19/07/2010: Success for young and old in Worsley Judo medal haul.

Last weekend saw Salford’s Premier Judo Club, Worsley Judo Club attend the British Judo Council governed Westgate Championship in Newcastle and every player return with success.

The competition wasn’t based on the normal weight categories’ but by grade. This was the very first 'Team Worsley' competition where both the seniors and juniors fought on the same day. For many of the junior competitors this was their very first event and for many of the seniors it was a return to competitive judo for some in over 20 years.

Alan Carlise 6th Dan and Senior coach commented "Most of the seniors were coached by me many years ago and have returned to Judo in a bid to try and reinvent the glory days we shared when they were juniors. Some of the seniors have only been back on the mat for 12 months but the magic is still there the basic principals we teach in Judo never leave them and its very important to get the right coaching at junior level if you want to get out there and win. Like most of our membership we are friends and have stayed in touch over the years when they knew we were setting up many of them who had completely retired from competitive judo returned in a flash, that’s typical of the Salford spirit and club ethos we have in our friendly club here at Worsley.

Worsley Judo Club based at Linnyshaw mill, Walkden has only been around 12 months and has seen its membership soar in that time. Lots of the local community and local business’s have shown their support most recently our very own Labour councillor Barbara Keeley has sent a letter of congratulations to a club member on recent success.

Tony Price a junior coach and who competed in the senior competition securing gold against very experienced and tough completion commented:

"We have some juniors here who will defiantly be future stars. Some of our players with support of their parents travel from afar a field as Cadishead to train with us and it’s a credit to both them, all the coaching staff and friends of the club just how well the team did. The juniors excelled themselves they were focused and disciplined I can’t tell you how proud both and I and the rest of the coaching staff are."

John Ryan instructor who has been in the sport over 40 years added:

“This was a big day for our juniors having to get up at 5am just to weigh in at 9am was our first challenge we had a mix of nerves and anticipation which all disappeared as soon as they gripped up. Many of our players were fighting much bigger and older competitors as this was a grade competition so you could fight anyone up to the age of 16 and twice your weight so long as you were the same grade but Team Worsley just went on like it was business and fought fantastically. We really do have some proper stars their faces and enthusiasm made the whole day very enjoyable.”

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