Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Kent Open Sombo Report


Kent Open Sombo Championship
For Junior & Seniors
Sunday March 19th 2013

British Sombo Centre of Excellence
Sittingbourne


Medal Winners



Over the last couple years people taking part in competitive sports has been on a rapid decline with many tournaments across all form of Martial Arts/Combat Discipline being cancelled. The so called Olympic legacy has proved a damp squid what it produced was a population that wants to watch sport rather then participate and of course made all those companies involved in the Olympics very rich including a few Olympians. So the organisers were shocked to see the response to the Kent Open we had Somboist from Bedford, Essex and all over Kent participating and the only category we could not fill was the Ladies section. Ladies Judo is very popular but for some reason Ladies Sombo is not.


To attract more people to Sombo we lowered the standard of equipment, in the past we would insist on full Sombo kit i.e. Red and Blue Sombo Jackets, Sombo Shorts plus Sombo Boots but sometimes you have to realise that we are in very hard financial time. Not every one who wants to try Sombo for the first time can afford or wants to buy equipment, so the organisers loaned equipment, plus allowed Judo Jackets various coloured shorts and bare feet. This was why we had such a good entry, with some of the players having a minimum of 5 matches


All the fights were good but it was the men’s Open and Heavy weight section that created some real interest. Very experienced Sombo Wrestler Danny Carrott won the Open weight division with great gusto at 92 kilo he was still somewhat over his normal fighting weight but this did not prove a hindrance as he used full array of skills, throws, hold-downs and submissions. 82 kilo Jamie Marzetti cam second but had to work hard for his place nearly losing to Heavyweight newcomer from Bedford.   Went on to win the Heavyweight section but one of the best throws of the day was from Amateur MMA Coach Michael Hutchinson, who threw Jamie Marzetti with a near perfect inner thigh throw (Uchi Mata) what was so unique about was Michael doesn’t do any Jacket Grappling and only learnt the technique in a CombatSombo class, he now tells me he will be doing some Jacket Grappling after his MMA class on a Wednesday.

It always surprises me that more Junior Judoka do not take part in Sombo events as the similarities to the sport are very similar in fact those who have done Judo for more then 25 years have reported that it bares a striking resemblance to what Judo was in those days. The Russian will try and say it was a sport invented by them but if you look back into the history of Sambo the founders were students of Jigaro Kano. Some Judoka still have the belief that once you do Judo you cannot do any other grappling form as it may hinder their Judo development to me this is nonsense. Just look around the World and see the amount of different styles of Jacket Wrestling’s styles there are, Kurash, Sambo, Mongolian Bokh, Georgian Chidaoba, BJJ Cornish Wrestling to name a few all have similarities. The one thing that makes Judo different and more then just a sport is Kata but the competitive side of Judo can be enhanced by learning other styles and a lot of Judoka have excelled at all these other wrestling styles plus they have been very successful in MMA and Cage events.


The only real difference for Junior Sombo players is the scoring system; Judo still relies very much on the Japanese influence so we still have commands in Japanese plus we have the unusual scoring in that some scores are accumulate others are not which always confuses children and the their parents plus the unusual hand signal do not help. In Sombo everything is indicated on the hands and the scores are 1 point, 2 points, 4 points and Total Victory all scores are accumulative plus you can not lose out right on a hold on the ground one of the bug bears with parents of children. At the Kent Open a parent commented that within 3 matches she could understand roughly how the scoring worked. It is interesting to note that in the past I have organised events under the name of Points Scoring Judo and used Sombo rules and everyone enjoyed it but ask the same people or should I say their Coaches to try a Sombo event and the answer is NO we only do Judo.

It seem that Sombo is on the move upwards Spitfire Club in Folkestone will be organising a Southern Counties Open in August, Scotland’s Red Star Sambo have two events planned for July and September, Warriors Grappling Academy Sittingbourne have Jacket and No Jacket event planned for November and let not forget the British Open in Bedford in June, plus Bedford Grappling Academy has a Judo/Sombo event in October. Combat Sambo does not seem to want to take of in GB in spite of all the hard work done by National Coach Allan Clarkin.


