Last weekend saw the members of the Pathway Squad competing at the All Ireland Championships in Dublin, with a great showing from the team at Kyokan judo with 5 Gold, 6 Silver and 2 bronze medals.
All players attend the Northern Ireland Pathway and Academy Squads. A great showing from Garfield Richardson’s young squad and congratulations to them all.
Meanwhile, across the pond, junior and senior Pathway players gained experience at the highest level event in the UK, the British Championships.
They shared the event with current and past World and Olympic representatives and the top coaches and clubs in the UK.
The level of competition was immense and the squad had the opportunity to see first hand the depth of judo talent, skill, and perseverance needed to achieve medal winning performances at that level.
Sarah Hawkes won a Silver medal representing Camberley Judo Club.
Sarah was returning from a year off with injury and managed to regain her spot on the GB Squad. Sarah is part of the Northern Ireland Performance Programme and hopes to push on in the New Year to achieve Olympic and World Ranking points.
The Northern Ireland Judo Federation were represented in an official capacity with Russell Brown as Lead Safeguarding Officer at the event.
Averil Taggart and Marion McLaughlin were providing an official capacity on the tables.
Bill Taggart and Stephen Sims were also refereeing on the mats at the event.
All in all, a very progressive weekend for Northern Ireland judo.
The next Pathway Squad and Academy session takes place in Ballymoney this weekend and all the details are here.