Duisberg International, Germany

I Travelled over to Duisberg, Germany last weekend for the 12th International Tournament Duisberg. This event has a reputation as one of the strongest under fifteen competitions in Germany, and is one of two identification events for this age on the German calendar. Being such a tough event it attracts only elite competitors, and many of the best fighters in Europe are always in attendance. More than 330 competitors from seven countries took part in the 2010 event. Entrants from Belgium, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Poland, Rumania, Slovenia as well as the host country Germany made the trip for this years event. I started well against one of the German Favourites quickly holding him down to proceed to the next round. This was followed up by another good victory against a much taller German opponent. This put me up against The Belgium national Champion, Bernd Lemmens. Bernd is a very strong fighter, and although they have been in the same events before, this was the very first time we had fought. We were both very cautious, which led to a very cagey and tactical fight, which I won on penalties to proceed through to the 2010 final. Up against a very strong German fighter in the final I was by now on top form and dominated him from the start and finish in first place. This weekend I travel over to St. Petersburg, Russia for the 14th International Junior Tournament ‘Olympic Starts’. One thousand five hundred of the strongest fighters from all over Europe will fight in the palace of Sports in St. Petersburg. This will be my toughest challenge to date. Keep up to date with my trip on my blog which can be found at http://glossopjudostar.blogspot.com/

Under 13 Table Tennis National Champion

On Saturday 24th April 2010 at Doncaster Dome I won the English Schools Table Tennis Under 13 girls National Championships, Being seeded number 1 I felt extra pressure but as soon as the matches started I began to relax. I only lost 2 sets in the entire competition and won the final 3-o to take my first national title. The photo is of me receiving my winners trophy from the chairman of the English Schools Table Tennis Association

2nd Dan/ Holland

Last week did my grading for my 2nd Dan black belt. after lots of preparation and nerves i went into the grading room with a panel including 2 masters of taekwon-do. It all went alright (apart from getting kicked in the knee cap) and i also managed to break 2 inch think boards with my elbow and then with a side kick.
Found out that I passed which is great and top include to the good news I'm also going to Holland in a few weeks representing England with my squad (PUMA tae kwon-do). it's going to be my first competition as a 2nd Dan and competing in the ladies section, so fingers crossed!

AUSTRIAN WORLD CUP 2010

Hi there I have just returned from the Austrian World Cup .This was a martial arts event held in the Olympic Stadium in Innsbruck.

I was very lucky to get there having left the UK at 0730 on Thursday 17/04/10. That was the day the airtravel in the UK was all cancelled at 0900.

I initially thought that the competition was going to be a no go due to the rest of the british team not managing to get a flight out.

There was still over 2000 competitors from 28 other countries.

I was still going to have my work cut out with both the World Association Kickboxing Orginisation World Champion and the World Karate Association World Champion were both in attendance.

I was very fortunate that I was drawn in all cattagories to go out last.

I pulled out all stops to win three gold medals.I won the under 12 weapons and open hand forms competition and the under 16 weapons competition.I injured myself on my under 12 open hand form and decided to pull out of the under 16 open hand competition.

Above I am pictured on the podium with the WAKO world champion from Italy on the right and the WKA world champion from Chechz republic on the left.

Due to the flight problems I was unable to fly home and we were forced to travel by train through Switzerland to Amsterdam where we then got a minibus to Calais and finally a ferrie back to England.

It was a very long and stressful journey but I am hoping finances allowing I can travel to Italy and Serbia to represent Great Britain later in the year.

Photocalls for athletes from the Derbyshire Dales and North East Derbyshire

Many thanks to all the athletes who were able to attend the recent photocalls at the Town Hall in Matlock, and at Dronfield Sports Centre.

Photos from both events can now be found at http://www.flickr.com/derbyshiresport and full reports can be seen at http://www.derbyshiresport.co.uk/

The next photocall planned is currently for all the Derby-based athletes, on May 11. Photocalls for the High Peak, Bolsover, South Derbyshire and Erewash will also be held, so if you live within those areas you will be contacted soon.

4th Junior European Wushu Championships

Changquan Medal Presentation

The 4th European Junior Wushu Championships were held in Antalya, Turkey in March 7-12th 2010. Having been selected in the Team Selections earlier in the year, I had been preparing hard for the competition and looking forward to competing again.

My first event was Long Fist (Changquan) which took place on the Monday and I was drawn to perform first, scoring 8.95. Feeling I had done my best, I waited for all the other competitors to perform. The two professional athletes from Russia scored 8.74 and 8.77 so finished second and third respectively, the first time Russia had ever lost in this particular event in junior categories.

Having put all the excitement and happiness behind me, I concentrated on my two other categories, Straight Sword (jianshu) and Staff/Long Weapon (Gunshu). Again, having performed to the best of my abilities, I scored 8.94 and 8.73 respectively, which gave me another gold medal and one silver medal in Gunshu (0.04 behind Russia). Overall, I finished top of my age category by 0.13 over three categories. This has been one of my best achievements in any European Competition and it was a great result.

