Not even Storm Dennis could stop the first Western Area All Female training day held at Kingsley School, Bideford this weekend. 17 Judoka from Cornwall and Devon proving the saying “This Girl Can” despite the arriving storm clouds hanging over the South West.

The opportunity to develop our regional female judoka was led by Eva Minarikova, who has been a driving force to establish these sessions for our athletes and female coaches.

The session also welcomed former Great Britain Senior female squad member Fran Roode who said: “I am delighted to see many different ages attend and showing no fear at getting involved. They all just cracked on with training with smiles on their faces”.

The training day included some technical practice in both Tachiwaza and Ne-waza skills, with some excellent delivery and coaching led by Fran and Eva. The females also got an opportunity to have plenty of Randori practice as well as the all-important fun creative games to seal a memorable experience for everyone.

Kingsley Judoka Caitlyn De’Ath, 13, said “It was a good day, I really enjoyed the session, and loved getting involved”. She added that she was particularly pleased with the variety of techniques being delivered by the female coaches.

This was matched by St Ives Judoka Vasilisa Gerasimenko, also 13, who said she felt the coaches really supported her understanding of the techniques she learnt today. She added that it was great to have many more Randori opportunities with girls and especially girls she had never met before, and she was very happy to make new friends and met new people.

“Overall the day has been a great success and yet again we are allowing children and, in this case, our Female Judoka the opportunity to have fun, be creative in their learning whilst forming new friendships and building memories through the power of sport and their Judo Journey” said Simon Ward, Western Area Coach.

We hope to be able to arrange future Female sessions later in the year and would welcome any offers to host sessions by clubs who may wish to welcome this programme.