The local Kokoro Judo Club members who attended the 2016 BC Winter Games in Penticton on Feb. 25-25 came back with some new friends, a bronze medal and an all-around great experience.
Kokoro Club sensei Ian Briggs, who coached the Cariboo-North East (Zone 8) team says the team was really a “good group of quality kids and probably the best yet.”
“We didn’t do as well as groups in the past, but we did well.”
From a Zone 8 perspective, he says the team collected 10 medals.
However, he says there was an issue at the games that affected the teams medal count.
Normally in judo, there are gold and silver medals handed out for first and second place respectively, and the two judokas who lost in the semifinals receive bronze medals, Briggs explains.
At this games, he says, they handed out a single bronze and the competitor who lost in the finals had to defend the silver.
He adds local judoka Adam Sullivan, who fought really well, would have received a bronze medal under the normal system but had to settle for fourth place.
Briggs notes the quality of judo was really good and the number of judo athletes was up to just under 100.
He adds the facility was excellent.
Adam Sullivan
Adam Sullivan is 14 years old and he competed in the Under 73 kilograms division (U73).
He got in as a wild-card entry two days before the games started, and says it was a great experience.
“If I can ever do it again, I definitely would go. It was a great time and lots of fun.”
Sullivan finished with one win and two losses.
He says the first match, which he won, was pretty good. He lost the other two, but notes they were a lot harder, but still a lot of fun.
“The competition was a way better calibre, but I had fought them before and I managed to hang in there a lot longer than I had before.”
Sullivan says the best thing about the BC Winter Games was meeting all the
people and seeing what they were like.
“I met a lot of new friends and they’re all pretty cool.”
Wylon Hall
Wylon Hall won a bronze medal in the U60 division at his first BC Winter Games, and he says it “went pretty good but it was pretty tough.”
He notes the games organizers decided to have the Under 18-year-olds compete with the Under 16-year-olds.
“That made it lot tougher because I ended up fighting mostly the U18 competitors. I fought one person in U16, but everybody else was U18.”
Hall says he ended up fighting in five matches – he won his first, lost the second and then won two more to get the bronze/silver match.
He adds he lost that match by the slightest of point margins.
Hall says the BC Winter Games had a lot of things to do.
“I got to see some other sports – diving, karate and gymnastics – and that was pretty cool.”