Overall, the competition had been another great experience for me having achieved such great results, a good repay for all the preparation and work that went in beforehand. Now, I am focusing on my A level exams before beginning the whole preparation process for the Junior World Championships in December, in Singapore.

Rouen International, France

Rouen used to be a very hard competition but this year it was very very poor. I was still recovering from my virus and was very weak. I still managed to win the gold medal but was not pleased with my judo. Hopefully I will feel better for my next competitions in Germany and Russia this month.

Photocall for Amber Valley athletes

A photocall for all the Amber Valley athletes who have received a bursary from the Fund this year has been held at Belper Meadows.

It was a lovely sunny afternoon and athletes were congratulated by Cllr Peter Makin, Mayor of Amber Valley.

Many thanks to everyone who was able to attend. To see more photos from the day go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/derbyshiresport/sets/72157623720287691/

A full report will also be posted at http://www.derbyshiresport.co.uk

My first event at British Championships was the 100m breaststroke, for this there were heats semi-finals and a final. I swam quick enough to get into the semi-final but missed out on the final by about a second. But in the semi final of the 100m breaststroke I was the fastest in my age with a 1.04.45. This was not a PB but it was very close because my PB is 1.04.40. Being the fastest in my age allowed me to go to European juniors in Helsinki this year. I also swam in the 200m breaststroke and I came 3^rd overall in my age. All the relays that the team took part in did great, our 4x200 and 4x100 freestyle relays won bronze but our IM relay came 4^th.

This year I qualified for British Championships for the 4th time in my swimming career, I qualified to swim in the 100m breaststroke and the 200m breaststroke. Derventio Excel also entered the 4x100 freestyle relay, 4x200 freestyle relay and the 4x100 medley relay. I will be part of the 4x200 freestyle relay and the 4x100 medley relay doing the breaststroke leg. This year is the last year I am able to qualify for European Junior Championships. To go to this I will have to achieve a certain time or be the fastest in my age group.

Photocall for Chesterfield athletes

Many thanks to all of the Chesterfield athletes who were able to attend the photocall for the district at Queen's Park Sports Centre in Chesterfield.

Athletes were able to meet Cllr Keith Lomas and Cllr David Stone from Chesterfield Borough Council; Cllr Kevin Parkinson from Derbyshire County Council and Ollie Shearer, Sports Development Coordinator at the University of Derby, all of which support the Fund, together with Cllr Clive Moesby, Chair of Derbyshire Sport.

All of the photos from the day can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/derbyshiresport/sets/72157623803369026/

A full report can also be seen at http://www.derbyshiresport.co.uk/

Mions International, Lyon, France

This was the first in a series of difficult events around Europe that I will be competing in over the next couple of months. Over 700 fighters from 12 countries took part this year and there were 27 boys in my section. Although I was still recovering from a virus I fought well winning four of my five fights to win a Bronze Medal. This weekend I compete in Rouen, France.

Germany and Cardiff GB training

On the 23rd we made our way down to Luton and stayed in a hotel overnight, we then had to be at Luton airport at 5 o clock to fly as a team to Germany. We played the Germans once on the first day, as we walked into the pool it was shocking how much bigger their team was than ours. The game was good and we comfortably beat them. The second day on the 25th we trained as a team in the morning, working on our tactics then that night we played them again. We beat them again, however they had picked their game up and were a lot more physical. On the 26th in the morning we did another training session adding more tactics to what we already had, which would help us in the game. Then that night we played the Germans again and still managed to beat them. On the last day the 27th we did a timed 300 metres, our coach wanted us to feel how tired we would be on the 7th/8th day of the Europeans but still be able to think and play well while tired. Then after that we played the Germans for the final time, still beating them comfortably. We then flew home that afternooon. Going to Germany was a very good experience, helping me see what I need to do, and what I may be up against.

I've just got back from GB training this weekend. I went down to Cardiff Friday night and stayed in a hotel and had to be at the pool for 11 o clock in the morning and we started training at 12 at Cardiff International pool, which is a really nice pool. We did 3 training sessions of 2 hours on the saturday with 2 hour rest in between. For the first 2 training sessions we did swimming, leg work and tactics. I found the swimming and leg work physically hard and the tactics a lot to take in but it was good as I learnt loads. We then played a match against the 95/96's boys, which did us good as in games girls normally grab costumes, however as we were playing the lads we had to just use our tactics, speed and strength to beat them. On Sunday we did 2 training sessions of 2 hours with 2 hours in between. We did swimming and tactics for the first session and then for the second we played the 95/96's boys again. I found the weekend very hard but learnt loads. Over all it was a good weekend of training.

I'm off to England Squad trainig in Wolverhampton today. 2 hours of Kata follow by 2 hours of Kumite (fighting). This will be the first time I have trained in fighting with the England squad. Having had some success in my first fighting competition in Hartlerpool, I'm gearing up my training before I go to Japan.