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| Fresh off the Podium Abu Dhabi 2013 |
I
was a half decent judo player as a junior, winning a few national medals but
never really quite breaking into the senior British squad or having an impact
internationally. Eventually I stopped judo for 5 years (and had a couple
of kids in the meantime) and when I stepped back on the mat 3 years ago I was
fat, unfit, unconfident and hadn’t competed for 8 years! The journey from then
to when this picture was taken was a long, hard and massively rewarding one
supported by friends, family, work colleagues and coaches.
Fast
forward to this morning when I open my emails to discover that between the
British Judo Trust and the company I work for, Absolutely Leisure, I now
have the minimum funding required to get me to this year’s World Veteran’s Judo
Championships in Malaga to defend my title. I was ecstatic.
And
now there lies a new journey ahead very different from the previous and with
different challenges. First and most obviously the event is in just 6 and
a half short weeks’ time! I now have kept up good level of sparring practice and also a decent base
level of fitness at our Absolutely Fitness gyms to start from but I’m going to massively have
to step it up a gear. Then there is the minor issue of about 5kg to
lose. It is also a very different kettle of fish this year. Spain
is a massive judo nation and so is its neighbour France. There will definitely
be more and harder fights to get to the podium. I need to be on my
game.
But
before all this comes the practical bits. As well as entry and
accommodation, I have to book my flights, as best value as I can to make my
funding stretch. Absolutely Leisure and The British Judo Trust have made this possible, and now I have to do my bit.
I
know some people hate corny motivational quotes but I love them, and this is
one of my favourites ‘If not you then who? If not now, then when?’
Time
for me to get hard or go home J
