Wellingborough judo club celebrate competition success for dads and sons

A team of fighters from Shudan Wellingborough Judo Club attended Erdington, Birmingham, on Sunday (June 19) for the Amateur Judo Association Mix & Match competition.

With fathers and sons, both competing and spectating, some of them for the very first time, it was a special Father's Day for all involved.

In total, the team came away with one gold, four silver, and four bronze medals.

Andrew Hull, seniors lead coach at Shudan Wellingborough Judo Club said: “This was an excellent result for all four boys at their first competition, with their proud parents watching from the edge of the mat.”

The contest started with the junior players, with Emil up first. He lost his first fight, but then won his second in osaekomi, with a hold down to earn him a silver medal.

Then came James, who lost his first fight, but won his second with a cracking throw. James won silver.

Next came Harry who also won silver, after winning his first and third fights.

While Harry was collecting his silver medal, his younger brother Archie was holding down his first opponent for ippon, the maximum score in Judo that ends a fight.

Archie went on to win his second fight with wazari, the second highest score a fighter can achieve, for another mune gatame chest hold, and ultimately to earn him the silver medal.

Matthew came after that, and quickly threw his first opponent for ippon with o soto gari (major outer reap), following it up with a seamless transition to osaekomi hold down.

With his second fight, and already a koka score up, Matthew went on to throw his opponent for ippon to win the fight.

Matthew's third fight was against a GB squad player, and Matthew won by ippon after his opponent submitted from a hold down, earning him the first gold medal of the day for the Shudan Team.

While Matthew was fighting, Tommy won his first fight, with a left handed o goshi hip throw, which earned him a bronze medal.

Tommy's dad, Bobby was first up for the seniors, and quickly got a submission in his first fight with a juji gatame arm lock.

After Bobby's first fight, Brandon was up, and then they had to fight each other for their second match.

Andrew said: “Fighting your club mates can often be more stressful than fighting opponents from other clubs, and on this occasion Bobby got the upper hand for the win.”

Brandon pulled it out of the hat for his last fight though, winning with a submission from Ude garame arm lock.

Both lads earned themselves a bronze medal, at what was also their first contest.

Michael was the last Shudan player to fight on the day, in a pool of six black belts and fought two hard fights, winning him bronze.

Their success followed on from David and his younger brother Oliver, who fought on Saturday at High Wycombe for the Northern Home Counties Orange Belt and Under Competition. David won three out of his four fights, earning him a bronze medal, and Oliver just missed out on the podium, by winning two out of four fights.

Anyone interested in trying judo can visit the club website or stop by during class times to watch.