Cobra players strike gold in Belgium

 

On Friday 22 April at 6.00am six Cobra competitors began their eight hour journey along with the Nottinghamshire Squad to attend an International judo competition that was held in Jodoigne, Belgium; a trip that would eventually see the Cobra players returning with a staggering three gold medals and one bronze.

On arrival at the venue we were shown to our accommodation for the weekend, which was a boarding school almost adjacent to the competition venue, the majority of the rooms were single rooms and a little dated but suited our need for the three days we were to stay there.

After unpacking we made our way to the competition venue to have a look around and get the whole team weighed in ready for the weekend’s contests.

Once all of the players had weighed in there was a quick team talk and then we made our way into town to find a local restaurant for our dinner. We managed to find a nice little takeaway that served a variety of food and had something that everyone would like and it was not too expensive.

After dinner we headed back to the accommodation to allow the Saturday competitors to get some rest.

7.00am Saturday and it was time for everyone to get up and head down to breakfast for 7.30am, we were served with a continental breakfast and hot and cold refreshments.

After breakfast we made our way over to the competition venue and claimed our seats for the day’s contests, the first players from our team were not due to begin until 3.00pm, however there were a few Notts squad players that competed prior to this.

William and Arunas were eventually called to the mat at around 4.50pm for the
-20/20+ Men u73kg category which had 31 competitors, William was up first and although he put up a good fight against his much older and more experienced opponent he eventually lost the contest, he would now need that player to make the semi-final to get bought back into the repecharge.

Arunas’s first contest was much similar to Williams and he also lost, both of our competitors were now waiting to see if their opponents progressed to the semi-finals. After a while the category reached the semi-finals and Arunas’s earlier opponent had bought him back into the recharge, William’s opponent did not make the semi-final therefore William was now eliminated from the event.

Arunas now had a chance to fight through the repecharge, his next contest went the full four minutes and Arunas eventually lost to a minor score, therefore he was also eliminated.

Following Arunas’s contest we made our way back to the accommodation for a quick change and shower before heading into town for dinner. Our younger players were competing the next day so it was an early night for them to ensure they had enough rest.

Sunday we were again up early for breakfast and the whole team and supporters made their way over to the venue for the second day of competition.

After a warm up session with Arunas our first players were called to the mat, all of the competitors today were grouped into pools of four and this would mean they would all have at least three contests each. Ethan was up first in the u11’s category, he won his first two contests with Ippon using his trademark koshi-guruma throw and then the final contest he won by throwing an o-goshi for waza-ari and then holding a mune-gatame for Ippon, this secured a first place and gold medal for Ethan.

Brandon was the next Cobra player to the mat; he lost his first two contests receiving a wrist injury in the second, however he still fought his third contest and won by waza-ari throw and kesa-gatame hold for Ippon receiving a third place bronze.

Jack was our final competitor in the u11’s, he won all four of his contests with Ippon throws using his favourite tai-otoshi throw, and stormed his way to first place and a gold medal.

Marija was our last competitor of the competition and was in the girls u13’s category, Marija had a total of two contests which she won, the first with a waza-ari score for tani-otoshi and Ippon hold and the second with an Ippon for another tani-otshi throw. This gained Marija first place and the Cobra players’ fourth medal of the day.

We then waited for the remaining Notts players to finish and after a quick change we headed to a local ten pin bowling alley for a couple of games before heading back to our local restaurant for our final weekend dinner with them.

The next day we were up and ready at 6.00am for the return trip home.

This was a fantastic event, we had great weather, company and players we are very proud of. We would like to thank the parents and children supporters from our club (Martyn, Adam, Murray, Conor and Chloe) who made this journey with us and supported and encouraged the players throughout and also provided some laughs along the way.

As a result of their achievement at this event the following players were awarded their next Cobra badge at the session on Wednesday 27 April; Ethan Ward 1 Star, Brandon Allsebrook 1 Star and Marija Beliukeviciute has joined the prestigious few players that have achieved the golden 5 stars!