Judo looks to the future

Throwtime: the judokas have been practising hard – twice a day, six days a week – for the CAC Games.

Judo looks to the future
Published on: 7/20/06.

by MIKE KING
TWO BABY-FACED SCHOOLBOYS, earmarked as long-term investments, have been named in a three-member team to represent Barbados in judo at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Colombia next week.
Levar Arthur and Kyle Maxwell, who have been projected to make their mark at the 2012 Olympics, will be joined by female police officer Antonia Headley, the winner of three medals at the Caribbean Judo Senior Championships in Santo Domingo a few weeks ago.
Arthur, who will enter fourth form at Foundation next semester, will create history when he steps on the mat in Cartagena, a large city seaport on the north coast of Colombia.
At 14, Arthur will become the youngest person ever to represent Barbados at these multi-sport games. Maxwell is 15, but is already 6 ft, 1 in.
A stern challenge awaits them but they are not quite rookies. Arthur, who hails from Hill Road, Bank Hall, St Michael, started judo at age seven and made his first overseas outing at age nine, while Maxwell, a student of Combermere, is embarking on his 11th year in the sport.
Since April, the trio have had to be out of their beds at the crack of dawn (4 a.m.) for intense training sessions that start at 4:45. They have been training six times a week, twice a day.
Arthur, a gold medallist at the United States Junior (Open) Tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, last August, is barely 5 ft tall, but believes he can scale the summit of the sport.
"I just train hard and do what I have to do. I don't study my age or anything like that. Judo is about being focussed," he said.
In April, Arthur, who competes in the 73 kg class, secured a hard-fought silver medal at the US Cup in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, a performance he rated as his best to date.
"I really had to work hard for that silver. It was tough and I thought I came through it well.
"I had to contend with some tough competition and high altitude conditions," he said.
Both he and Maxwell agreed that the recent Caribbean Championships in Santo Domingo, their debut in international competition, was the toughest meet they had endured.
"It was a real learning experience and without question the most fierce competition that has come my way," said Maxwell, who took bronze last November at the Pan American Judo Union Juvenile Tournament in Santo Domingo.
Self-defence
Robust and resilient, Headley, 33, is a former Ellerslie School javelin, shot put and discus thrower who took up the sport only two years ago.
She already has two silvers and a bronze to show from the Plus-78 kg class in Santo Domingo.
A product of Gall Hill, St John, Headley, who has walked the police beat for the last 12 years, "only got interested in judo when the force sent a group of females to self-defence classes".
Team coach Ian Weithers, a fourth degree black belt, made it clear that Arthur, Maxwell and Headley, were very much part of a developmental plan and programme embarked on by the Barbados Judo Association.
"This is not a matter of a trip. Every year we send out a requirement and attainment level for our athletes. We are focussed on improving and raising the bar," he said.
"Excellence and international medals are not easy to attain. Many have fallen by the wayside in these training sessions, that is why we know we have something with those who have survived."
The team manager is judo stalwart Hoskins Caddle, who had a similar role at the 1998 games in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and the 2002 edition in El Salvador.
"These games are tough and if they get to the medal round, I will be happy.
"It is an inexperienced team we are building on for the future," he said.
The team leaves tomorrow morning on a flight to Miami en route to Cartagena.

fonte: The Nation Newspaper - Bridgetown,St. Michael,Barbados -

http://www.nationnews.com/