Anya Colley

As we are at midway point in the British Championship season, I thought you might like a quick update of this year’s championship to date.

The season didn’t start the way I had hoped to be honest and in fact I had prepared a letter for my website (www.anyas.co.uk) explaining that “I would be unable to take part in the whole series this year for a couple of reasons. The first reason being that our family business unfortunately was hit quite hard last year due to the economical climate and as such we have had to work very hard over the winter months to pull things back and get all our staff back onto full time hours so they can continue to support themselves and their families. However I am delighted me to say we are currently extremely busy working 24 hours a day 7 days a week on a big job but there are very specific and immovable deadlines we have to meet which means it looks like I will be unable to attend Round One of the British Championships”.
However my wonderful Dad being the great person he is pulled out every stop and worked every hour possible to get me to Tattershall on Saturday for the first race of the season. It really was a struggle but he did it. Having said that we were totally unprepared as we had been convinced we were going to be unable to make it, but I raced my heart out.
The next major problem I had was the JSRA (our race organising body) unfortunately changed the race date for the second round of the Championships and now for the first time ever my parents were unable to attend the new date as they were out of the country and couldn’t get a flight back due to the backlog from the Volcano spill. My Luck was really down on me this year but even without my parents = my mechanic and my holder I attended round two with the support of my boyfriend, James Bushell and friends Garry Smith & Graham Leech.

Round three I really had my work cut out if I was going to gain some major Championship points after the last two difficult rounds and all was going great until my last Limited race when I unusually suffered a mechanical breakdown in the race – fortunately it was just a blown fuse so an inexpensive repair but a very costly breakdown for me.

Having said all that about my challenging season I am pleased to inform you that I am currently leading the JSRA British Stock Championship and in joint first place despite my costly break down in the Limited Class. So I still have a lot of work to do but considering everything against me this year I am pleased to tell you of my position. From a Girl Power point of view I would like to add that both of these classes are male dominated and I am leading them both!

Please have your fingers and toes crossed for me and hope I have used up all my bad luck in the first half of the season.

My other news for you is that sadly I don’t think I am going to be able to attend this years World Finals Event due to the financial cost. I have not given up hope just yet and I am actively seeking sponsorship from various sources but I fully understand that due to the economical climate for everyone this is even more difficult than usual. My parents have funded me the last few years to enable me to become British, European and 7 times World Champion but unfortunately they are just not able to fund the £7,000 I need this year to attend. Please be assured I will do my best to attend believe me but I thought it was only fair as my supporters you were aware of this fact from me and as soon as possible. I am trying though I promise.

I will of course keep you updated with the news on the 2010 season, Please keep your fingers and toes crossed for me in my hope to win the British Stock title for the first time and regain my British Limited title.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Yours, Anya Colley
British, European & 7 Times World Champion.

Girl Power Fact for your members – I was the first Girl to ever win the IJSBA World Finals Junior, Expert Limited and Amateur Open World Titles!!! Girl Power. http://www.anyas.co.uk/

Erewash photocall

Many thanks to everyone who attended our last district photocall for 2010, in Erewash.

Gymnasts Hannah Dulston and Catherine McNicol, horseball competitors Megan Chiarella and Christie Morgan, rugby union player Jack Partington and table tennis player Emma Vickers all attended, along with jet-skier Anya Colley, bowls player Simon Skelton and fencer Samuel Ward.

Cllr Mike Wallis from Erewash Borough Council and Cllr Carol Hart from Derbyshire County Council met the athletes to congratulate them at West Park Leisure Centre in Long Eaton.

More photos from the day can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/derbyshiresport/sets/72157624424960190/

ITALIAN WORLD CUP RIMINI 2010

Hi there on 03/06/10 I travelled with some of the Great Britain Team to Rimini Italy to take part in the Best Fighter Italian World Cup.This is another major event in the international kickboxing calender.I would compete in cattagories which would include soft forms and boys and girls mixed.This would include many competitors from the Eastern bloc countries who are trained by the Russian state circus.I was very nervous but this seemed to motivate me even more and I was really pleased to win both my weapons and open hand divisions in the under 12 age group.I won open hand and came second in the under 16 divisions.I also competed in the trix battle and was very fortunate to win gold and 300 euros.Above I am pictured with my GB team-mates and the seven trophies that we won in total.As you can imagine I had a little bit of difficulty trying to get 4 of these trophies onto the plane home.I now have a break for a bit and will be fundraising and training hard in preparation for the World Championships to be held in Belgrade Serbia in September.

More local photocalls - High Peak and Bolsover

Many thanks to everyone who attended the recent photocalls in either the High Peak or Bolsover. The events are always a great opportunity for athletes to meet other young sports competitors from the area and representatives from some of the funding partners who we are so grateful to for their support.

The Bolsover photocall was held at Bolsover District Council's Sherwood Lodge offices and athletes were congratulated by Bolsover District Council Chairman Councillor Rita Turner, Senior Sport Development Officer Jenny carter and Derbyshire Sport Chairman Councillor Clive Moesby.

