I’m really looking forward to this weekend (Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th July). On Saturday I’ll be competing at Walsall in the National Teams event and then on Sunday I’ll be travelling to Cardiff to compete in the Welsh under-20 championship.

The teams event is a particular favourite of mine because of the atmosphere and the crowd really gets behind you. I’ll be sure to let you know the results as soon as I can.

Obviously I’d like to wish everyone of my team mates representing the Midland Area Squad the very best of luck fo rthe weekend.

When I got home last night at 10:00pm after training, I had a package waiting for me from the BJA. It turned out to be my new GBR Jacket to be worn when travelling to and from internationals. It always makes me feel proud when ever I get new England and GBR kit and reminds me that I represent our fantastic country.

The countdown is now on for tomorrow for the teams event. We have been suddenly struck down by injury so need two replacements at very short notice. Hopefully this will not cause too much of a disruption and we will still perform well. I know I will be giving my all and am certain my team mates will also.

What a weekend!! As promised an update of the weekends events, I competed in two events over the weekend – as part of the Midland Area team in the National Teams event and individually in the Welsh Open.

The Teams event took place at Walsall, with area teams from all over the country taking part. I formed part of the Midlands 5 man junior squad. Although the midlands has a good track record in this event, it has been about 5 years or so since winning the Gold medal here.

This was a statistic we wanted to correct this year and it is fair to say that we did it in style. I feel I played my part winning all my fights by Ippon (maximum score) with my shortest fight of the day lasting just 7seconds and my longest fight of the day lasting approximately 20 seconds.

Since I was the first to fight in each instance, I like to think, I set the standard for my team mates to match – and they did in excellent form!! I really would like to thank everyone who was associated with the team, not just the players but the coaches, parents and the supporters who were all fantastic and really got behind us and gave encouragement.

Sunday morning I was up and on my way to Cardiff at 5:00am to compete in the Welsh Open competition. My coach and mentor, Bill Kelly, wanted me to fight in the 60 kilo category to prepare for the coming weekend in Poland. Although this is the weight above my usual competition weight Bill felt that the Europeans rely more on strength than we do in GB so feeling the extra strength the heavier players have would be good preparation.

I didn’t mind because it meant I could have a good meal and breakfast before the weigh-in knowing i would just creep into the next category. Again I had a really good day having to fight against the heavier Scottish and Welsh respective No1 players. I lost 1 fight on the day and won the Bronze medal.

As a by product to the weekend competitions I also gained 40 points towards my competitive black belt. I now only need to win 2 more fights in ranking competitions and I will have collected the 100 points required for my 1st Dan grade.

Today I’m getting ready to fly out to Poland to compete in the European Cup. I have certainly had a good build up to this event but fully understand just how tough the competition is going to be. I am feeling good and hopefully I will be on my best form. After the competition there is a training camp until Wednesday so I will have plenty of chance to gain much needed experience. I will update again when I return home.