It’s been a good couple of weeks for the Kelowna Judo Club with members competing in a couple of high level events and scoring some excellent results over the last couple of weeks.
Last weekend six members of the Kelowna Judo Club competed at the Canada West Open in Burnaby and came away with some good hardware.
Kelowna Judo Club coach Kathy Hubble, 44, who is a second degree black belt and a five-time Canadian National Champion, Pan Am Games and World Championship competitor, decided to get back into the competition after a 24 year layoff and came away with the gold in the Masters division and a silver in the regular Sr. Women division.
“It was fun competing against these young women – I felt like testing myself and I’m obviously not in the shape I was when I was a teenager, but I was happy I could hold my own with them,” said Hubble, who plans to make a bid for the Master’s World championships next year in Abu Dhabi.
Jim Hamilton, 36, an orange belt competing in the Intermediate Men’s division, had some great fights and ended in a very exciting last match fight-off for the bronze which he would win decidedly, holding his opponent down for the Ippon (full-point).
Hamilton’s two sons, Josh and Ben Hamilton, also enjoyed successes on the day, coming away with a silver and bronze, respectively, showing enormous improvements in their technique.
Mielye Mitchell, 21, fought up a higher weight division and had some bigger guys to contend with in the Intermediate Men’s division but still managed to pull out a silver medal, showing his determined competitive spirit.
Nikki Terada, 32, also had to compete in a higher weight division in her Intermediate Women’s division (yellow, orange, green belts) and held her own, going the distance with two very tough matches, competing very strongly and showing her determination as well.
“Overall, I was extremely happy with the Kelowna team and now it’s back to practice for all of us to get ready for the next one,” said Hubble. “We have a new expanded dojo, with a separate room just for the juniors, so we’re very excited.”
In other results, two weeks ago, the members of the Kelowna Judo Club went to the Steveston Junior tournament and came home with three medals. Bailey Leatherdale, 15, had three very tough matches and earned a silver medal, beating the opponent who beat him at the last tournament, while little brother Ben, 11, had three tough matches of his own, coming away with a bronze in the end. Ricardo Piers, 14, also got a silver at this tournament.
The Kelowna Judo club accepts registration any time of year for kids and adults, white belt and up at www.kelownajudo.com.
