Black Dog Judo Club in Bungay, Suffolk, hosted a masterclass with Olympian and world medallist Joyce Heron on Saturday 7 January.

The Eastern Area Club attracted 67 juniors for the morning session and a further 25 seniors and advanced juniors in an afternoon session.

The club was extremely proud to have Joyce along and therefore opened the session up to friends and colleagues who have supported it during its first three years. The session was also added to the Eastern Area Squad calendar, and many from the developing squad attended.

Joyce covered a number of areas in both sessions including techniques that had worked for her as an international player including Ippon Seoi Nage transition and combinations. All attending and watching thoroughly enjoyed her delivery of those techniques and especially her attention to detail, and it was also great to hear her stories of competing and travelling in Japan.

The club who successfully retained the Eastern Area Trophy in December has gone from strength to strength since it was started just three years ago. Players regularly compete at national events and are recording excellent results. Last year Leo Lavender won a national silver medal bringing the total of national medallists at the club to 5 and with great medals at other national events including Kent, HoE, NW and Midlands the future looks good for the club. A number of players have attended the Redbridge Excell and Jack continues to train with the England Squad.

Mark Purllant, Black Dog Head Coach, said: “The club is very competitive but we have a philosophy of trying to do good technical judo and always looking for the ippon irrespective of winning or loosing (that can come when it is really important).”

Joyce Heron, British Judo’s Education and Training Manager, said: “I saw a lot of young talent and potential at the session and I was very happy to take part and sspport the area and the fine work they are doing.”

We have come a long way in a short period of time and part of that is down to sessions like this one, where young players are exposed and inspired by either previous international players or great coaches.”

The club has now hosted sessions led by Craig Fallon, Bernadette Bazcko and current Olympic hopeful Colin Oates, and nearly 400 players have attended these sessions.

The club is also very supportive of the Eastern Area Squad, which was reintroduced last year with David Oates and Mark Purllant as squad coaches. This has seen a resurgence of interest and other clubs are now demonstrating interest and support for the initiative, benefiting all involved.

Black Dog Judo Club train at Bungay Middle School, Bungay, Suffolk, NR35 2JU. Boys & Girls 9 – 16 yrs train on a Tuesday & Thursday at 19:00 – 20:00. Men & Women train Thursday at 20:00 – 21:00 whileBoys & Girls Under 9 yrs train on Tuesday & Thursday at18:00 – 19:00.

For more information on Black Dog Judo Club please visit http://www.blackdogjudo.co.uk