I've been quiet

Hi all

Sorry for the literal silence!

I was out of judo for 6 months due to ruptured tendons in my ankle! What a nightmare!!

But I am now back fighting again and have had a number of competitions recently and have medalled in most!!

I have also amassed the 100 points needed to gain my black belt! Just need to complete my theory and it will be done ;)

I've been to a weeks squad training with the GB squad which was great and most excitedly, I have been selected to represent Great Britain at the Junior World Championships in Hungary in December!!!

My GB kit has arrived so I am really looking forward to getting that on and travelling to Hungary with the team!!

Watch this space for more info!!

Young Deaf Sports Personality of The Year

On Saturday 17th November I was awarded the accolade of Young Deaf Sports Person of the Year!
Naturally I am delighted with this award and it was great to see so many other deaf athletes getting recognition.

One thing that really stood out for me though was the lack of diversity in the sports - It was quite clear where the funding was being streamlined - football, tennis, swimming and chess! *hellooooo - what about judo!!*

Hopefully through the publicity that my win will generate, more people will become aware of judo - and hopefully more deaf people will be interested in giving it a try!

Mike Gatting (Cricketer) presented the awards - of course I had to get a picture with him :)

Paralympic Inspirations Programme

Over the summer I had an absolutely awesome experience! I was selected to attend the Paralympic Inspiration Programme! The British Judo Association nominated me and it was a great shock to find out I had been selected.

We met on a few different occasions, the first being in Manchester at the launch of the Paralympic World Cup, this was an introduction to the programme and the other 80 or so athletes on it.

Then in August we traveled down to Bath University which was the holding camp for many of the Paralympic  athletes. Whilst there we were kitted out in Paralympic Inspiration Programme kit, had lectures on Media, Doping, nutrition, One Team Mentality and generally went through the stages of preparation that the athletes would go through!

We also had a night at the Bath Paralympic Torch ceremony in which we were VIP guests! :)

We were in Bath for a weekend and then myself and my fellow judo colleague Chris (along with our nutter of a coach Ian) headed off to Kendal in Cumbria for an England Training week! Gluttons for punishment or what! It was an intense few days, hard work and physically demanding, but we didn't have time to catch breath before heading straight down to London for the remainder of the programme!

London was awesome! We went to the Paralympic Village (The food court was huge!), Paralympic House and spend time at various Paralympic Sports. Naturally I loved the judo - we got to see Sam Ingram getting through to the finals which was amazing as we were matside along with the rest of the Paralympic judo team! It really brought home the 'One Team Mentality' that we had been lectured about.

I have never been photographed so much as I was this week, loads of people stopped us and wanted photos with us and autographs! Such a surreal experience!

Last week was the culmination of the programme down in Loughborough University and it was good to catch up with my fellow athletes again! We are hoping to carry on the programme but of course this will be reliant on funding!

All the athletes on the programme (including yours truly)  have the goal of getting to either Socchi in 2014 or Rio in 2016 so watch this space!!!!

British Championships

Yesterday I travelled to Sheffield for The British Championships. I'm pleased to say that I came away with a bronze medal!

I'm starting to use grips at the start of the fights now (which is how VI players start) Figured it was about time I started to learn the VI rules ;)

Sense Awards 4th October 2012

I'm very pleased to tell you that I attended the Sense Annual Awards ceremony today in London and I was awarded the Sense Young Deafblind Person of the Year award! Awards were presented by Linda Barker who has done lots of TV work (changing places, I'm a celeb etc)

I hope my good luck continues for the Lincs Sports Awards next month!

Lincolnshire Young Disabled Sports Person of The Year

I am really pleased to let you all know that I have been shortlisted for the Lincolnshire Young Disabled Sportsperson of the Year award for the 3rd year running! Hopefully this year will be my year after being runner up for the previous 2!!

The awards ceremony is in November so watch this space ........................................

Sense Young Deafblind Person of the Year

I am pleased to announce that Sense (Deafblind Charity) have shortlisted me for the award of Young Deafblind Person of the Year for my achievements in Judo!

The awards ceremony is in October so everyone please cross your fingers and toes for me!

I'll let you all know how I get on!!

For more information on Sense, please visit http://www.sense.org.uk/