European Cadet Championships 2002

Please Note: Post December 2003 current details updated on BJA Website

Each year the Cadet Boys Squad organise a specialised winter training camp in Kendal – for Cadet Squad members and visitors alike, the purpose of the Camp is to get a ‘kick start’ into our new competition year, with activities planned both inside and out to test and interest our players mentally and especially physically and this year there was the added spice of 12 Belgium and

3 Swedish players training with us. This year for Boys born 1987/88 – the European Youth Olympics Festival & European Cadet Championships are to be held together in the same year, which gives players an added incentive to do well, with the chance to represent Great Britain in one, or perhaps both of these major International Events.

The Camp had taken some serious planning to ensure we had a good balance of players. For each day, we had a series of outdoor sessions planned and back-ups in case the weather let us down and of course we had a series of mat sessions – Skill, Technique, Newaza & Randori. Likewise we had a good collection of Support Staff to cover all our activities and planned situations.

Our Judo activities were based in the Kendal Judo Centre, the bulk of our players staying in the Youth Hostel and some players and the majority of the Coach’s in the Judo Club. The Camp started on Thursday evening with a Randori Session, under the supervision of Brian Moore and Tony Macconnell along with the Belgium National Coach Robert van der Wyre.

Every one was up for 7:00am for an hour’s groundwork session – back for breakfast. The few remaining players arrived for our first skill & technical session in the morning – the emphasis being grips and forward throws.

We had split the group into teams which they would stay in all weekend. The first team activity was a log carry and race through the local woods, around the Golf course, it certainly tested our players from the beginning. All the groups coped well showing team spirit and effort to overcome all obstacles in their path.

Our final activity of the day was the evening randori session, it had been a long day but the effort and determination shown by them all was good .

Saturday January 4^th 2003.

Every day we planned to start off with 1 hours groundwork – then breakfast, and today was no different. After breakfast we continued with a mat session, with further work and development on the techniques of Friday.

The weather in the Lower Lakes was perfect, a light covering of snow, brilliant clear blue skies and the Howgills waiting. Several coach’s travelled to the start point of the run to check that the roads were accessible for the vehicles, which they were. After a short journey all our group arrived for the run, the little boys were going up and straight down the hill, the older boys were going up and round, about 1 hours run. Both groups were accompanied with our coach’s and seasoned fell runners – the run went well, everyone got round and back safely, back to Kendal for lunch.

The Saturday afternoon session was taken by, Mac Abbot – our National Senior Men’s Coach. He came to take a 2 hour skill session, looking specifically into grips currently being used quite successfully by the players from the old Eastern Bloc countries. Using video clip’s from the recent Junior European Championships, his players demonstrated several techniques from this grip, ways in which to negate the grip and ways to develop on it, for each individual player. Many players picked up on these skills and demonstrated some really good techniques. The evening Randori went well after such a hard days activities – the whole group kept up their efforts till the end.

Our last early morning session got the day off to a really good start – four boys who had suffered minor injuries were unable to participate – but the rest practised well, finishing the mat work on a high. After breakfast we set off on our final outdoor activity at Kendal Castle and the River Kent, the boys jogged to the Castle to warm up, Sunday morning the weather was again excellent.

The boys were set tasks of carrying sand and tyres up to the top of the hill, racing in teams and groups, in the castle grounds the boys undertook a body circuit – carrying; lifting; wheelbarrows etc. Our final activity was jogging down to the River Kent and finishing off with a river ford – jogging back to the Judo Club to shower, pack and head off home.

The Camp was balanced to give an overall weekend’s training experience. On the mat, being able to have extra time to work closely with the Cadet Squad Coach’s, developing and working on the individuals skills & techniques, competitive newaza and randori sessions to push players, giving players the opportunity to have in depth quality randori against players of equal standard, ages and weights. The outdoor activities were varied, again they were used to develop - team building, individual confidence, enable players to express themselves and obviously be tested physically and mentally

We feel that weekends of this type although hard and demanding, give the boys who attend an ideal start to the new competition year. We suffered no serious medical or injury problems, any injuries that did occur were treated by Innes Morton our Medical Support – medical report is available for information.

Camps like this need a great deal of planning in the initial stages. Whilst the Camp is running we also need support from coach’s and staff, to cover any unforeseen eventualities, thanks go to everyone associated with Kendal 2003, especially Tony Macconnell, Kendal Judo Club and their committee, all our Cadet Support Coach’s, the players and the many parents who’s support was appreciated.

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Saturday January 4th 2003.

Saturday January 4^th 2003.