Millennium League and County Squad Trials 2008

The Girls Competition Report  by Emma Doherty

On the 30th of March Croydon Judo had three girls competing in the Surrey Trials and they were on blistering form with each of them getting a medal and a place in the Surrey Team.

First up was Sophie Roots in the –40’s who fought brilliantly with some great attacks. In most cases I feel that Sophie was the superior player unfortunately she lost out in two of her fights to come away with a bronze medal. Our other two girls, Ilona Onyango and Mairead Jackson, were both in the –57’s. Both girls fought a much more experienced player who in Maireads case was 13 grades higher and unfortunatly lost,  this left them to fight for the silver. I feel it is worth noting that Mairead has only been doing Judo for 2 weeks and in her fight for silver showed skills of a much more experienced player. The fight was nail biting and could of gone either way but in the last seconds of the fight Ilona threw Mairead for yuko(five points) with a backwards sweep to take the silver medal.

I think that all three girls fought amazingly, picked up many points for the club and, with a bit of training, can turn these medals into gold.

By Emma Doherty