For those whom wish to be challenged and see how far they can go, there is a regionals Schools champions competition in January.  If a competitor manages to win a Gold or Silver in this competition they qualify for the National Schools championships on the weekend of 8th/9th April in Sheffield and all to represent your school!
 
Date:                    Sunday 22nd January 2017 
Location:            Hutton Moor Leisure Centre, Weston-Super-Mare, BS22 8LY
Closing Date:  Thursday 12th January 2017

Please check the minimum grades for age groups below:
Years 4/5:              1st Mon (Weigh-in time:  09:00 - 09:30) N.B.  These year groups cannot enter the Nationals
Years 6/7:              3rd Mon (Weigh-in time: 09:00 - 09:30)
Years 8/9:              4th Mon (Weigh-in time: 10:00 - 10:30)
Years 10 to 13:   6th Mon or 6th Kyu (Weigh-in time: 11:30 - 12:00)
 
Link Entry: https://www.onlineentries.co.uk/events/western/20170122.php (Please enter your 'actual' school name as opposed to 'Macs School of Judo'
 
As always, I will be there to support you/your child so please let me know if you are going to enter.
Sensei Nige

Weds 9th November proved to be one the most inspirational and educational days of my Judo career.  Ben Fletcher, Britains No.1 in the -100kg and ranked at World's 28th, spent a day with Macs School of Judo.  

It started with a Whirlwind tour of three Primary Schools (Thurlbear, Minehead & Cotford St Luke) and one college (Somerset & Bridgwater College).  Ben attended assemblies at the primary schools and showed a fun and interactive presentation, culminating in allowing the students to throw him (including a headteacher!) to great delight and cheers from the pupils!

The day finished with Ben giving a masterclass to students of Wellington School, which in itself was educational and fun for the students.  I can honestly say that everyone that met Ben was impressed on how grounded he was and inspired by his story.

From 'Macs School of Judo' and on behalf of our students we would like to say a huge 'thank you' to Ben and we will be cheering you on in all your up and coming competitions.

Look forward to working with you again soon and good luck in the upcoming British Championships in December.

Today we travelled along many a winding road and past lovely scenery to attend the Devon Open down at Kingsbridge, Devon.   Many of our 15 attending students were in fact first timers to the competition scene so was an extra special effort on their behalf.  I applaud all and everyone of our students for fighting today on what must have been a daunting first competition,  but in the event of win or lose they carried on and fought with courage and respect.  For this I am grateful and not one of them let me down regardless of result.

​Results...

This Wednesday Wellington School welcomed Kingsley School on the 'Home Visit' for a joint Judo session.

It was a lovely full mat with varying abilities, belts, sizes and experiences.  Lots of smiles on face for games, technical work and excellent interaction between the two schools with Judo to unify them both.

Both coaches Simon Ward & Nigel McBrayne plan to make this a regular termly fixture with a view to creating a friendly 'cup' tournament.

Photo's from Kinglsey School's latest visit:

The next competition relevant for both low grade juniors but also low grade seniors is the Devon Open.

Date: Sunday 6th November 2016
Location: Quayside Leisure Centre, Kingsbridge, Devon
Closing Date: Friday 29th October 2016
Weigh-in Times: Juniors (Mon) - 08:30 to 09:00
Seniors (kyu) - 11:45 to 12:15

Link Entry: https://www.onlineentries.co.uk/events/devon/20161106.php

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Unfortunately, due to insuffient numbers that regiostered for the Inter-Schools Competition at Chilton Trinity on 16th October, we have had to cancel the event. As of the closing date we only had 10 entries, the entries were so spread amongst the different weight groups that we couldn't have even run a smaller competition.

A lot of effort goes into organising these events by volunteers who setup and packaway, referees, table officials and others who help run the admin before and after. We would like to take the opportunity to thank them for their continued support and hopefully we'll be able to run the next event in February next year.

Many thanks to those of who did register and I hope we will see you at the next one.

Many kind regards
Sensei Nige

On Tuesday we had a meeting of two independent school Judoka groups!

We took a group of students from Wellington School for a training session at Kingsley School in Bideford.  Simon Ward is the Sensei there and is also the Western Area Coach.  

A huge 'thank you' from us at Wellington School as you made us feel very welcome and we all thoroughly enjoyed our time.
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Hopefully, we will be able to setup a regular term reciprocal arrangement.  Looking forward to hosting your visit in October!

A brilliant result today in the Devon Open Competition today (6th November), held at Kingsbridge Devon.  Luckily I'm told that as of the next competition it will be held in Torbay which is a lot easier to get to!

The biggest result today is the fact that we had 15 students enter from Macs School of Judo and a total of 15 medals won!

​Medal Results Below:

British Judo has announced a new Judo Kids development scheme called "Sho Award".
The Under 8 Development Scheme is a new nine-step process comprising of nine award levels designed to help coaches reward young players while they develop their fundamental physical, technical, social and psychological skills before moving on to the Mon Grading Scheme at 8 years of age.
Young players in the 5 – 7 age group who are already using the Mon Grading Scheme, can either continue with the mon scheme or move them onto the relevant award depending on their experience and ability.
British Judo's Technical Manager, Joyce Heron said: "We're really excited to be announcing the new Judo Kids scheme. It has been rigorously developed through consultation and piloting and I'm delighted that the judo community will now be able to benefit from this.
"Ultimately, we want young children who can move well enough to be able to participate in judo. As they move through the sport we hope that this will enable them to participate in judo at a higher level as well. By encouraging children to pick up these fundamental movement skills at a young age, there is an expectation that these will aide injury prevention as well in the long term as well."

We will be looking at more relevant information over the following weeks, however if you would like to read more information, please follow ​http://judokids.org.uk.