News Flash!

REMEMBER: There is no Judo at St dunstan on 31st October because it's Halloween - Happy trick or treating.

The next junior judo camp is on Sunday 16th November 2008 at St Dunstan, Calne. Click here for details

The next self defence will take place at St Dunstan, School, Calne on Sunday 23rd November 2008. click here for details

Congratulations to all those who entered the Shodan Cup. click here for details of the day.

Don't forget to check out our page on refereeing signals here. Remember, these are things you should know no matter what your level.

Quick Links

The Shodan Cup 2007

Sunday 30th of September saw the first Shodan Trophy competition held between Calne, Chippenham, Corsham, Blacklands and Grittleton House School Judo Clubs. The atmosphere was electric with some highly entertaining bouts and an absolutely superb standard of judo. The effort and determination of all the competitors demonstrated just how much pride they had in representing their clubs and attempting to win the Shodan Cup. The winning team was Blacklands Judo club with a total of 69 points! Congratulations to Blacklands and coach Nick Lowe from all Shodan Judo clubs for winning and their contribution to a great day. Blacklands demonstrated excellent vocal support and great support for the club with a total of 18 competitors. Chippenham were second place with 66 points, Calne third with 50 points and Corsham and Grittleton joint fourth with 10 points.

Shodan Cup 2007 Final Positions
Club	Bronze 4th	Bronze 3rd	Silver	Gold	Points
Blacklands	5	2	3	2	69
Chippenham		4	2	3	66
Calne	2	2	3	1	50
Corsham				1	10
Grittleton				1	10

Me A Sore Loser!!!

Unfortunately there was a mistake made on one of the referee's desks, which meant that a Blacklands competitor went on to the third place match and won three points. It should have been a Calne competitor in this match meaning that Blacklands acquired three more points then they should. The correct Blacklands score is 66 points, which is the same as Chippenham. Unfortunately the consequences of the error was not noticed until the following day and so we missed out on a deciding bout between the two clubs, which would have been an excellent climax to the competition.

Next time the contest sheets will be double-checked before any final matches occur or indeed the cup is awarded to ensure the same does not happen again. In future years in the event of a draw the team with the most match points in the finals will be awarded the cup.

Next Time Calne Will Win It!!!

Well done to Calne Judo Club who had 17 competitors and should have had 18 but one was unable to make it due to illness. A squad of 17 is fantastic support for the club and many of Calnes squad were new Judokas with relatively few sessions under their belt. Indeed this was many Calne players first experience of competition. Next year, with the same support and a years worth of Judo under their belts, Calne will be hot contenders to bring back the cup.

Special recognition to Katie Ahmed and Cheyenne Sutherland who met in the Woman’s Open final. Both were outstanding and the match went in to first score wins or ‘Sudden Death’ and lasted several minutes, a very long time in Judo. Katie narrowly beat fellow Calne player Cheyenne by just a Koka (3 pts). Well done to both Katie and Cheyenne who I hope are as proud of themselves as I am

Chippenham's Cup In 2008

I went on and on and on and on about how important it was to turn up in numbers. Blacklands had 18 and Calne had 17 and Chippenham had just 11 and yet are a bigger club than Calne. That said, the 11 that did represent Chippenham were a class act bringing back 9 medals with 2 Silver and 3 Gold. That all important vocal support and encouragement was also evident and I was very proud of all the competitors and my association with Chippenham Judo Club. Next year with a bigger squad and a year to maintain and build standards further we should do the business in 2008.

Gold Medalists

gold medalists
Category	Winner	Club
Under 26Kg	Adam Snoddy	Chippenham
Under 30Kg	Finley Horsley	Grittleton House
Under 38Kg	Oliver wickson	Blacklands
Under 48Kg	Tom Chandler	Chippenham
60Kg+	Toby Levy	Blacklands & Calne
Womens Open	Katie Ahmed	Calne
Mens Under 86Kg	Lewis Sanderson	Corsham
Mens 86Kg+	Adam Tuckley	Chippenham

Possibly the highlight of the competition was the Men’s Heavyweight bout between Chippenhams Adam Tuckley and Blacklands Valek Mares. Velek has only just returned to Judo after a long spell out and was simply stunning with speed, technique and a drive comparable to fighters at the highest levels in Judo. Velek took the lead via a throw scoring a Yuko (5 pts) before Adam replied scoring a Waza-Ari (7pts). Adam won the contest with a superb Ippon throw (10pts).

Regrettably Velek was injured as a result of this throw suffering a dislocated shoulder but even in what must have been some severe pain, Velek insisted on shaking the hands of all the other competitors in the heavyweight category typifying Veleks glowing character and nature. Furthermore Velek was competing in the heavyweight category when in fact he is himself a lightweight competitor.

Everyone at Shodan Judo wishes Velek a speedy recovery and swift return to training.

There was one other injury which was a broken hand suffered by Toby Levy who despite this injury went on to win Gold. An excellent display from Toby who is also a keen rugby player and will unfortunately be sidelined from both for the next few weeks. Hope to see you back on the mat and rugby pitch soon!

There were 48 competitors with everyone having at least 4 contests and many having 7 or 8 bouts. With this is mind the fact that only two injuries occurred demonstrated that even in the most competitive of environments Judo has an excellent safety record.

A Big Thank You

Many thanks to all the helpers on the day especially the desk people as the competition could not run without them. Ange, Dan, Kathryn and Jo all did a superb job as it is not easy and with the exception of Jo and Kathryn, all never worked a referee’s desk before.

Thank-you to Nick Lowe who was as superb as ever in helping run the workshops, being a fantastic referee and presenting the medals.

I cannot wait until next years competition, which I hope, will be just as entertaining and enjoyable for all.

You can find photographs of the day on our Gallery page, click here for set 1 and here for set 2

Jason Cooke and the Shodan Team

Quotes

"I wanted my son to have fun but still be aware of the need for discipline and Shodan Judo gives him both."

Parent Chippenham

"You win battles by knowing the enemy's timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect."

Musashi Miyamoto