Combat Base UK National Junior Gi Grappling Championships

The event……Combat Base UK National Junior Gi Grappling Championships
The venue…..Carnegie Sports Facility, Headingley, Leeds
The date……..22nd June 2008


It’s been a while since we last held a grappling competition for the juniors and did it show! The standard across the board has raised tremendously with the competitors showing a complete range of skills, the stand up, the sweeps, the passing game, everything seems to have been moved up at least a couple of notches.

The atmosphere was the best of any competition I have ever been to and that is full credit to the organization and support of the event, the competitors, spectators and coaches from opposing teams happily mingled and offered support to everyone regardless. The whole day was about the kids, providing a positive atmosphere in which they could have a positive experience of competition which is so important for the newbies, not some of the stupidity that I’m sure we have all seen when coaches/parents are screaming at some 5 year old kid to not let the other kid beat him as if it is an offence to his manhood if any of his kids lose. We know the sort don’t we.

It is best summed up though by Ben, who refereed throughout the day “the best bit is seeing the kids with huge grins competing, they are just doing it for the love of doing it, they just try to win by going for it”

I would definitely echo this sentiment as the kids do what they do and don’t back chat or question everything. The kids are way more gracious than a lot of the seniors. This is one of the reasons why we award EVERY competitor with a medal.

If these guys keep training the way they have been then the UK will have more Jiu Jitsu champions than they ever have before.


Results
Girls 4 - 6 years
1. Courtney Puckering - Hull Sport
2. Ellie Amies-King - MFF Fighters

Boys 4 - 6 years
1. Danny Puckering - Hull Sport
2. Isaac Roberts - Combat Base
3. Levi Swindell - MFF Fighters

Girls 7 - 8 years
1. Shauna Jones - Hull Sport
2. Tea Lewis - Bradford Judo/XLMA
3. Hannah Day - MFF Fighters

Boys 7 - 8 years light
1. Samuel Thomas - MFF Fighters
2. Kieran Farnell - MFF Fighters

Boys 7 - 8 years heavy
1. Ethan Taylor - Hull Sport
2. Jake Richards - Combat Base
3. Hussain Basyurt - Hull Sport

Girls 9 - 10 years
1. Katie Cooper - Nagare En Derby
2. Emily Young - Hull Sport

Boys 9 – 10 years light
1. Liam Martin - Gracie Barra Derby
2. Tristan Fishwick - Combat Base
3. Joshua Thomas - MFF Fighters

Boys 9 – 10 years heavy
1. Jack Bethell - Gracie Barra Derby
2. Lewis Reed - Gracie Barra Derby
3. Jay Millard - Hull Sport

Girls 11 - 12 years
1. Stella Doyle - MFF Fighters
2. Kate Standley - MFF Fighters

Boys 11 – 12 years light
1. Salim Alam - True Spirit MMA
2. Ben Schofield - Combat Base
3. Connor Wright - Combat Base

Boys 11 – 12 years heavy
1. Kailum Smith - Combat Base
2. Ben Cooper - Nagare En Derby
3. Louis West - Hull Sport

Girls 13 - 14 years
1. Inka Doyle - MFF Fighters
2. Beau Maclean - Combat Base
3. Shani Testro - Gracie Barra Derby

Boys 13 - 14 years light
1. Sean McDonagh - Gracie Barra Derby
2. James Beardsmore - Gracie Barra Derby
3. Jonah Osborn - Gracie Barra Derby

Boys 13 - 14 years heavy
1. Ryan Holdham - Tai Jutsu Kai
2. Bradley Swindell - MFF Fighters
3. Craig Sunman - Hull Sport

Girls 15 - 16 years
1. Christine McDonagh - Gracie Barra Derby
2. Lauren Reed - Gracie Barra Derby
3. Rebecca Linsley - Tai Jutsu Kai

Boys 15 - 16 years light
1. Chris Dolman - Hull Sport
2. Ben Docherty - Gracie Barra Derby
3. Daniel Portman - Kodakan

Boys 15 - 16 years heavy
1. Joshua Camm - Gracie Barra Nottingham
2. Kane Davis - Gracie Barra Derby
3= Liam Swindell - MFF Fighters
3= Jack Plachcinsly - Kodakan


Not wanting to undermine the efforts of any of the competitors who all performed very well, but we also award trophies for fighters of the day for those that have just stood out a little, techniques of the day for the best execution of a clean technique and team champions for the team that have performed most consistently on the day.

Fighters Of The Day sponsored by PopArt
Girls under 10 - Tea Lewis - Bradford Judo/XLMA
Girls over 10 – Beau Maclean – Combat Base
Boys under 10 – Liam Martin – Gracie Barra Derby
Boys over 10 – Salim Alam – True Spirit MMA

Techniques Of The Day sponsored by Allsports International Limited
In the under 10’s Danny Puckering from Hull Sport got the award for a beautiful seionage.
In the over 10’s the award went to James Beardsmore from Gracie Barra Derby for his crisp sweep to mount technique.

Team Champions sponsored by Caged Steel Gym
To determine the true team champions, the medal positions are assigned a value and worked out against how many people from that team placed. This total is then divided by the number of competitors in the team so an average is calculated therefore it is not just the largest team that enters that wins. Therefore:

Team Champions – Combat Base
2nd Gracie Barra Derby
3rd Hull Sport


I would like to thank everyone who turned up and supported the event. The teams:
Bradford Judo
Bulldogs & CNO Judo & Mixed Martial Arts
Combat Base
Gracie Barra Derby
Gracie Barra Nottingham
Hull Sport
Kodakan
MFF Fighters
Nagare En Derby
Tai Jutsu Kai
True Spirit MMA

To the officials, the Combat Base team, Ben and Rob for refereeing, Andy, Jase, Mark, Becks, Jonny, Karl, Helen, Tony and to anyone I may have forgot ;0/

Thanks to Pop Art for sponsoring the trophies and the T-shirts, to Allsports International Limited for sponsoring Technique Of The Day trophies and to Caged Steel Gym for sponsoring the Team Trophy and to St Johns Ambulance for covering the event, glad you weren’t busy.

Big thanks too to Photo Solutions who spent the day walking around taking photos which were then available for purchase on the day. Great idea. You can still go onto their web site, have a look at the photos and buy them if you missed the opportunity on the day.


Combat Base http://www.combatsport.co.uk/
MFF Fighters http://www.mff.org.uk/
Pop Art email rick@popart.co.uk for T shirt printing, banners, signs
Photo Solutions http://www.fotosolutions.co.uk/
Caged Steel Gym http://www.yorkshiremma.co.uk/
Allsports International Limited http://www.allsports-int.co.uk/