I want to share the success of one of our adaptive Judo players at Wymondham Judo Club. Adaptive Judo is provided for people of different physical and educational needs with adapted rule sets to match the players abilities.
Sarah Travis has been learning and practising Judo with us since 2021, following in the footsteps of her brother and sister who have been with the club since they were young. When Sarah joined us at age 13 her dad, Jonathan, also started judo so that he could help Sarah during classes. Sarah loves her Judo classes and now rarely needs dad's support during classes and is used to practising Judo throws and holds with all of the players in our 14yrs+ class.
There are not many Judo competitions specifically for Adaptive players, so Sarah and her family have had to travel around the country to get her the competition experience she needs. Sarah competed at the British Schools Adaptive Judo Championships in Sheffield in 2022 and 2023 winning Gold medal on both occasions. She has also attended national adaptive Judo training sessions at the British Judo performance Centre in Walsall. And most recently Sarah competed at the British Open Adaptive and V.I. Judo Championships in Cardiff on 5th August 2023. Sarah came up against a very experienced adult black belt opponent from Northern Ireland at this competition. They fought 3 times to decide the winner as 'best of three'. Despite their huge difference in experience Sarah managed to win one of the fights by throwing her opponent cleanly onto her back with skill and control, and came close to winning another by holding her opponent down but eventually Sarah lost out 2-1 to the woman from Northern Ireland. This meant that Sarah was awarded a well deserved Silver medal.
Sarah's Judo coach awarded Sarah her yellow belt promotion at the medal presentation ceremony. Sarah still has a long way to go to get to black belt (4 further grade colours before black belt) but we know that with her passion for Judo and with the support of her family, our coaches, and the wider adaptive Judo programme nationally, Sarah will continue progressing towards that coveted black belt.
Wymondham Judo Club is a member Club of the British Judo Association. We run classes at Morley Village & Sports Hall and at Hingham Sports Hall. We have classes for children aged 5yrs and upwards and adults up to any age. We cater for adaptive and mainstream judo players and welcome new members throughout the year. New enquiries should be via our email wymondhamjudo@gmail.com or via our social media www.facebook.com/wymondhamjudoclub or Instagram @wymondhamjudoclub