This year the Eastern Area entered 6 teams to the National Team Championship, something we have never been able to do before, so for us, this event was already a success, way before we left for Cardiff.
It is important to emphasise we entered this event to give our players experience and exposure at this level. Results were not important, but team building was. And boy did these guys and girls come together as a team.
The team lists & results are below:
Pre-Cadet Girls
Daisy King u44 (Melbourn JC), Niamh Southgate u48 (Kumo JC), Lara Haslam u52 (Melbourn JC), Holly Aldous u57 (Stowmarket JC), Jasmine Anderson +57 (Saffron Walden JC). Debut appearances at this event for Daisy & Lara
The girls were not able to proceed past the pool stages but racked up 8 wins between them all by ippon and had many very close contests.
Results
North West 3, East 2 Scotland 3, East 2 NHC 4, East 1 North 2, East 3
Pre-Cadet Boys
Charlie Welch u38 (Saffron Walden JC), u42 no player, Jake Rix u46 (Martham JC), Oscar Welch u50 (Saffron Walden JC), Younas Aldous u55 (Littleport JC), Antonin Supa u60 (Ipswich JC), Kacper Lesniewski +60 (Walton JC), Billy Gilbank +60 (Saffron Walden JC),
All members of this team were competing at this event for the first time and got stronger in each round. Most of these lads are still Minors/ 1st year Pre-Cadets, so will qualify for the same category again next year. They were also 1 team member short in u42, which meant they were 1 – Nil down in each round before they started.
Results
NHC 6, East 1 East 1, NHC 6 East 2, Midlands 5 East 3, North West 4
Cadet Girls
U48 Eden Southgate, U52 Emy Dalby, U57 Alana Taylor-Weedon, U63 No Player, +63 Rosie Bainbridge
Results
East 2, North West 3 NHC 3, East 1 Scotland 4, East 1 South 3, East 2
Cadet Boys
u50 Henry Spooner (Walton), u55 Charlie Thorp (Ipswich), u60 No Player, u66 Ben Crompton, u73 Rory Southgate (Kumo)/Noah Aldous (Littleport), u81 Anthony Devoy (Comberton), +81 Dylan Anderson
Extremely unlucky not to be in the medals they missed out on countback. A full team would have made all the difference to this result.
Results
East 4, North West 3 Midlands 4, East 3 Scotland 6, East 1 Wales 2, East 4
Senior Men
U66 Ben Caldwell (Comberton), u73 Rory Southgate (Kumo)/Noah Aldous (Littleport), u81 David Araniseli, u90 Toby Beamiss (Melbourn/Camberley), +90 Carl Maddison (Black Dog)
Results
Midlands 4, East 0 London 5, East 0 North 2, East 3
Senior Women
U52 Emy Dalby (Comberton), u57 Alana Taylor-Weedon, u63 Jessie Edwards, u70 no player, +70 Emma Turner
Results
Midlands 5, East 0 NHC 5, East 0 North West 3, East 1