophies with some excellent judo. They were Harvey Williams under 50 kgs, Kieren McMahon under 60 kgs and Chrissie Webb in the over 57 kgs open weight group.

The senior section was for green belts and under and at under 81 kgs Eliot Fricker won gold and John Eckert took the silver trophy. In the under 100 kgs weight group Eliot's Dad Peter Fricker won the silver and in the over 100 kgs weight Dan Young won the gold medal.

This was a good start to the year for Pinewood because Cardiff is quite close compared with some of the distances; the club's members have travel during the year.

Pinewood Judo Club had another successful performance last weekend. They did well in the trials to select the squad to fight in the Commonwealth Tournament for England. The tournament will be held at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff South Wales on the third weekend in January 2012.

 

In the Cadet section Emma Pang is the number one at under 48 kgs and Leah Blair will fight at under 52 kgs. Paige Brazier will fight in the Youth section for under 20 year Judoka at under 57 kgs. Jonathan Purssey fought superbly to win the under 90 kgs weight group in the senior section by maximum points. Other Pinewood members will be fighting for Wales and Scotland.

 

Another group was fighting up on the east coast in the Goole Christmas tournament. They won an excellent total of 5 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze trophies. Alfie Thomas started the score with a gold medal at under 25 kgs and Declan Whyte also took gold at under 30 kgs. The only other Pinewood boy fighting was Kieren McMahon who won the silver trophy at under 60 kgs.

 

The girls had a good day and Holly Eccles started their score with silver at under 32 kgs and Emily Brown also took silver at under 36 kgs. Kiera Bateman did well to take gold at under 40 kgs followed by Olivia Spellman who won silver at under 44 kgs and Eva Thomas the bronze trophy. Jade Eccles won silver at under 48 kgs, and then Nicole Brown had an exceptional day to win two gold trophies at under 63 kgs and in the open weight group.

 

This is the last tournament in 2011 for the Pinewood Club. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all who take an interest in the club and read these reports. A Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

 

Don Werner Pinewood Coach.

Last weekend Pinewood Judo Club were again spread around the world in their search for trophies. They were active in Cape Town South Africa, Ireland and two venues in Britain that gave them a total of 32 trophies ranging from the lowest junior grade to World level.

 

On Saturday Ben Fetcher fought in the Junior World Championships in Cape Town. He lost the semi final to the Russian competitor, who went on to win gold. In the fight for the bronze medal he fought superbly and strangled the Japanese fighter.

 

Ben’s bronze medal triumph was a great addition to the Pinewood Judo Club’s history and he follows a long line of Pinewood fighters who have taken medals in the Junior World events to become medallists and Champions.

 

Nicola Fairbrotherwon the senior World Title in 1993, Georgina Singleton won the junior title in Egypt 1992 and Karen Roberts won the junior world title in Argentina in 1991. At the moment Karen holds the record for being the youngest ever winner of a World title in Judo.

 

The junior members were fighting in the Gloucester Open Tournament at the Newent Leisure Centre. They won twenty trophies in total and gold medals were won by Declan Whyte, Cameron Charlies, Christian Tepper, Sam Blair, William Von Mallincrodt, Holly Eccles won two gold medals under and over 12 years, Kiera Bateman, Olivia Spellman, Kymran Shergill, Leah Blair and Nicole Brown.

 

Silver medals went to Wade Muttitt, Oliver Greatrex, Emily Brown. Harvey Williams, Kieren McMahon, Daniel Brownlie Jade Eccles and the bronze medal was won by Harry Woodhead. 

 

After the event Declan Whyte flew to Ireland for the Munster Open Judo Championships. He fought well and brought home a bronze medal for the club’s collection.

 

On Sunday the lower grade juniors fought in the Red Belt Event at High Wycombe and they did well to take  4 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze medal.

 

Gold medals were won by Harry Woodhead, Callum Jones, Emma Meyerhof and Cameron Charles. Silver medals were won by Emily Brown, Niamh Whyte and Eloi De Cleq. The four bronze medals were won by Hoah Jones, Daniel Franklin, Harry Dewing and Tom Lichter.

 

This rounded off an exceptional score for the weekend with thousands of miles between the venues.

Pinewood Judo Club had most sections of the club fighting in the 2011 Welsh Junior, Senior and Masters Open Championships last weekend. The event was held at the Sophia Gardens Sports Centre Cardiff, on Saturday and Sunday.

 

In the under 12 years section for Pinewood at under 27 kgs Wade Muttitt won the silver medal and Alfie Thomas a bronze. In the under 30 kgs weight group Declan Whyte won gold and Oliver Greatrex took the silver medal. At under 46 kgs Ryan Wilcock won the silver medal to round off the club’s score.

 

In the “B” band for those born in 1998-99 Christian Tepper won gold at under 30 kgs, Sam Blair took silver at under 38 kgs and William Von Mallinckrodt won the silver at under 60 kgs.

