Kingsley School’s Judo Club recently caught the eye at the West of England Junior Championships in Kingsbridge as they claimed three medals in their first ever appearance at the regional event.

Coach Simon Ward described the event as the "toughest challenge" since he took up his post in 2010 with close to 200 judoka in action from seven counties within the Western area.

The competition was a junior event for under 16 year olds and was split into under 12 and over 12 year old categories.

Kingsley won two silver medals and one bronze medal and claimed a 5th and 7th place in their individual weight groups.

In the -34kg category Joe Hillyer won three consecutive contests by ippon including a come-from-behind triumph in the semi-final. Joe narrowly lost out in a hard-fought final. In the same category Finlay Mathers battled back from an early defeat to come agonisingly close to a bronze medal with a fifth-place finish.

Louis Hughes claimed a silver medal in the -46kg category after winning two bouts before being outworked in the final. Louis valiantly tried his uchi-mata attacks after some early success with tai-otoshi.



Joe Hillyer's sister Megan moved up to the over 12 age class on the day to face -48kg judoka with experience of national events. Megan made light of her relative inexperience compared to her foes to capture a well-deserved bronze medal.

In the -60kg category Finlay Mathers' brother Oliver faced national level medallists and finished a credible seventh after registering one win by ippon.

"Our young team had not competed at this level before, so it was an excellent opportunity for our Judoka to really test and challenge themselves," said Ward.

"The team produced some outstanding personal performances during the competition; all of our fighters won fights and showed a great attitude and determination to win their bouts."

"This was a level our younger judoka have not experienced before so on reflection I couldn’t be more proud of all of their effects. I’m very confident that our team are training and improving all the time and within time these young judoka will move up levels and gain better results."