GB Paralympic Squad is confirmed

It is with great pleasure that I can announce that I have been selected to represent Great Britain at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The four man team comprises of myself, Sam Ingram, Jono Drane and Chris Skelley

With just under 200 days to go, our training continues, and we are off to Brazil later this week for 3 weeks which includes the Brazilian Grand Prix, training camp and also the Olympic Test event!

Please follow me on Twitter @JackHodgsonJudo

IBSA World Games, Seoul, South Korea

I have just come back from 10 days spent in Seoul, South Korea.

The team comprised of myself, Natalie Greenhough, Chris Skelley and Sam

Ingram. Unfortunately Jono Drane could not attend due to injury but he was definitely there in spirit with us!!

We were fortunate that we had a number of days to acclimatise before fighting and so got to go out and about in Seoul and also undertake daily training sessions.

Fight day for me was Friday and I had Robert Anderson USA as my first fight. I beat him comfortably which catapulted me to the semi-final to face Alexander Pasuriak RUS. This is the chap I beat in Hungary to get my bronze! Once again I defeated him which put me in the final

Against his team mate Gaydar Gaydarov RUS. I had not fought him before except in training. He competed at London 2012 so has a good pedigree!

Unfortunately he managed to get a great throw on me, so a silver medal it was for me!

This however is a fab result and will give me a lot of qualifying points for Rio - hopefully securing my selection!!

My team mates also did well with Sam getting silver and Chris getting bronze! Hopefully we will all qualify!!

So it's back to reality for me, I finish college today with just my law A Level exams to take in June then I'm off To Uni!!

I have a hard camp next week in Mongolia to attend and then a camp in Brazil at end of August!! So watch this space for more updates!!

São Paulo Brazilian Grand Prix

Another successful trip for the GB VI Squad!!

After a mammoth 12 hour flight we arrived in the busy city tired and hot but ready to fight! 

I had the pleasure of fighting 2 Brazilians, one of whom won the Bronze at the World  Champs in Colorado so he is quite tasty! I nearly had him on a few occasions but unfortunately he managed to edge the win. His compatriot however got thrown by me in about 10 seconds!

So a silver medal for me, Chris and Jono got gold and Nat got bronze. 4/4 medals and we came second overall on the medal table!

We had a 4 day training camp after the competition which was really good but man was it hot out there! Good to start acclimatising ready for next year though! 

Next stop is a week in Edinburgh then a long weekend in Germany. Next update will be after the European Open in Germany.

Success at the 2015 IBSA World Championships - Eger, Hungary

  

This weekend I attended the IBSA World Judo Championships in Eger, Hungary, along with 5 team mates.

The competition is a qualifying event for Rio so tensions were high! In my first round I drew the current Paralympic champion Masaki Kento – Japan (who makes me look tiny!) Unfortunately I was unable to conquer him and he threw me in a rather powerful throw. As I lost the first round I dropped into the repercharge which means I then had to win my next 2 fights to win a bronze medal.

I dominated my next fight against Baurxhan Begaidarov from Kazakstan , defeating him in 40 seconds which meant I moved onto the next round to face the semi-finalist Aleksander Parasiuk from Russia. Aleksander is already sitting nicely on the qualification ladder so he did not come across as very happy when I defeated him by ippon in 20 seconds! At this point my coach got a little excited as this is my first really big International win and will catapult me from 11^th in the World rankings, to possibly top 6 which is a very comfortable place to be!

So all in all I was very pleased with this result. Out of the 4 medallists, the other 3 all competed in London 2012, so I am definitely up there!!

The following day I was entered into the Junior World Championships (I am 18). GB have a strong history in this event so I was determined to carry this on. Unfortunately for me 3 of my opponents refused to fight me! (Chuckle) so I obtained automatic wins from them and defeated Abderrahim Mehdaoui from France to take the Gold and the World Championship title. Top Junior in the World – think I can handle that!

Having the National Anthem played for me was quite emotive! Let’s hope I hear it again soon!

Following the 2 competitions we had a 3 day training camp so I got to spend a lot of time throwing people about – I made sure I got a few throws in on the big Japanese fella that beat me! Can’t let him think I’m a wimp!! J

I’m onto Brazil next in 2 weeks’ time followed by Germany in April and Seoul, Korea in May! Busy boy!

Please follow me on twitter – jackhodgsonjudo as I strive to qualify for the Paralympics next year!

Busy year ahead

Well what a busy year I have ahead of me! As most of you will know I am hoping to qualify for Rio 2016

Expectations are that I qualify for Rio but peak at Tokyo in 4 years time! I hope I can qualify! That is such an achievement in itself!

So this year there are a number of qualifying events to attend, I will be competing and training in the following

Feb - Junior and Senior World Champs In Hungary

March - Brazilian Grand Prix

April - German Open

May - World Cup Games in Seoul

July - Junior World Champs USA

August - training camp Brazil

October - European Cup Glasgow

So a pretty busy year for me! I'm still at college full time to the end of June as well! Then hopefully university to study Sports Coaching!!

So I have ramped up the training, changed my diet and am focusing on the goals ahead! 

Will Update you with results as they come! 

Lincolnshire Young Disabled Sports Person of the Year!

A few weeks ago I was honoured with the title of the Lincolnshire Young Disabled Sports person of the Year!

Was fortunate enough to meet rugby legend Neil Back on the night also and shared the table with Jade Etherington who won 4 medals at the Winter Olympics! 

Sport England Talented Athlete

I have been fortunate enough to be selected to be part of the Talented Athlete Scheme run by Sport England.

This gives me access to Strength and Conditioning Training, Physio and lifestyle support! 

I'm looking forward to a successful partnership with them! 

Got a few comps in the early part of the year so watch this space!