Malaga 2014 Begins

Fresh off the Podium Abu Dhabi 2013

This picture of me was taken last year at the World Veteran’s Judo Championship in Abu Dhabi moments after I picked up my Gold medal, National Antham blaring and Union Jack flying. It’s certainly up there for proud moments in my life. I’d just turned 30, so old enough to qualify.  I’d spent a year training hard for it , competing in senior national ranking events and also dropped a lot of weight to get to my true fighting weight -63kg.

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