17/03/2024
Four of HECRA seniors attended the Hertfordshire grading held in St Albans.
This was not a competition, but a grading. If it was a competition then HECRA would have won several medals.
Anish who is a green belt was going for his blue. He won his first fight doing a nice o uchi gari.
In his second fight Anish executed another O uchi only for the referee to award his opponent a wazari instead of Anish. Looking at a video recording Anish should have been awarded an ippon. As a result of this he lost concentration and was held down loosing the fight. Anish tried hard in his third fight but fatigue set it and he lost therefore he couldn’t go forward to the Kata stage. Collins was next up going for his blue belt. In his first contest Collins executed a beautiful taiotoshi as seen on the video. Artiom could be heard screaming in the background. Surprisingly after a hard fought contest Collins lost his second fight tapping out whilst being held down. Collins then had to enter a blue belt pool a grade higher than his green. He was excellent and performed well holding his own against higher grades and also demonstrating great sportsmanship. Owing to his performances Collins was put forward to the Kata stage. Unfortunately Colin’s hasn’t had enough practice in doing his Kata so wasn’t awarded his blue belt however if he can demonstrate the Kata in the next 3 months he will get his much deserved blue belt. Collins was next up going for his blue belt. In his first contest Collins executed a beautiful taiotoshi as seen on the video. Artiom could be heard screaming in the background. Surprisingly after a hard fought contest Collins lost his second fight tapping out whilst being held down. Collins then had to enter a blue belt pool a grade higher than his green. He was excellent and performed well holding his own against higher grades and also demonstrating great sportsmanship. Owing to his performances Collins was put forward to the Kata stage. Unfortunately Colin’s hasn’t had enough practice in doing his Kata so wasn’t awarded his blue belt however if he can demonstrate the Kata in the next 3 months he will get his much deserved blue belt. The next HECRA fighter to take to the mat was Artiom who is a blue belt going for his brown belt. Artiom hasn’t competed for 18 years and was a little nervous as there is a difference in Randori and the real fighting. Artiom surprised his first opponent with his speed and agility eventually scoring an ippon. His second fight was tougher with Artiom managing to pin his opponent down unfortunately in the process Artiom damaged his ankle and was unable to continue in the grading, Last but not least it was Daniel who is currently a brown belt and was trying to attain his first Dan Black Belt. What can I say Daniel was in a tough pool with all his five opponents heavier than him. Daniel won the first of two of his fights by ippon with his trademark low tai otoshi. Some nice high falls lol. He then won his next two by hold downs and was therefore put forward to the Kata stage where if successful he would be recommended for his black belt. Daniel was then asked to compete in a lineup for a judoka heavier than him. Daniel spoilt the party beating the heavier judoka. He could have finished fighting there and then, but he was enjoying himself so much that he volunteered to join a pool with a judoka who is a first Dan going for his second Dan. In total Daniel had 10 contests for the day. He was tired had a leg injury and then had to demonstrate his kata. Now I always believe that when you help out that this heroism should be reciprocated. I was watching Daniel doing his kata and in my humble opinion he performed it well not perfect but did enough with fatigue and an injury to be rewarded with a pass. The 6 Dan Sensei saw otherwise and decided that the Kata wasn’t good enough. Daniel has been recommended for his 1st Dan Black belt. However he needs to retake the Kata phase within the next three months and if successful will be a Sensei.
All out fighters performed well and did the club proud.
