Student medal success in British Judo Championships

University of Wolverhampton trained judo players achieved outstanding results at the sport’s British Championships.

A total of nine players were entered in various age group and weight categories for the competition, held in Sheffield last weekend.

And every entrant from the programme returned home with a medal and a place in the 2016 British squad.

 The nine were made up of University of Wol‌verhampton students, University of Wolverhampton Community Club members and participants in the University’s Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) - a programme delivered by the University which enables talented young athletes aged between 16 and 18 to train semi full time in an elite environment and continue their studies at Sixth Form.

Four of the nine were crowned British champions in their category. The stand-out performer was 16-year-old Kelly Peterson who won three medals – gold in junior U70kg, silver in the cadets U57kg and bronze in the senior women’s U100kg category. Kelly is part of the AASE scheme.

‌University of Wolverhampton student and community club member Sebastian Green won gold in the senior men U81kg; ASSE scheme member Jodie Caller won gold in the junior women U57kg and University of Wolverhampton student Philip Awiti took gold senior men U100kg category.

Dave Elmore, University of Wolverhampton Judo Development Officer, said: “It was a really fantastic set of results. To have nine University of Wolverhampton trained players in the tournament and for every one of them to come away with a medal is fantastic.

“For four of those to win gold and become British Champions is simply phenomenal. It is what they deserve for all their hard work and demonstrates that the University is building a reputation and a track record of helping produce top class athletes.”

The full list of winners is as follows:

Tomas Luckus (UoW Student and Sports Scholar) - Junior Men, U90kg,  Silver

Bryony Griffiths (AASE) – Cadets, U57kg, Silver

Kelly Peterson (AASE) – Cadets, U70kg, Silver

Paige Wilkes (AASE) – Cadets, U70kg, Bronze

Molly Storey (AASE & Leap student), Junior Women , U52kg, Bronze

Jodie Caller (AASE & Leap student) - Junior Women, U57kg, GOLD - BRITISH CHAMPION

Kelly Peterson (AASE) - Junior Women, U70kg, GOLD - BRITISH CHAMPION

Isaac Gagin (AASE) - Senior Men, U60kg, Bronze

Seb Green (Community Club & Sports scholar) Senior Men, U81kg, GOLD - BRITISH CHAMPION

Philip Awiti (Sports scholar) Senior Men, U100kg, GOLD - BRITISH CHAMPION‌

Kelly Peterson (AASE) - Senior Women, U70kg, Bronze

The Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence is a programme delivered by the University which enables talented young athletes aged between 16 and 18 to train semi full time in an elite environment and continue their studies at 6th form. They also complete two NVQ Level 3 qualifications in sporting excellence, for which they produce a portfolio of work around technical, tactical, physical, nutrition, lifestyle, and physiological aspects of the sport.

AASE students also continue to train with their own community clubs where they receive additional coaching from their own personal club coaches. Once AASE has been completed they then access the Universities LeaP programme and then continue onto a sports related degree course.

The University of Wolverhampton’s Walsall Campus is home to the British Judo Centre of Excellence, home of the GB World-Class Performance Programme.

ENDS

For more information please contact James Allen in the Media Relations Office on 01902 322003