British Masters 2009

British Masters Judo Championships
Dagenham
October 3rd 2009

I decided to travel up to the British Masters to support YJC Instructor Colin Carrot and my son John who I had advised to withdraw as had only just got over a bad bout of Flu. If you get defeated because your opponent is better then you there is no shame but if you lose because you are not 100% fit that is a tragedy after saying that I still think he would have won in a weakened condition, not to worry at 36 years of age he has plenty of time. Colin had three fights lost 2 and won one on Ippon. In his first fight he seemed to be very nervous and lost on a drop seoi which surprised us especially as he trains with his son who is an expert at that technique, he redeemed himself in the next bout by countering a very strong experienced player with Ippon throw. His match to go forward for Bronze was a good battle; with Colin moving and making a stream of attacks he blocked a very powerful drop seoi. This took them in Ne Waza something he favours and he was a bit unlucky by being caught in a hold or shall we say his opponent saw a momentary lack of concentration and took advantage of it. Colin is a very good Judoka but a far better Sambo Player.

It was also good to see fellow Sambo player Paul Sawyer win Gold I believe this is 10 Masters Title some record, also fellow Twitter member Danny Murphy winning Gold. I met many people from the past some I only recognised by name only one was Nick Kokotaylo who I have not seen for 30 years I must have passed him several times without even acknowledging him I was not being rude he had changed so much when I knew him he was a Light Heavy now he was a chunky heavyweight and one of the guests of honour he went on to beat very slimmed down Elvis Gordon. Chris Bowles I have seen for many years and it was great meeting him again, Chris runs the very successful Tonbridge Judo club which seems to be bucking the trend by attracting many members. Chris was at the 1980 Olympics, I can remember him doing the Judo circuits from the age of 11 always accompanied by his Dad and I am pleased to see he is making a living at Judo.

The competition had a great atmosphere with plenty of barracking referees, well humoured I might add, and 100% effort from the fighters. I was expecting Judo like I used to do when I was training for the 1980 Olympics but sadly even the Masters are fighting the new wave style but there was still some good judo. I still can not understand the new wave Judo Rules especially the re interpretation of Ippon it seems if you touch the ground with your back Ippon is given. A prime example was when one player attacked with a good Sumi Geashi his opponent block ed but because the player was on his back an Ippon was awarded ridiculous. I thoroughly enjoyed the day but was disappointed not to see members of the BJA hierarchy present; I was not over enthralled with the actual Judo but enjoyed the company. Would have loved to compete but even if I did there was no one in my age group and weight. If you want to see the full results go to http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/competitions/results.php