Hawkinge-Bedford plus much more

The Young Judo Club also known as SittingbourneJudo have been very busy over the past couple of weekend, this weekend they gave a demonstration of Judo at Canterbury Road Junior School Fete on the Saturday, attended the IBF closed Midlands Championships in Bedford on the Sunday and a couple weeks before that they competed in the Spitfire Open in Hawkinge.

Spitfire competition is a regular event on our calendar and is always a well-run friendly event. The star of the day was 22-year-old Lee Carrott who has been out of Judo for a 12 month but returned in great form reaching the final of the men’s heavyweight where he met Bob Pert from Rainham, he disposed of Bob in 5 seconds with a superb Morote Dori throw (double leg pick up) to score Ippon. The throw was so powerful it left Bob winded on the floor for several minutes. Other results are as follows:

Midlands closed was definitely a day for the girls in the club with the girls outstripping the boys in the medal tally, the club has always had a good reputation for producing good quality players but the reached National fame in the 70’s & 80’s when a National Magazine featured the girls section as one of the best if not the best in the country. Interestingly enough three of those girls Sarah Jordan, Sarah Day and Marcella Cullen are all mothers who bring their children to the club and have become actively involved in teaching at the Club. Sheena Fathers produced one of the quickest wins of the day in her final where she beat Brown Belt Rebecca Passmore Bedford in 10 seconds with a perfect O Goshi hip throw Rowan Cullen carried on the family name for being a Judo medal winner credit must go to all the youngsters for an excellent performance.

As mentioned in previous articles the club has seen resurgence in Judo in the town, which is bucking the National trend. Although Martin Clarke 8^th Dan is still the Senior Coach the main work is being done by Keith Costa who has been very active in promoting different events. Plus organising fund raising and taking the youngsters all the over the country, long trips are partly funded by the club. With the back up of Dave Boulding 6^th Dan, Tim Thomas 3^rd Dan, Ashley Costa 3^rd Dan, Drew Cullen 2^nd Dan, Miles Brown 1^st Dan, Bruce Fisher 1^st Kyu, Marcella Cullen 2^nd Kyu, Sarah Day 2^nd Kyu, Sarah Jordan 2^nd Kyu there is a plethora of instructors. It is hoped to extend the clubs sessions to Iwade, Teynham and Newington on the future that is how confident we are about the progress of the club in the area.

Observant people in the town will notice that East Street Sports Centre Sittingbourne is going through a change the first being the name itself has been binned and a new large sign with SWALE MARTIAL ARTS CLUB can be seen on the building, for many years the old converted Methodist Church has been the centre for many different sports, fitness and pastimes but with other clubs such as Nobby’s Gym and the ACADEMY of SPORT & MOVEMENT catering for fitness, Dance etc half of the East Street building was no longer in use so the owner is converting a large chunk of the building into studio flats. This left an ideal chance for SMAC to move to another part of the building. For some years now the Club has found the upstairs DOJO a hindrance to disabled people especially those in wheel chairs with the downstairs function hall closing in December they have asked and got permission to take this section for themselves. This will allow disabled people to watch and become involved in the club activities. Obviously people with serious disabilities cannot do Martial Arts but they can be a great help in organising events and becoming officials. The club has always tried to be inclusive to the whole community and we are attracting a lot of people from different ethnic groups in fact one refugee from Iran has just had his Black Belt recognised, with this move downstairs we have a specific area which can be a club room where members can have tea, coffee etc. The other interesting point is that signs with GRAPPLING ACADEMY have appeared because once again the club wants to be at the fore front of promoting different FOLK STYLES of WRESTLING. At present we promote the following grappling styles Judo, Sombo, Kurash, Freestyle Wrestling, Combat Wrestling, Belt Wrestling our next style will be Mongolian Wrestling (their embassy in London hope to help us with this) and we are making contacts with LUCHA CANARIA (Canary Wrestling), BRITON WRESTLING, GEORGIAN WRESTLING plus as our members travel the world we try other forms.

Shotokan Karate will be our only striking art and it’s hoped that TETSO NO TOKU RYU JIU JITSU will soon be coming to the club.

Next event will be on July 16^th a Invitation Junior Kurash Tournament, Coach Tim Thomas will be attending the World Kurash Championships in the Dominican republic as the representative for the British Kurash Association.

Further information about the club contacted Keith Costa 01795 426784 Hotine 0906 201 1403 sombo@blueyonder.co.uk www.sittingbournejudo.co.uk

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