After a few hiccups & missed dates, the Sambo interclub eventually went ahead on Saturday at the Two Riversmeet Leisure Centre, Christchurch.

Couldn't have been a better day, even ignoring the results, as it was a good chance to meet the other local clubs & coaches, get some experience in competing under Sambo rules, and just learn & grow as a club. I think everyone will agree we had a fantastic day & everyone there couldnt have been more friendly or helpful!

It was organised by Paul Sawyer (8 x British Senior Champion, 1998 World Small Nations Champion to name a few of his achievements). We took down a team of 6 people (Matt Male, Adam Onesti, Darren Winchester, Simon Stroud, Tom Miller & myself)

The day started with a run through of the rules & a competition warm up...then we got down to the wrestling and I can't put an article up without saying how proud I was of everyone, not only in the results but in the manner in which they conducted themselves throughout & I am sure that the other clubs there will be as complimentary of us as we are of them.

After the bouts, Paul Sawyer went through some armlock techniques & gave everyone a chance for a further 30mins rolling & more "friendly" wrestling

Even though this was a "friendly", clearly everyone there wanted to win and when you take into consideration that most of the other clubs had more experience in Sambo we couldn't have got better results!

1st place in 3 out of the 4 weight classes & the overall winners of the interclub as a Team, which is an outstanding result in our first competition as a club!!! (although I'm glad we had no-one in the u68 category and I suspect that the results may not have changed even if we did!)

Well Done

Tom Miller 1st place u74
Darren Winchester 1st place u94 (ish)
Matt Male 1st place 95+
Simon Stroud 3rd place u94
Adam Onesti 4th place 95+
(although Adam should be proud of that result more than anyone else for stepping in there & giving it a go after only 3 months training)
Gary Davies 2nd place u74

Somerset Sambo 1st place overall