Causeway Judo Club continue their grading success

THE mats at the Castle Community Centre were awash with colour last week as the members of the Causeway Judo Club who attended the recent grading proudly paraded their new coloured belts.

Held in Ulidia College Carrickfergus, the grading was to be a showcase of the skills and training effort of the 12 Causeway members who participated as all of them returned having advanced a grade on the day.

Coach of the Causeway Club, Alan Ashcroft added:

“The Grading was another success for our Club and I’m very proud of everyone who went. We’ve worked hard at training over the last few weeks and the effort paid off.

“A special mention must go to Gerry Kinnaird who at 52 years old competed in his first grading and went from white to orange belt.

“We’re now focusing on a few competitions including the Northern Ireland Open, Closed and Schools events with good prospects to bring back medals at both Junior and Senior levels. This in turn should mean we’ll have a strong representation at Junior level in the Northern Ireland Squad.”

At the grading there was one promotion to Black Belt achieved by Mark Donald who completed what is known as a line up. A line up is where you have to fight three times consecutively after qualifying by winning two out of three contests.

Mark actually lost his first qualifying fight but then went on to win five fights to achieve his 1st Dan Grade.

The Causeway Club is always open to new members and both Juniors and Seniors are welcome to come along.

Judo is not only about competition, it’s also about learning new skills, getting fit, having fun and everyone is welcome to give it a try; all you need is an old tracksuit to get started.

Classes take place on Tuesday and Thursday night in the Castle Community Centre, Ballymoney from 7.00pm to 8.00pm and 2 per class for Juniors and 8.00pm to 9.30pm and 3 per class for Seniors.

For more information you can call Alan on 07835 575 328 or search for the club on Facebook.