A good start to 2011

2010 ended with my sixth and final time at the Cadet Winton National Championships - having competed for the East Midlands for the joint longest consecutive time in it's history. In 2011, having won the East Midlands U18s BYC Qualifier the weekend before, I began the year's national Senior Open circuit in Liverpool, on Saturday 19th February, finishing in 3rd place.

The Merseyside Open is one of the oldest open fencing competitions in the country, having started in 1938, and made a good start to the new competitive year. The standard of entry this year was high as always, with a team of Irish fencers providing added competition. With a total of 72 experienced fencers, the competition provided an excellent weekend of preparation for the calendar's larger Senior competitions - notably the Birmingham International and the National Senior Championships.

Finishing in 3rd place was a good result, yet more importantly a tough journey to the semi-finals and several tactically-intense fights provided a great source of experience and good practice. Dropping only one fight out of ten in the two poules, I was seeded 12th and went on to have a further 4 Direct Elimination fights to secure a medal position (each to 15 hits). Fencing a fast left-handed fencer in the last 16 proved interesting; as an opponent who favoured hits aimed below the fencing arm, choosing to adopt a closed and defensive guard proved to be a successful strategy.

The competition has, in many ways, been a prologue to the upcoming series of competitions. In additional to the Senior Circuit, the British Youth Championships in April will join the spectrum of U20s competitions that I aim to have equal success in later on in the year.

2010 World Bowls Champion of Champions

I am about to travel to my next event in November.

I am representing England in the 2010 World Bowls Champion of Champions Event in the Norfolk Islands (located in the South Pacific Ocean between Australia and New Zealand) from 23rd November to 3rd December.

The competitors in this prestigious event are represented by National Singles Champions from around the World. My main competitors will be from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland and Malaysia.

I am looking forward to this event and will post a report on my return to the UK.

Canoe Polo World Championships Milan 2010

A Gold and Two Bronze Medals for Derbyshire Canoeists

From the Canoe Polo World Championships in Milan

Claire Mitchell and brothers Gallin and Ross Montgomery all from the Viking Canoe Polo Club based in Derby, have returned triumphant from the recent World Championships held in Milan from 1^st - 5^th September.

In total, 25 Countries took part in a fiercely contested World Championship tournament where the British team had representation in all four categories; Men, Women, Under 21 Men and Under 21 Women.

In the Men’s Under 21 category, brothers Gallin and Ross Montgomery contributed to the team to give solid performances against Australia, Japan and Switzerland in the first round, topping the group with 21 goals for and with only 1 against.

In the second round, the U21 Men’s team beat the Netherlands 3-2, Spain 4-1 and narrowly lost to Germany 3-2 in a closely fought game. This put the young British side into the semi-finals against the highly favoured French team.

The team played their best polo yet but eventually lost 3–1 in a game that could have gone either way. This meant the gold medal was out of reach, but the bronze medal would be contested in the 3^rd-4^th play off against the Italians, a team with massive home and National TV support.

At full time, the score was 2–2; both teams having led the game before the end of normal time. The match went into a nail biting Golden Goal phase where the teams would play continuous 5 minute periods until one team scored. After one minute, both teams had come close to securing the bronze medal but the Great British team ended any doubts with a stunning final shot from behind the half-way line that caught the Italian defenders and goal keeper stranded.

Germany ran out eventual winners against France and the under 21 Men’s team, though elated with the Bronze, were left to reflect on how close they had come to a Gold.

In the Senior Women’s category, local paddler Claire Mitchell brought home a well deserved Gold Medal. As reigning World, European and World Games Champions the Great British team had a lot of expectation to perform and retain the title.

The team finished top of their group in the preliminary round with convincing wins over Denmark, Iran, Singapore and Italy securing 38 goals for and 2 against. Great Britain finished top of the second group, beating the Dutch 8-1, New Zealand 5-4 and Spain 7-1.

The women faced the French in their semi-final, the biggest threat to the team so far. Nerves were high, as it was the game that decided whether they could reach the final to try to retain the World Championship title. The final result, 6–2 to Great Britain.

The team were to face Germany in the final, a team that Great Britain had not played in any training tournament all season. Great Britain took control early in the game and ran out eventual winners 5-3, retaining the World Championship title.

A further five members from Viking Canoe Polo Club represented Great Britain in the Senior Men’s category and finished 9^th overall which was a little disheartening for the team. However, all five members represent Vikings A team and are enthusiastic about coming home victorious at the European Club Championships, in Germany.

2010 so far

In February 2010 I was named Bowls England Bowler of the Year. I was delighted to receive this prestigious award.

In May 2010 I competed in the trials for the England International Team. After playing well in the trials I was selected again for the England Team.

In June 2010 I represented England in the British Isles Singles Championship where I lost at the Quarter-final stage. It was dissapointing to lose at this stage but my opponent from Jersey played extremely well.
I also represented England in the British Isles International Series. The British Isles International Series is an annual event with teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Each team consists of 6 rinks of 4 players. After beating Ireland and Wales in the first 2 games, England narrowly lost to Scotland in the last game and finished second to Scotland on shots difference. The rink that I played in won all 3 games and was England's top rink.

