Olympian holds judo masterclass in Galashiels
Graham Ford • Published 14 Feb 2012 09:30
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DOUBLE Olympian Judo player Sarah Clark held a master class coaching session at the Focus Centre Judo Club in Galashiels recently.
The event which was split into three age categories attracted over 100 athletes including members of other Scottish Borders Clubs and guests from Dundee.
The event came about following a chance encounter as Sarah explained: "I met up with the coaches from Gala at a coaching course at Ratho near Edinburgh. I spoke with a couple of coaches from the Focus Judo Club there. They invited me to come to the club, and it has continued to roll from there until we were able to set this date."
And it certainly proved to be a worthy day with the former European Champion taking three separate classes for primary children, teenagers and adults. Club coach Tam Hardie was extremely impressed with the impact Sarah had on the younger members of the club, he said: "Some of this lot usually have the attention span of a goldfish. But Sarah was brilliant and they were captivated by everything she had to say for the full 45 minute session. She was brilliant with them."
And Sarah also enjoyed the opportunity to teach the youngsters: "I have been really impressed by the interest from the children today, it is really great when you see so many faces all so eager to learn. I can remember the influence my coaches had on me when I was a child, and indeed still do. I like to get involved with coaching as much as I can but it isn't easy while I am still competing and still looking to go to London for the Olympics. So at the moment coaching has taken a back seat. But when I get the chance to give something back to the sport I am only too happy to do so and it tremendous to come to a club like Galashiels and to get to meet over 100 participants in the sport."
Young participant Alistair Kevin said: "It has been really cool having someone who has been in the Olympics come along and teach us. She is really good and has found time to come round and give us all some tips and advice. She is really helpful and I will certainly be watching out for her if she qualifies for this year's Olympics."
Sarah is a 4th dan black belt who hails from South Shields and has competed at the last two Olympic games in Athens and Beijing. But there were no airs or graces from her as she enthusiastically joined in the warm up for the final session of the day which was led by Focus Centre coach Tam Hardie.
He was thrilled at the success of the day: "This has been a great moment for our club. To get someone like Sarah Clark to come to our club is a great honour. The whole day has proved to be extremely positive. And great that we have had clubs from all over the Scottish Borders and from as far afield as Dundee to be part of this special event."
Despite Tam's vast coaching experience he was also hanging on Sarah's every word throughout the event: "You learn so much when you are watching someone like Sarah, she has such a wealth of knowledge and experience both technique wise and competition wise. Sarah has been all over the world and for her to come here and share this with us is really good."
This article appeared in Border Telegraph 14 Feb 12
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