Lewes judo aces in action in honour of Linda

Lewes resident Linda Goode, whose daughter Mia started her judo journey at the Lewes judo club, has recently been in the local news as she has been diagnosed with a high-grade brain tumour.

In order to support Linda and be part of efforts by her and her friends and families to raise money for Brain Tumour Research, Bridgeview teamed up with Kin Ryu Judo Club in Crawley, another of Mia’s training clubs.

The two clubs organised a Mini Dragons Competition for all their young and lower graded players, with the money raised going to the extremely worthwhile charity.

For Bridgeview, this was a great opportunity to show not only the respect and community values which are an integral part of the judo moral code, but also to get so many of their young players started out and gaining experience on their judo journey.

Heath can take pride in defeat.

In total, 54 players took part in the event, with 11 of them from Bridgeview.

For many of them, this was their first ever judo competition.

On the day, every player gave their all and did their very best.

Duo fly flag for Horsham Boxing Club.

There were some excellent performances, with a variety of techniques and hold downs used by the players.

For many of them, the daunting prospect of stepping on to the mat for their first ever fight was a tough one, but there were smiles all round at the end of the day.

Despite some difficult contests and a few upsets, all the Bridgeview players did their club proud.

Some of the older junior players also went along to help out.

Jess Emery helped younger players with their belts, kits, and supported them generally matside.

Jocelyn Kearley-Light took her first step on the mat as a referee, showing a very professional attitude, confidence and decisiveness - even being complemented by the chairman of Sussex judo on her performance!

While Linda herself was not able to attend the event, her husband Phil Goode and Mia came along to present medals to the players, and also to enjoy some of the cakes being sold to raise money outside the dojo.

An amazing £1000 was raised in total with donations and cake sales.

Final results for the players were as follows:

Elsie Riggs - gold

Chloe Combelles - gold

Marlon Afzali - gold

Logan Kearley - silver

Louie Hanna - silver

Emily Charman - bronze

Freya Nye - bronze

Amelia Emery - bronze

Patrick Byrne - bronze

Iris Cooper - bronze

Leo Demetriou - bronze

The clubs are both looking forward to more events in the future and hope that they might be able to raise more money once again for this incredible charity.

Meanwhile congratulations also go to George Armstrong, who successfully graded this week from novice to 2nd Mon.