You will find details attached of the British Sombo Open, which is being held in Bedford and organised by BSF International Co-ordinator Russell Dodds. Russell has decided to encourage more people to the sport , he will allow children to wear Judo Jackets and shorts for the adults proper colour coding will be expected but he will loaning equipment. The USA and Cameroon will be bring fighters for Sombo and Combat Sambo but as of yet he has no interest in the Combat Sambo if any of you want to have a go there will be a Doctor at the event to give you a medical.

WHAT IS COMBAT SAMBO

This Sport has developed from Sambo which is a Russian Jacket Wrestling Style, it has come about because of the interested of mixing Striking and Grappling Combat Sambo you wear the same equipment a Sambo player i.e. Sambo Jacket, Shorts and boots plus you have a head guard, Shin and instep proctors and light weight Combat Sambo Gloves. The match is on a matted area the scoring is the same as Sambo but you can also score by knocking your opponent out? It is a hard tough sport and is very spectacular but you have to be a certain type of person to do this real Mans Sport. Competitors have to 18 or over and have to have Doctors medical before competing


WHAT IS SPORTCOMBATSOMBO?

This is a watered down version of Combat Sambo with no strikes to the head while on the floor and the Head guard having to have full-face protection, these tournaments come under the auspices of the British CombatSombo Association

You may notice I have used the word Sambo and Sombo Sambo is the world wide pronunciation of the Sport, because of the racial connotations the English Speaking countries use the word Sombo

Want more details on Sombo or Warriors Grappling Academy go to www.sittingbourne.org or email IBFBCSA@Gmail.com

name  group position club
HARVEY TOLMAN 1 GOLD SPITFIRE JUDO/SOMBO CLUB
REGAN SANDS  SILVER YOUNG JUDO CLUB
JARED BUSTEN BRONZE WARRIORS GRAPPLING ACADEMY
MATTHEW LOEFFLER 2 GOLD BEDFORD GRAPPLING 
LUKE SAUNDERS  SILVER BEDFORD GRAPPLING 
KIERON HIGGINS BRONZE WARRIORS GRAPPLING ACADEMY
OLGA BALDYGA 3 GOLD BEDFORD GRAPPLING 
NICOLE SMIGELSKA SILVER YOUNG JUDO CLUB
DAVINA HIGGINS BRONZE WARRIORS GRAPPLING ACADEMY
EMILY WOODS 4 GOLD WARRIORS GRAPPLING ACADEMY
FRANCESCA ASPEY SILVER SPITFIRE JUDO/SOMBO CLUB
JACK SPROSTON 5 GOLD SPITFIRE JUDO/SOMBO CLUB
LEWIS CLARKE SILVER YOUNG JUDO CLUB
OLVER BRUTON LIGHTWEIGHT GOLD WARRIORS GRAPPLING ACADEMY
SIM GRANT JONES  MEN SILVER BEDFORD GRAPPLING 
JED GOODRUM BRONZE WARRIORS GRAPPLING ACADEMY
KEITH BROWN MASTERS GOLD WARRIORS GRAPPLING ACADEMY
KEITH HADMAN MEN SILVER SPITFIRE JUDO/SOMBO CLUB
DAVID FRAZER BRONZE BEDFORD GRAPPLING 
WARREN LOEFFLER HEAVY WEIGHT GOLD BEDFORD GRAPPLING 
MICHAEL HUTCHINSON MEN SILVER WARRIORS GRAPPLING ACADEMY
AARON PETERSON BRONZE EESSEX SAMBO
DANNY CARROTT OPEN GOLD SPITFIRE JUDO/SOMBO CLUB
JAMIE MARZETTI SILVER UNIVERSITY SAMBO
WARREN LOEFFLER BRONZE BEDFORD GRAPPLING 

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