Hot on the heels of the first Rutland Secondary Schools Judo Festival, Vale Judo Club hosted the fourth Rutland Primary Schools Judo Festival last week.

This event has grown in popularity over the last four years and this year nearly 50 primary schools students represented a total of 16 schools at the event.

In the six month run-up to the festival, Vale Judo staged weekly term time judo courses at its permanent dojo in Oakham for over 450 school students to participate in the sport in association with the Rutland School Sports Partnership. In addition, the club runs specific Friday evening classes for some of these students to hone the skills they have learnt in school time and prepare themselves for the Festival.

In previous years the Festival trophy had been won by Cottesmore, Ketton and Oakham C of E Primary schools.

This year saw some superb judo demonstrated by the primary school competitors and provided some of Vale Judo’s newly-qualified junior officials with the opportunity to put into practice the skills they had learnt earlier in the year.

The guidance provided by the senior officials (Anthony, Simon, Alex, Florence and Louise) for mentoring these new qualified officials was much appreciated. The competitors were fortunate to have Kellie Brabham member of Southfields Judo Club (Leicester) and gold medallist from the 2011 Special Olympics in Athens presenting the medals and trophies (thanks for helping Kellie).

2011 winners Langham Primary School with Special Olympics gold medallist Kellie Brabham

This fun event resulted in many smiling faces with Langham Primary School winning the Festival Trophy this year – during the four years that the event has been running, four different Rutland primary schools have now won the Festival Trophy.

Vale Judo Club looks forward to running the Rutland Primary Schools Judo Programme in 2012 and anticipates that the festival will be bigger and better next year!

About Vale Judo Club:

Vale Judo Club was established in 2003 and has recently been awarded the Gold Club Mark Award. The club has a permanent dojo located in Oakham (Rutland), is fully inclusive offering judo classes for individuals of all abilities and ages and provides recreational, officiating and competitive opportunities for all club members. The club has many senior and junior officials, close to 200 members and over 40 juniors and seniors regularly competing in events in the UK and abroad. Vale Judo was presented with the BJA Club of Year Award in 2010. More information about Vale Judo and the club’s activities can be found at www.valejudo.org.uk .