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B Band, C Band and U20 British Nationals 2008
James Martin, of Tonbridge Judo Club, overcame one of his toughest challenges to date when he won a bronze medal at the 2008 British Championships, held at IceSheffield last weekend, in what coach Chris Bowles described as “an awesome achievement”.
The annual event, formerly called the National Age Bands, is staged on a covered ice rink and attracted around 800 top competitors from all over the country born between 1990 and 1996.
Martin was one of the youngest fighters in the highly competitive –55kgs category for 16-18-year-olds which attracted a number of international players this year. Aged just 15 the Mascalls pupil got his campaign off to a magnificent start by throwing his first three opponents for maximum scores but, as the tournament progressed, the finer players began to show their colours.
The big showdown came when Martin met Adam Conroy, of Moberly All Stars judo club, in the semi-final contest. It appeared to be a closely fought battle but a slight error of judgment on Martin’s part led to Conroy rolling him for ippon and putting him into the fight for bronze.
“I think this is where James’s inexperience in this age bracket showed,” commented Bowles, “but he displayed real tenacity in coming back for the bronze medal fight against a very experienced judo player at the top of the age band.”
The fight for bronze was against an 18-year-old but, undaunted, Martin succeeded in notching up an impressive seven point score. He proved how much he really wanted to be on the rostrum by refusing to yield to an excruciating armlock in the last ten seconds and won the fight securing his position on the World Class Talent Squad once again.
Another bronze medal went to Paul Crouch 15, of Uplands Community College in Wadhurst fighting in the –55kgs category for 13-15 year olds. He had a shock first-round defeat against the eventual winner Kyle Clark- Harewood which forced him to battle his way through the repechage system. There were doubts over Paul’s fitness over the last month, due to injury, but against all the odds he forged his way through into the fight for the bronze medal. Waiting for him was James Sparks (15) his fellow club mate.
It was a closely-fought contest and on this occasion Crouch emerged the winner and secured his place on the rostrum with the bronze medal. However, the spirit demonstrated between the two club mates was exemplary according to Bowles.
It was disappointing for Sparks who, said Bowles, “blazed a trail in the –55kg category and has made incredible progress over the past year.” In his semi-final fight against Matthew Cavanagh of Ford JC the referee controversially penalised him in the first few seconds and it proved impossible to regain the score.
This denied Sparks the opportunity to fight for a gold or silver medal but Bowles said he should take heart from this performance as the British selectors have spoken to him.
“Tonbridge Judo Club are beyond doubt knocking on the door of huge national success in the forthcoming years as we had five fifth places,” Bowles continued.
These included James Sparks plus Elizabeth Draper (13), Jemima Yeats-Brown (13), Dean Garlick (15), James Sparks (15) and Michael Musker (13).
“In the case of Jemima this was her first national event having been persuaded to enter by the club and Beneden school due to her outstanding dedication to training,” said Bowles.
“Dean Garlick once again fought to get into the final and was incredibly unlucky to lose his bronze medal fight but this should still secure him a place on the national squad along with James Sparks and Michael Musker.”
Also competing at this event were George Cullum, Dominic Morton, Scarlet English, James Draper, Andrew Panyi and Fraser Chamberlain. “All these players put in incredible performances and should be very proud of how they performed. They are a credit to the club,” said Bowles.