Meanwhile in High Peak the athletes gathered at The Pavilion Gardens in Buxton, and were joined by Jean Wharmby, Executive Councillor for Social and Community Development at High Peak Borough Council, and Nigel Bonner from the Electrical Contractors Association.

U18 National Cup Finals

Having won the National U18 Cup for the last 3 consecutive years, we (Belper) were favourites going into the finals weekend at Cannock.
However, we knew we faced tough opposition in the forms of Wycombe HC, Firebrands and Bradford-Wakefield HC who all boasted regional and junior international players.
The tournament took a round robin format, with us playing our first game on the Saturday then our final 2 on the Sunday. Our first game was against Wycombe HC who played very defensively throughout the match, making it very difficult to convert the persistent pressure we had. Eventually, after a slow start we came out 5-0 winners. We were obviously pleased with our victory but knew that we had to raise our game to match the stronger opposition we would face the following day.
Our first game on the Sunday was against Firebrands. Again, whilst we had a lot of pressure and most of the possession in the first half, we struggled to convert our chances, with their goalkeeper making many outstanding saves. By half time, the score was only 1-0 in our favour.
We started the second half strongly and were awarded a penalty stoke within 2 minutes of the restart, after one of our players was fouled in the circle. I stepped forward to convert it bringing the score to 2-0 and a minute later we had scored again. Towards the end of the match we were given a second penalty stoke after it was judged the Firebrands goalkeeper had taken down our player without taking the ball whilst making a save. Again, I took the penalty and scored meaning the final score was 4-0.
The final game of the tournament was crucial. Almost in a repeat of last year we were to play Bradford-Wakefield and a win or a draw would mean we retained our title whilst a loss would have meant Bradford-Wakefield won.
Again we put lots of pressure on Wakefield from the start but this time it paid off more quickly – in the 7th minute a rebound off the goalkeeper came to me and I slotted it in the back of the net. After that our confidence rose and we played brilliantly. The goals kept on coming and the game finished at 6-0.
As the final whistle blew we were ecstatic with our win, however it was also emotional as 3 of our team had just played our last ever match for Belper before moving onto university.
Overall the weekend was a great experience and good luck to next year’s team – hopefully they can retain the title for a fifth year running!

Snooker - the story so far

(Me after winning the World Ladies Junior title - April)

Hi, I am Hannah Jones, I am 13 years old and I play snooker.

I have had a great year so far. I have played snooker, billiards and pool around the country and have won a few tournaments.

I will use this blog to bring you up to date.

In April I played in the World Ladies Snooker Championships in Cambridge. I have been playing in the World Champs since I was 9 years old. This year I qualified for the knockout stage for the first time in the seniors game but lost to Maria Catalano in the last 16 - Maria is Ronnie O'Sullivans cousin.

I played in the World Ladies Junior Tournament a competition for Under 18 lady players. This is an event that I have won in 2008 and 2009 and this year I played really well winning all my matches without dropping a frame to make it my 3rd World Ladies Junior title in a row. My performance in the WLBSA tournaments up to the World Champs mean that I start the next season officially number 9 in the world and provisionally Number 7 on the senior ladies ranking list.

I then played in the EABA English Under 19 Ladies billiards tournament and won that.

I have also just won the EASB English Ladies Snooker Championship at the World Snooker Academy in May beating my opponent 5-0 in the final.

I am now ranked number 1 on the EASB - English Ladies ranking list and will get an automatic selection for International events for the rest of the year.

I have a bit of a break now before the start of the new season which starts again in August with an International match and then in September with an exhibition in Belgium which is followed up with the Home Internationals and the first of the Ladies event which are the Masters and the Ladies UK Championships.



(Me after winning the English Ladies Title - May)

I have already had a great year and will post up more news when the new season starts. You can see my other results by looking at my website Hannah Jones Website

Venray International, The Netherlands

Last weekend I went to the Netherlands for the 2010 Venray International Judo Tournament. Over 1500 of the best fighters from 23 different European countries competed. At under 15’s this is the premier event for children of my age. This was the fifth year I had attended this event I won Bronze and Silver Medals in 2006 and 2008. In my group were fighters from Belgium, Germany, France, Denmark, Great Britain, Latvia, Switzerland, Russia and the host country The Netherlands.
My first fight was a tough match against a strong Belgian fighter. I am often a slow starter and I struggled with my first opponent’s awkward style and had to rely on the referee’s decision after a tough five minutes of fighting. My next match was an easier affair beating a strong Dutch Judoka with a stylish foot sweep. My third fight was against a strong British Fighter, Connor Potts. I controlled the fight well winning the fight and progressing through to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals I was up against an impressive German fighter who had earlier easily defeated fighters from France and Latvia. In a close tactical fight going the full five minutes I won 3-0 on flags and a place in the 2010 final. In the final I was up against one of the top Dutch under fifteen fighters, Sandor De Jong. Sandor had easily beat me earlier in the year at the Dutch Espoir event and he was favourite to take the Venray title this year. I had studied his style well since we last met, and controlled the fight from the start. After two close scores I threw the Dutch fighter for Ippon to become 2010 champion. Gold Medal in this event was my best International result to date.