6 B.S.J.C players joined the West of England Judo Squad and travelled over to Eindhoven to compete at the impressive Indoor Sports Centrum for this year’s Dutch Espoir Open Tournament. The team was selected by our new Western Area Coaching Team, who have set out a structure of development for our Western Area Squad.

The tournament was a massive event and staged over two days, with in the region of 1600 judoka competing in -15, -17 and -20 age bands. Judoka from countries like USA, Poland, Hungary, Germany, France, Italy, South Africa, Indonesia and Great Britain all competed during the weekend.
Many of our team of 25 judoka were also experiencing competing abroad for the very first time. This event undoubtedly proved to be one of the largest tournaments in Europe. It was extremely well-controlled and a great introduction for our team.

We left Bristol on the morning of Friday 13th January and enjoyed a pleasantly relaxed journey by coach to Holland. We first checked into our team hotel before visiting the venue to allow the judoka to weigh-in. We then had a team meal before setting back to our hotel to relax and prepare for the competition.

Over the weekend our team fought bravely, with great determination and enthusiasm for each bout. The system was very different to competitions in this country, which meant each fight had to be won and with an average of almost 40 judoka in each category that was a massive test of character for all of them.
Amy Oram from Devizes and Pete Miles from Bradley Stoke JC both won Bronze medals after producing some outstanding judo throughout the tournament. Both worked tremendously hard. Amy won her Bronze by Hantei in golden score against Cornelisse Pleuni and Pete defeated the present Dutch National Champion Ziggy Van Der Brink with an outstanding combination of three techniques which ended with a dazzling left-handed Seoi-Nage throwing the Dutch lad for Ippon, in his pool group semi-final. Pete then lost to his pool final but returned to defeat Twan Werff from Holland to take the Bronze medal.

Stephanie Walker from Bradley Stoke JC was desperately unlucky to get injured in her bronze medal fight and had to retire and settle for 5th place this was the first time Steph had won a fight in Europe,superb result.

Ben Atts and Kelly Wilson both lost there first fights but fought courageously but there determination has increased to go further next time.

James Hayes threw his first opponent with a stunning harai goshi to win but then drew the favourite in the next fight which turned into a epic battle in which James eventually lost. Great start for his first trip abroad.

Lele Nairne won her first 2 fight and was looking good then in the 3rd fight lost focus and made a error this resulted in her being strangled out ,which in turn meant she was disqualified from the rest of the tournament.

The .B.S.J.C gang did good.

Most of the team can have the knowledge of achieving a victory, but unless the judoka who beat you reached the semi-final you could not return to fight for the Bronze medal. It was a fantastic experience for the entire team and the coaches, we have all learnt a great deal about our approach to training and how we compete. The whole team bonded so well over the weekend, each supporting each other, either as a warm-up partner or just there to shout encouragement from the side-lines.

The trip was a great success and the start of a bright and promising new approach and attitude for the group, who all improved their friendships and more importantly the spirit within the West of England Judo Squad.