Finally got into Bournemouth at about 0930hrs, about 1/2hr late, got the admin stuff out of the way and went off to Burger King for some healthy well-deserved breakfast. The mood was generally tense, as this was the first tournament for the year and a few of the guys were taking part for the first time. Not Nick however, who went and practically bought all the fries in the shop and sat down cheerfully digging in with ketchup and mayonnaise.
Got back to the Sports Centre and got smacked with some bad news… some really bad news. Contrary to what was the usual practice of letting the kids go first and the adults don’t start fighting till after what would normally be about 1300hrs, the organising committee decided this year, they’d let the adults go first. That meant we had less than 30mins to warm up and stretch. And we had to do it on a full stomach… I hope they’ve got barf bags in the Centre.
Our boys in the Featherweight division (no they don’t weigh as light as feathers) were off to a roaring start. Stephen and Dimitri took the fights very well, considering they were first timers. Took out their victims.. er opponents until they’d both reached the Finals. It was then down to strategy with the stronger Dimitri cheekily requesting for a “no headshot rule” against a much more flexible Stephen. Sod.
The other boys, though initially thought to be medal contenders, went down quickly against their much weaker opponents due to various whatever fatigue reasons. I don’t really wanna be a nag with “I told you sos” but Nick, I told you so that sex the night before the fight was a bad idea….
Arj, who was one of the top fighters in the club made quick work of his opponent in the first match, impressing the judges with his spectacular spinning kicks. However, as luck would have had it, he twists his ankle towards the end of the match and has to sit out for the rest of the day.
Overall, I would say it was a pretty good day, tiring but good. We managed to clinch one Gold, one Silver and 2 Bronzes but we’ll be aiming for higher goals in the tournaments to come. Many thanks to Lee, for driving us and to Lily and Lucy, our club groupies who came to support us.
MOM: Stephen, who though lost the Gold to Dimitri, fought very well and caught the attention of the National Coach.
DOD: Phil, who made me run around in circles and had to get the Lodge Security out to let me into his flat.
- Fabian
