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The event this year was
stronger than ever, attracting 423 competitors from 43 nations.
The Russians dominated the male categories, winning four gold
and three silver medals. In the female categories, the Germans
were the strongest nation, winning three Gold medals, a bronze
and two fifth places.
We attend this event so
some of our top young players can benefit from the experience
of training for and competing in a Milestone International event.
The team was selected following the British Trials held in March,
where the winner at the event was the player selected for the
Championships.
The location, Sarajevo,
proved very difficult to get to for some of the team, and we were
concerned at one stage whether they would arrive in time to compete,
even though we had planned to travel to the event a day early.
We travelled in two groups, the first group had no problems travelling
from Gatwick to Sarajevo via Ljublana. The second group however
had their first flight to Vienna cancelled and after catching
a later flight, and spending a night in the city, we managed to
get the two players who were competing on the first day of the
competition on an afternoon flight to Sarajevo. The rest had another
night in Vienna, and then travelled to Sarajevo via Croatia the
next day. For some it took 50 hours of travelling and four flights
to get there.
Our players approached
the event in a very positive manner many showing how much they
had improved in the areas, which had been highlighted in earlier
Internationals this year. It should be remembered that two of
our players were very young both 14 years old, and only two had
attended this event previously. We finished with 7th places from
Chloe Jackson (Ford Judo Club) and Ella Carter-Allen (Moberly
Judo Club).
We were disappointed not
to have been amongst the medals. However, the difficult travel
conditions, the heat and humidity, dealing with lost bags, sharing
with different roommates or even having a room on their own for
the first time, are all really useful experiences for the future.
Long term we need our senior International players to be able
to take these kind of distractions in their stride, without them
affecting their overall performance, as you can bet events like
the Olympic Games will be full of them.
Cadet European
Championships squad 2008
Female
Under 44kg
Charlotte
Wraith
Under 48kg
Chloe
Jackson
Under 52kg
Sarah
Pang
Under 57kg
Sophie
Sandy
Under 63kg
Jade
Williams
Under 70kg
Ella
Carter Allen
Over 70kg
Lucy Deakin
Male
Under 50kg
Aaron
Turner
Under 55kg
Adam
Conroy
Under 60kg
Manulat
Karlo
Under 66kg
Taylor
Bell
Under 73kg
Ben
Fletcher
Under 81kg
Jack
Kelly
Under 90kg
Joshua
Ramm
Over 90kg
Joshua Hill
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