 

The girls in this section did well too, Holly Eccles won bronze at under 36 kgs and at under 40 kgs Eva Thomas won gold then at under 44 kgs Olivia Spellman won gold and Jenny Roberts the silver medal. Kymran Shergill won bronze at under 48 kgs and Chrisse Webb won gold at under 57 kgs to complete this section.

 

In the “C” group for those born in 1996-97 Jade Eccles won bronze at under 48 kgs , Leah Blair fought well to take silver at under 52 kgs and Nicole Brown won bronze at under 63 kgs.

 

 In the “D” group born in 1993-94-95 Paige Brazier won gold at under 57 kgs then at under 63 kgs Laura Tapping and Dominique Brown both won bronze medals.

 

On Sunday in the masters tournament Rob Smith took gold at under 60 kgs, Martin Rance bronze under 81 kgs, Geoff Torrington Bronze under 100 kgs and Samson Omonua won a bronze medal in the open weight group at over 100 kgs.

 

This was a quite satisfactory score of 7 gold, 7 silver and 10 bronze medals for the club.  

The Pinewood Judo Club membership was spread out last weekend. On Saturday two of them were fighting in the Scottish Open event held at Motherwell, it was a ranking event for the British National squads.

 

Emma Pang won the gold medal at under 48 kgs in the junior section for under 20 year olds. This was an excellent effort on her part because she is not fifteen until next month.

 

The other Judoka was Samson Omonua who won gold in the Veteran’s event at over 100 kgs. Samson stayed behind to fight in the senior tournament on Sunday and he won a bronze medal in the open weight group over 100 kgs. Ben Fletcher also won a bronze medal at under 90 kgs; this was another excellent result because he is still a junior.

 

The Pinewood coach Don Werner was at the High Wycombe Judo Centre for the Northern Home Counties junior open with a large group of juniors under 16 years. They did well to win a score of 13 gold, 7 silver and 6 bronze trophies.

 

In the under 12 years section Alfie Thomas at under 24 kgs started the clubs score with a gold medal. At under 27 kgs Wade Muttitt won gold and Harry Woodhead took the silver medal. In the under 30 kgs weight group Declan Whyte was in devastating form to win the gold medal and Oliver Greatrex took a bronze medal.

 

At under 46 kgs Ryan Wilcock won gold and Connor Johnstone did well to take the bronze medal. Then at under 50 kgs Cameron Charles won the silver medal.

 

Only two Pinewood girls were fighting, Emily Brown won silver at under 32 kgs and Chrisse Webb won the gold medal in the over 48 kgs group.

 

In the under 16 years section many more trophies came home, at under 34 kgs Daniel King won gold and James Widman took the silver; James injured his knee in the final but it seems to be repaired.

 

At under 50 kgs Harvey Williams had a good day when he won the gold medal. In the under 55 kgs weight William Von Mallinckrodt won a bronze medal after some odd refereeing decisions. Daniel Brownlie did very well to win a bronze at under 60 kgs considering he was injured twice in the semi final. At under 66 kgs Ben Roberts won gold and Kieren McMahon took the bronze medal in quite a strong group.

 

The girls section was not very strongly attended but it was worth the trip and they won a load of medals. At under 32 kgs Holly Eccles won gold, Kiera Bateman won gold under 40 kgs and Eva Thomas took silver and Amy Adams the bronze.

 

Last weekend the Pinewood Judo Club’s lower grade seniors were in action at the Kyu Grade Cup held at the High Wycombe Judo Centre. They had quite a good tournament, winning 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal.

 

The first to fight were the up to green belts grade. In the under the under 81 men’s weight group, John Eckert won the silver medal and Elliot Fricker took the bronze. In the under 100 kgs weight Kevin Tracey won the gold medal with maximum points in every fight.

 

The two Pinewood girls fighting were Laura Tapping who won gold at under 70 kgs and Dominique Brown who also won the gold medal at under 63 kgs. They were in the higher grade section of up to brown belt.

 

On Sunday Declan Whyte fought in the under 12 year’s National championships in Nottingham. Declan fought well, winning some of his fights with some great throws. However he slipped up in the quarter finals and lost, this put him into the secondary knock out for bronze.

 

Again Declan started well by winning his first fight with an Ippon throw but in the next fight again things went wrong; through little fault of his own. He attacked throwing his opponent on to his back, landing next to him. The referees decided his opponent had countered him. They do not seem to understand that you can not possibly counter once you have been thrown flat on your back for a score.

Don Werner was awarded the British Judo Association Coach of the Year award, at the the 2011 BJA Player and Volunteer Awards Dinner held at the impressive St George’s Hall in Liverpool on Saturday.

