Hecra Judo Club Heston

Another successful day for HECRA JUDO club at the Chalfont and Everham Judo tournament 2024 held at High Wycombe Judo club today. HECRA primaries came away with 3 golds two silvers and one bronze. Special mention to 6 year old Idris and 7 year old Amayah who were excellent in their contests winning gold. Our three Juniors managed one silver and two bronze medals. Tahaira in her first tournament because of her weight had to fight a women aged 52 and almost beat her. The seniors fought admirable with one gold by Daniel with Anish getting silver, Collins Ruben, Daniel Gomez and Artiom collecting bronze medals

Today 7 of the HECRA primaries entered a Judo development tournament/ basho held in St Albans. Over 100 children aged from 5 to 11 participated in the tournament. HECRA had three judo who have never competed before and were led in my absence by Kevin who appears to have done a wonderful job, mentoring the team. I would like to thank all those who took time to attend the competition.

Sebastian BRONZE 🥉
Yuvraj BRONZE 🥉
Idris SILVER 🥈
Dontae SILVER 🥈
Sophia SILVER 🥈
Samantha GOLD 🥇
Sandra GOLD 🥇
HECRA came away with 6 medals including 2 golds and three silvers.

Four of HECRA seniors attended the Hertfordshire grading held in St Albans.
This was not a competition, but a grading. If it was a competition then HECRA would have won several medals.
Anish who is a green belt was going for his blue. He won his first fight doing a nice o uchi gari.
In his second fight Anish executed another O uchi only for the referee to award his opponent a wazari instead of Anish. Looking at a video recording Anish should have been awarded an ippon. As a result of this he lost concentration and was held down loosing the fight. Anish tried hard in his third fight but fatigue set it and he lost therefore he couldn’t go forward to the Kata stage. Collins was next up going for his blue belt. In his first contest Collins executed a beautiful taiotoshi as seen on the video. Artiom could be heard screaming in the background. Surprisingly after a hard fought contest Collins lost his second fight tapping out whilst being held down. Collins then had to enter a blue belt pool a grade higher than his green. He was excellent and performed well holding his own against higher grades and also demonstrating great sportsmanship. Owing to his performances Collins was put forward to the Kata stage. Unfortunately Colin’s hasn’t had enough practice in doing his Kata so wasn’t awarded his blue belt however if he can demonstrate the Kata in the next 3 months he will get his much deserved blue belt. Collins was next up going for his blue belt. In his first contest Collins executed a beautiful taiotoshi as seen on the video. Artiom could be heard screaming in the background. Surprisingly after a hard fought contest Collins lost his second fight tapping out whilst being held down. Collins then had to enter a blue belt pool a grade higher than his green. He was excellent and performed well holding his own against higher grades and also demonstrating great sportsmanship. Owing to his performances Collins was put forward to the Kata stage. Unfortunately Colin’s hasn’t had enough practice in doing his Kata so wasn’t awarded his blue belt however if he can demonstrate the Kata in the next 3 months he will get his much deserved blue belt. The next HECRA fighter to take to the mat was Artiom who is a blue belt going for his brown belt. Artiom hasn’t competed for 18 years and was a little nervous as there is a difference in Randori and the real fighting. Artiom surprised his first opponent with his speed and agility eventually scoring an ippon. His second fight was tougher with Artiom managing to pin his opponent down unfortunately in the process Artiom damaged his ankle and was unable to continue in the grading, Last but not least it was Daniel who is currently a brown belt and was trying to attain his first Dan Black Belt. What can I say Daniel was in a tough pool with all his five opponents heavier than him. Daniel won the first of two of his fights by ippon with his trademark low tai otoshi. Some nice high falls lol. He then won his next two by hold downs and was therefore put forward to the Kata stage where if successful he would be recommended for his black belt. Daniel was then asked to compete in a lineup for a judoka heavier than him. Daniel spoilt the party beating the heavier judoka. He could have finished fighting there and then, but he was enjoying himself so much that he volunteered to join a pool with a judoka who is a first Dan going for his second Dan. In total Daniel had 10 contests for the day. He was tired had a leg injury and then had to demonstrate his kata. Now I always believe that when you help out that this heroism should be reciprocated. I was watching Daniel doing his kata and in my humble opinion he performed it well not perfect but did enough with fatigue and an injury to be rewarded with a pass. The 6 Dan Sensei saw otherwise and decided that the Kata wasn’t good enough. Daniel has been recommended for his 1st Dan Black belt. However he needs to retake the Kata phase within the next three months and if successful will be a Sensei.
All out fighters performed well and did the club proud.

Sebastian and Sandra receiving their medals at Smallberry schoolI Isleworth this morning. We only had two competitors but managed to come away with one gold and one silver medal.

Wishing two of the primaries good luck at the Osterley rumble on Saturday and two of the seniors Reuben and Anish as they compete at the Shizenti tournament in Hertfordshire on Sunday. Make us proud and hopefully bring back some medals.

Two HECRA judo club members were chosen to represent The London Borough of Hounslow at the London Youth Games Judo competition on Saturday 17th June 2023. Young Judoka from all the London Boroughs take part in this competition. My fighters weighed in at 11.30 but didn’t get to fight until 18.39. The organisers need to look at this matter having Young people sitting around for 7 hours is not acceptable.
Hounslow as Borough had a small squad, but still managed to pick up several medals.
The arena was hot and humid and definitely affected the mindset of the two HECRA Judoka. Daniel lost his first bout on a technical decision with a rule that even me as a coach wasn’t aware of. He won his second fight strangling his opponent into submission. His third fight he won with two wazari scores. The last fight if he won he would get the bronze. Unfortunately I was not in his corner to coach as both my Judoka were on at the same time. He lost the bout and deprived of a medal. Daniel hasn’t been able to train for the last few weeks owing to exams so did very well under trying circumstances. Anish also went into the competition without much training, but wanted to compete as had given a commitment to the Hounslow team. Anish fought hard but was unable to win any of his three bouts. The boys were disappointed in their performances, but understood that regular training is important. The next Tournament is at Shizenti so hopefully we can come back with some medals.

This young man has today successfully been graded to a Brown belt. One step away from being a Black belt Dan Grade. Daniel has shown that hard work, determination to succeed pays off. Daniel has risen to this level in record time. He is the first to training and the last to leave. As his coach I am feeling so proud that a small judo club like HECRA CAN PRODUCE athletes of this stature.

Sensei Mcintosh with Anish and Daniel the two Judoka who recently competed at the National Championship. Daniel displaying his gold medal.

Great news one of my fighters has today won a Gold medal at the BJC closed championship held in Kettering. After his winning performance he has been invited to train with the National Team. We are a small Judo Club, but our training and coaching produces positive results. Congratulations to Daniel B and to Anish who finished a valiant fourth in his pool of fights.