East Bay Judo Institute Tournament 2012

The East Bay Judo Institute tournament at El Cerrito H.S.was held on Sunday, Sept 9, 2012.  We had 5 of our students compete. They all did very well. It was one of the first times competing for 3 of them.

Brook Shattack competed in a pool with 3 girls, one was a Green belt.  She lost to her the first time after giving her a good fight, but then came back the second time and threw her with a beautifully executed Osotogari.  She lost to the other girl twice, but again she fought almost to the end the second time.  She improved each match.  She came in 3rd Place.

Issac Churchill & Colton Prieto competed in the same pool of 6 boys.  Competition for both of them was tough. They were both competing with boys with much more competition experience.  However Issac and Colton both did very well.  Issac and Colton each won one match by an Ippon. Both tied for 4th Place.

Mac Shattack had his first competition since Last November 2011 where he got injured and then got ill and subsequently missed a couple months of Judo practice. Even though he was not back in full shape for competition, he managed to go undefeated winning 4 matches all by Ippon. Because he was in a large pool of 7 competitors, there was one more competitor who also won 4 matches. He had to fight this competitor for first place.  Mac got himself into a choking situation where he tapped out and lost. He ended in 2nd Place.

Brigitte Mihalca began this season’s competition with a strong showing, winning 2 of her 4 matches. She threw herself in one match by falling backward attempting a sacrifice throw, and the point was awarded to her competitor.

Overall all the kids did very well.  Competition is one way to help evaluate students progress and where we need to improve teaching the students during regular practice.