 

The three hundred people, attending the Gala night, gave Don a five minute standing ovation, as he picked up the award in appreciation of his and recognition of his life-time of work in building the remarkable Pinewood Judo Club in Wokingham, Berkshire.

Some of the loudest support came from Pinewood club members, who had driven up from Wokingham to Liverpool earlier that day to see their coach receive the accolade. The group included GB Internationals Mark Fricker and Paul Knight, some of the club’s early members. Both Mark and Paul started at Pinewood (then Bracknell) when they were young juniors and are now still training and competiting on the World Masters circuit some 40 years later!

 

“The devotion Don Werner has shown to judo is unrivalled,” said BJA CEO Scott Mc Carthy as he handed over the award, “ Coach Werner started coaching the Pinewood Judo Club from a small scout hut back in 1958 and has built it into one of the most successful clubs in Europe.”

 

Indeed many of Don´s protegees have taken the highest honours. Nicola Fairbrother, who started judo with Don Werner at the age of 8, went on to win the World lightweight title and an Olympic silver medal. Karen Roberts and Georgina Singleton both won Junior World titles, and Lynn Tilley has won five World Masters titles.

For one club to be able to boast four world champions is quite something, but Don places equal if not more importance on the junior end of the scale. Over the years, Don has taught thousands of children, guiding them from their first breakfalls as timid five year old white belts through the journey to becoming proficient black belts. Many pupils have stayed in the sport as coaches or officials, and many more have as parents brought their own children back to the club to be schooled by Don.

Other impressive records are that Pinewood club members have won at least one Junior National Title every year since 1968. And for 36 consecutive years, the club has won the prestigious Devizes Overall Top Club Trophy a record that is unlikely to ever be broken.

 

Coach Don Werner was delighted with the award, saying afterwards “ It is quite an honour and I am very pleased with the award”

A busy weekend for the Pinewood Judo Club started with Adam Castle fighting in the combined services championships on Saturday the 24^th of September at Fox’s Gym Aldershot.

 

Although he has not practiced much Judo this year, Adam has been involved in some high intensity army training, so he is in excellent condition. He fought at under 90 kgs and did well to win the silver medal.

 

On Sunday the Pinewood Club fought in the 36^th annual Devizes Budo Club Championships. Pinewood was overall winners again for the 36^th consecutive time, with 13 gold, 8 silver and 21 bronze medals. This is a much prized record that Pinewood Coach, Don Werner is immensely please with because the event caters for all sections of the club; some of the Pinewood veterans were in action too.

 

The juniors under 12 years were the first to fight, at under 27 kgs Wade Muttitt won gold and Alfie Thomas the silver medal. Both boys were giving away a deal of weight but their Judo was superb and saw them though to victory.

 

In the next weight up under 30 kgs Declan Whyte won gold while Oliver Greatrex and Ky Webb won both of the bronze medals. In the under 42 kgs weight group Tom Lichter won silver and Finley Allison took the bronze medal. Under 46 kgs Ryan Wilcock won the gold medal and Samuel Perex-Quane took a bronze. Cameron Charles won a bronze medal in the over 46 kgs weight group.

 

The club had only two girls in this section, Emily Brown won gold at under 32 kgs and Crisse Webb took gold at over 48 kgs.

 

The lowest weight group in the junior section for over 12 and under 16 years was under 34 kgs, Christian Tepper won gold, James Widman silver and Daniel King the bronze. Sam Blair won bronze at under 42 kgs and Tommy Ryan was in superb form to win gold at under 55 kgs and Harrison John took the bronze medal.

 

In the under 60 kgs weight group Daniel Brownlie won the bronze medal then at under 66 kgs Ben Roberts was in good form to win the gold medal and Kieren McMahon won the bronze.

 

The girls were in good form too, at under 32 kgs Holly Eccles won the gold medal, under 40 kgs Eva Thomas won gold and Kiera Bateman the silver. At under 44 kgs Jenny Roberts and Olivia Spellman both won bronze. Under 48 kgs Kymran Shergill did very well to win silver and Jade Eccles took bronze. Leah Blair fought well to win the gold medal at under 52 kgs and Nicole Brown rounded off the junior section with a bronze medal in the under 63 kgs weight group.

The seniors fought well against some very accomplished Judoka, making the medals won well worth having.

 

In the men’s under 60 kgs weight Ben Jones was in excellent form to win the silver medal and Rob Smith took the bronze. At under 66 kgs Jason Picton won the silver and Sam Wyke took a bronze medal. Oliver Fricker did well to win bronze at under 81 kgs and in the over 90 kgs weight group Samson Omonua won silver and Mark Fricker the bronze to equal his son Oliver’s score. The last of the men to fight was the under 90 kgs weight and Ben Fletcher won gold with some excellent Judo.

 

Paige Brazier fought well to win gold at under 57 kgs and in the under 63 kgs weight group Laura Tapping and Dominique Brown both won bronze medals. Sian Fairbrother did well to win a bronze at under 70 kgs after damaging her back rather badly in the preliminary rounds and Kim Tilley won the gold medal.