In July 2010 I won the Derbyshire County Triples and the Derbyshire County Fours Titles.

In August 2010 I reached the Last 16 stage of the Bowls England National Triples Championship and the Last 16 stage of the Bowls England National Fours Championship. It was disappointing to lose at this stage and I will be looking to go further in the events next year.

In October 2010 I was the reserve for the Commonwealth Games Bowls England Team. I was not required to go to Delhi. The England Team was very succesful in the games winning medals in 5 of the 6 events.

E.B.F national championships.

The english bowls federation national championships outdoor was held at skgness in august.

i managed to qualify in 3 differnt events and also in the under 25 team comp.

The first comp was the under 25 team in which we played suffolk and won making us the under 25 team champions.

Then it was onto the other events in which i had a really succesful week.

I lost in the semi final of the mens 2 bowls singles.

After the dissapointment of losing in the semi final i managed to win the mixed triples event and then went on to win the under 25 singles.

winning 3 national titles in 1 week was a great achievement for me and i was really happy on my performance.

At the presentation of the trophies i was announced the under 25 player of the year. this was a really big achievement in which i am very delighted about of winning.

i will attach some photos of me and my team with the trophies.

Apply now for a bursary for 2011

Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to the blog this year - it is great to read about so many successes. Please do continue to post your updates during the rest of the year.

If you wish to be considered for a further bursary from the Derbyshire Talented Athlete Fund for 2011 you can now apply. The application form and full details can be found here: http://www.derbyshiresport.co.uk/talented_athlete_support/fund/apply/default.asp

In a change from previous years, all athletes who wish to be considered for a bursary are required to submit an application themselves (If athletes are aged under 18 then this must be done by a parent or guardian). In some sports the national governing body had previously applied on an athlete's behalf, but this will not happen this year.

The deadline for applications is November 17.

Gold in Milan

A great end to the season - World Champions 2010

After a successful season in training, Great Britain Women were looking forward to getting to the World Championships in Milan and start the long awaited tournament. GB flew out to Italy on Monday 30th August 2010 for a couple of days training before starting the games.

We had Italy, Iran, Singapore and Denmark in our group and started playing the group games on Wednesday. Our first game was against Denmark, a team that we knew we could beat but a high goal target was set to get our goal difference up on the other teams in the group. We were successful on both counts - 16-2 being the final score.

Thursday saw us play our remaining three group games, against Iran, Singapore and Italy. We had not met either Iran or Singapore at any training tournament throughout the year so started the Iran game quite conservatively to see how they played and then pressured from there. We beat Iran 4-0 but the game was not our greatest hour. The referee was very biased towards Iran which frustrated some players. GB play a very hard game and will tackle the opponents hard if they have the ball, each time a GB player did this in the Iranian game, the opposition would shout out and squeal which automatically made the referees blow for a foul, even though it was a legal tackle, which was extremely frustrating. All the same we did our job and came out with a win.

The Singapore game was very similar to the Denmark game. We set up our defence so the opposition would get drawn in then went out to tackle them, win the ball back and break. We came out 14-0 winners.

Our final group game was against Italy, the host nation with a great deal of home support behind them. We didn't let that phase us though and beat Italy 4-0. We were all extremely impressed with our first group games, having scored 38 goals and only had 2 against us.

The second round saw another two groups being created with the winners and runners up of each of the four groups put together. We were up against New Zealand, who finished top of their initial group, and Spain and Holland who finished second in their respective groups. Our first game in this group was against Holland and we secured an easy win finishing 8-1.

New Zealand was our next game. We hadn't played against them this season and knew they were looking good. They were really up for the game, knowing that we were favourites to win. However, we ran out 5-4 winners in a hard fought game.

Our final game of the second group was against Spain. It was a much easier game and we came out 7-1 winners. This put us top of the second group and through to the semi final on Sunday.

As the semi finals and finals were televised our semi against France would be at 8:30 on the sunday morning. The early start did not bother our supporters that were all there to watch. It was so good to hear our supporters drowning out the noise of the French supporters and this spurred us on all the more.

Going into the semi final was very nerve wracking, it was the game that decided whether we were to play in the final or not get a medal at all. Nerves disappeared as soon as the whistle blew for the start of the game and we won 6-2. We were in the final against Germany, a repeat of the 2008 final, and our chance to retain the World title.

I went into the final with confidence, I knew we could win, everybody wanted it so much. We were ahead for most of the game. Germany played 5 out (man on man) for most of the second half to try and win the ball back, but we were able to keep the ball and sprint past the players to score two goals into empty nets. Germany did manage to claw two goals back late on in the game but it was too late and at the final whistle the score was 5-3 to us and so happy to have won the gold medal.

Standing on the podium was an experience I will never forget and am already looking to the 2011 season to try and retain the gold medal at the European Championships and relive the feeling of winning and being a gold medalist!