Glossop schools do Derbyshire proud in Judo Championships
The British Schools National Judo Championships 2008 provided four local pupils the chance to display their sporting skills on the National Schools stage.
The event, which attracted over 300 fighters from all four home countries, was held at the Welsh Institute of Sport in Cardiff.
Local competitors were Ryan Phillips and Tom Greenhough from St Philip Howard Catholic Sports College; Rhiannon Baldwin from St Andrews CE; and Abi Walker, from Glossopdale Community College.
Ryan Phillips started the day with three extremely convincing wins (one of four seconds) which put him through to the semi finals. In the Semi’s he was in total control for two-and-a-half minutes of the three, until a stoppage for an injury to his opponent seemed to break his concentration, losing out in progressing to the final with a seven-point throw against him in the dying seconds. This led to Ryan bringing home a hard fought, well-deserved bronze for St Philip Howard.
Abi Walker's first fight was a real tussle with Abi coming out on top at the end of an energy-sapping three minutes. Unfortunately Abi lost her second and final fight, but still brought home a Silver medal for Glossopdale CC.
St Andrews C of E Primary school now have a pupil with the title of British Schools Judo National Champion 2008 and will have a Gold medal on display, if they can prise it out of Rhiannon Baldwin’s grip. Rhiannon had an excellent day, beating her first opponent in less than five seconds, her second opponent had recently beaten her, so it was revenge time for the ten-year-old. In a really tough fight Rhiannon turned the tables and came away the worthy winner, these two fights confirmed the Gold for Rhiannon and St Andrews.
Unfortunately Tom Greenhough was subject to the dreaded bad draw in his weight category and lost his first two fights to the eventual 3rd and 5th place fighters. As always he put in his best effort and will learn from the defeats to come back a better fighter.
Steve Phillips, who acted as coach for the three schools was extremely proud of their efforts.
He said: “All four children seemed to put themselves under a little more pressure because they were representing their schools and not just Glossop Judo Club, all performed brilliantly, the schools should be proud.”