 

This result means that one of the aims for 2011 has been achieved by the Pinewood Judoka but there is no time to relax because the junior and youth National Championships are to be held in the next few weeks.

Last weekend was a little quiet for the Pinewood Judo Club, after the previous busy one.

        

Jason Pictonfought in the Welsh trials on Saturday and came second. The trial was to pick the two Judoka who will represent Wales in the Commonwealth Tournament, to be held at the Sophia Gardens Centre Cardiff.

 

He won a gold medal in the 1992 Commonwealth tournament, the first Welshman to gain that distinction.

 

Jason at 40 years is now a veteran so the longer fighting time taxed his stamina, however, he wanted another go at the Commonwealth event and this result means he gets his wish.

 

On Sunday Ben Fletcher was fighting in the under 20 year’s youth European Championships, held in Lommel Belgium. He won through to the third round where he lost on a minor penalty to a Russian fighter who went on to win the gold medal. Unfortunately, losing in this round meant Ben would not go through to the repercharge section.

 

 

The very successful Pinewood Judo Club is starting a new junior beginner’s class, for children from five years upwards. The classes are held on Tuesday evenings and some places are still available. Letters are going out to those already on the list, but any other Interested parents should telephone the club on 01344 775019. 

The Pinewood Judoka had a quite good weekend at the Heart of England tournament, held in the Walsall Campus. The junior B and C groups were held on Saturday and the D group and seniors on Sunday. The event was recognised as one of the ranking tournament for the various National squads, so it was well attended by the strongest Judoka.

 

On Saturday in the “B” group for those born in 1998 and 99, James Widman won gold at under 30 kgs and in the 34 kgs weight group Christian Tepper also won the gold medal. They both showed good form and used some excellent technique. William Von Mallinckrodt fought well to win a bronze medal at under 50 kgs.

 

For the girls Holly Eccles won the bronze medal at under 32 kgs, then at under 40 kgs Eva Thomas and Kiera Bateman both won bronze medals. This was a good result because they are both new to the weight group and will take a little time to acclimatise.

 

In the under 44 kgs weight group it was an all Pinewood final when Jenny Roberts won the gold medal and Olivia Spellman took silver. This pair seems to take turns to win the gold. Kymran Shergill also had a good day to win the silver medal at under 48 kgs.

 

Emma Pang was again in superb form when she won the gold medal at under 48 kgs in the Cadet group for those born in the years of 1996 and 97.

 

On Sunday the event was again incredibly strong. In the youth section for those born in the years 1993-94-95 Paige Brazier won gold at under 57 kgs and Laura Tapping took a bronze medal at under 63 kgs.

 

In the senior section Charlotte Farbon won gold at under 48 kgs, the club seems to have top fighters at under 48 kgs in every age band. Samson Omonua won the silver medal in the over 100 kgs weight group and Megan Fletcher won gold at under 70 kgs comfortably, she dominated the weight group through out the day.

The Pinewood Judokas were out fighting successfully again last weekend, in two events.

The U.K. Games at the ice rink in Sheffield was held over four days and several different sports were taking part. The event was sponsored by Sainsbury and the first contests were on Friday morning. In the Judo section the under 48 kgs girls’ weight and the under 55 kgs boy’s weight groups fought.

The tournament was for selected Judoka from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales; each Country could enter two fighters.
Emma Pang from Pinewood, fighting for England was first on the Tatami and she did very well to win her pool of four by maximum points. Emma went on to win the semi final and the final, to take the gold medal in this prestigious event.

On Saturday the Pinewood red and yellow belt juniors were in action at the High Wycombe mini mon event.
In the under 12 years group Wade Muttitt started the ball rolling with a gold medal at under 24 kgs. Wade produced some superb throws on the way top gold and Alfie Thomas who was also in excellent form took the silver medal.

In the under 27 kgs weight group Harry Woodhead won gold and Callum Jones took the silver. Declan Whyte won gold at under 30 kgs then at under 42 kgs Tom Lichter won the silver medal and Samuel Perez-Quane took the bronze.

Ryan Wicock won silver at under 46 kgs and Cameron Charles took the gold medal at under 50 kgs.
The girls fought next and at under 32 kgs Olivia Bantleman did well to win a bronze medal in her first ever contest. Crissie Webb was not felling to well but she won a bronze at under 52 kgs.

The Pinewood Club only had four fighting in the under 16 year’s section but they did particularly well to win 3 gold and 1 silver. In the under 50 kgs weight group Harvey Williams won gold and Amy Adams won gold in the combined weight group. The other two fought at under 60 kgs and Kieren McMahon won gold and Daniel Brownlie took the silver to round off a quite successful day for the Pinewood Judo Club.