Junior judo members compete in Sydney

Woy Woy Judo junior club members competed in two competitions last month which saw them collect a number of gold, silver and bronze medals.

Ranging from eight to 12-years-old, competitors travelled to Blacktown PCYC and Castle Hill showground to contest the competitions.

Finley Mertens experienced his first taste of competition at the Castle Hill venue in the Novice section.

Finley, weighed in the Under-42kg, took one and a half minutes to conquer his first opponent with a Seoi-Nage (shoulder throw).

In his second bout, he attacked his opponent with an Ouchi-Gari (inner leg reap).

Nicholas Smith had no opponents in his weight division but said he was happy to go up into two other groups in order to compete.

After battling the higher grades, Nicholas received two silver trophies.

Sean Keogh, Steven Lill and Stirling Young had their work cut out for them in the graded divisions.

Sean was 600 grams over his usual weight of 34kg, which put him at the bottom end of the Under-38kg.

He took all his fights to full time but was held down by his heavier weighted opponents.

Stirling and Steven had four bouts each with Stirling winning three of his four to take the silver trophy and Steven the bronze.

Senior competitors entered the Kyu Grades Competition held at Sydney Olympic Park.

Kyu grades are all grades below black that compete in divisions of orange v green and blue v brown with weights determined on the day.

Julian Della Bosca competed in the orange [fourth Kyu] v green [third Kyu] division Under-100kg.

This was Julian's second competition as an orange belt as a month earlier he attained the bronze medal, also in the Kyu Grades.

He had two bouts, the first against a green belt that was finished by Julian in the first two minutes when he executed a hold down (Kesa-Gatame) that pinned his opponent firmly to the ground.

Julian's second bout was against another orange belt which saw him attack (Ko-Soto-Gake) moving forward, half stepping past his opponent and hooking his right leg, throwing him to the mat for 10 points.

Team mate Paul Sheean, a green belt in the Under-66kg, fought two bouts against orange belts from Sydney University.

Paul wasted no time in finishing off his opponents both with Ippon (10 point throws).

Having both won their individual weight categories Sensei Danny suggested Paul and Julian enter into the other divisions on offer.

Julian accepted the challenge of an Open Division (no weights or grade limitation) and was drawn to fight against two green belts, one blue and a brown belt.

Julian defeated both the green and blue belts with throws and hold downs but was defeated in the gold medal bout by Sydney University Brown belt Andrew Roberts.

Paul entered the Masters division (Over-30) and won both bouts.

Inter State competition was held in Geelong, Victoria, with club member Daniel Simmons (Sho Dan) entering in the Southern Cross Open, Under-73kg division.

Daniel went through his first two fights with easy wins by initiating a hold down in the first and winning the second after gaining points by rocking his opponent off balance with foot sweeps followed closely with a minor throw to accumulate a points win.

His next two fights for medal contention brought him up against his Victorian opponents from the Australian National Titles in June.

Daniel went to full time on both bouts but was surpassed by a half point on the bell.

Daniel won the bronze medal in this instance but said he was happy with his judo.

Daniel has represented Australia on several occasions in the last 12 months along with coach Mike Griffiths in Wales at the Commonwealth Championships.

Mike won the silver medal in the Masters and will attend the World Masters in Miami Florida in November.

Daniel's next competition, the World Cup, is in Samoa this November and, all going well, the Tokyo Grand Slam in December.

Email, 18 Sep 2012

Lindy Simmons, Woy Woy Judo