Senior School News

It has been a busy few weeks for The Hellcat judo squad having hosted their own Hellcat open competition at the High School on the 19 October and then travelled to Kent on 9 November 9 for the IBF National Championships.     

In their home competition the squad managed to win nine medals. Gold went to Alex Hill in the girls 16 to 18 years open category while Jess Wells took gold in the girls under 55kg section. Silver medals were won by Emily Chase, Emily Fields in her first competition, Katie Parrish and Pheobe Dolan while bronze medals were won by Antonia Illingworth, Georgia Barclay and Elora Parocki.   

Jay Man was taking her referee exam on the same day and gained her class C referee award.  This was quite a relaxed and friendly tournament and was well supported by both local and clubs from greater distance. Two competitors made the trip from Scotland to attend.    

In total contrast were the Nationals in Sittingbourne, Kent. This was, as to be expected, a tense affair with the title of National Champion at stake.  The day belonged to Georgia Barclay who beat all her opponents in impressive style to take the gold medal and National title in the girls under 60 kg class with team mate Jess Wells taking the Bronze in the same group. 

The squad was joined on the day by former student Steph Bryan who also won gold in the 16 to 18 year open weight class narrowly beating Jay Man into silver medal position after an epic battle. 

Alex Hill had to work hard to win Silver in the senior open section only losing to the biggest and highest grade in her section and silver also went to Christine Tavengwa who pulled out a perfect throw in the first round. Another to win silver was Aziza Farhoud with an impressive display of ground work skills.   

Chung Man was in a tough group and managed to win a Bronze medal. Zayneb Farhoud was unfortunately forced to withdraw from the same group having received a shoulder injury early on in the competition.    

The girls have been practicing their fighting skill a lot over the last few weeks and it showed in all thier performances as big throws were plentiful and ground work was well controlled. Every time the squad turns out they get better and stronger.

Well done to all of you.
Sensei Steve Jacob