Kokoro Judo Club members in 100 Mile House garnered good results at the BC Judo Championships, taking two gold medals, six silver and three bronze on Oct. 22 at Abbotsford Exhibition Park.
Gold medals went to Reid Collinson and Pascal Glanz who competed in separate classes of the Under 13 Boys division.
Earning silver medals were Jackson Sanders, U9 Boys; Ryan Chamberlain, U11 Boys; Mason Sanders, U13 Boys; Adam Sullivan, U13 Boys; Avery Collinson, U13 Girls; and Ali Briggs in the U20 Combined 57 kilograms. Teammate, Stephanie Salzbrenner picked up the bronze. Briggs also earned a bonze medal in the senior division and Salzbrenner took fourth.
Paige Hall was the other bronze medallist in U15 Girls 52 kg and Aidan Fentiman landed a fourth-place result in the U17 category.
The event was a BC Team selection tournament for the 2012 National Kata Championships, which both Briggs and Salzbrenner have their sights set on.
On Nov. 5, Salzbrenner and Fentiman head off to compete at the 2011 Continental Crown in Seattle, and Briggs will compete in the Ontario Open, an internationally ranked tournament, on Nov. 12.
Kokoro coach Ian Briggs says that results from the BC championships are better than usual and he's pretty pleased. At the same time, he adds, the real focus is on the effort put forth by all of his athletes.
"We don't want to be too focused on results. When they're younger, you get good results from naturally talented kids early on, but at the same time, the whole group is developing," Briggs says, adding that from between U13 and U20, they train to compete.
"We don't care if they win or lose. We just want them to be competitive."
He points to Fentiman as a perfect example.
"Aiden is an orange belt, but he threw a brown belt in his first competition. He started judo later, but he's very talented.
”At the championships everyone worked really hard and that was my expectation. They actually exceeded my expectations."