On Saturday Luke and I travelled to Kidderminster (to the south-west of Birmingham) so that Luke could take part in a judo competition. Neither of us had very high hopes, as Luke is still quite new and just on his second mon (red belt with one tag).
We were supposed to arrive for 11am but got there about half an hour early. When we got there the girls were still competing and their competition finally ended around 1pm. Then it was the turn of the boys - but Luke's name wasn't called! Although he was below 40 kg, he was put in the higher group because they had too many smaller kids. Whilst we were waiting some of the bigger boys arrived and I noticed Luke go slightly paler than normal!
Finally at around 2.15pm Luke was on. In his first bout he was taken by surprise and very quickly got knocked out. He looked quite put out and dejected at that point, but I noticed a steely glint in his eye when he stepped up for his second bout! He was amazing - he grabbed his opponent by the labels and started spinning him round the floor before tripping him onto his back and pinning him to the floor. He managed to hold him down for the count (25 seconds) to win the bout. See the video below for a rather distorted idea (phone cam!) Luke is in the white belt.
Luke's third bout was a real marathon. He managed to get his opponent down at one point but he managed to wriggle free. After another wrestling match, Luke got him down again and went to pin him. Unfortunately, though, his opponent spun as he fell and managed to end up with Luke underneath him. Luke counted get free and was counted out. It was a close one!
The end result - Luke got a well-earned bronze medal and, I think it is fair to say, a real boost to his confidence. He can't wait for the next competition! Before then, however, he is going for regrading on 24th September and may well get his third mon.
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