PENNY Stein of Bawley Point has claimed an Australian judo championship, adding to the national Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and freestyle wrestling titles she has also won this year.
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The dynamic 45-year-old recently won the under 63kg masters women section at the Australian judo titles at Wollongong, defeating opponents up to 15 years her junior.
And she did it all with just a few weeks training.
She explained she was always interested in training in martial arts, but the demands of life got in the way.
“It was something I always wanted to do, and it’s a pity I didn’t take it up earlier in life,” Penny said.
She started training in judo about 10 years ago after moving to the Ulladulla region, but when adult classes stopped she switched to Brazilian Ju-Jitsu after a martial arts gymnasium opened in the area a couple of years ago.
When numbers in the BJJ classes started to fall Penny went back to judo training just a few weeks before the national titles.
Despite her break in training, she signed up to compete in the nationals and won her division, even after going up a weight category because there were no opponents in her division.
During the competition her strength in ground grappling carried sway, and she forced all her opponents to submit, which is hardly surprising seeing she has also claimed freestyle wrestling and Brazilian Ju-Jitsu masters title this year.
And while she loved training and competing, Penny said there were drawbacks including turning up to her work as a casual teacher sporting a black eye or even walking with the aid of crutches.
Penny competed in the titles representing the Yuukan Judo Club of Bawley Point, which also had Amelie Gautier, Eva Gautier and Rylan Taylor taking part in the nationals.
Rylan came up against some great competitors with over 12 in his junior boy division.
Rylan lost his first fight and then went to the repechage, and was winning his bout but unfortunately with only seconds to go Rylan looked at the clock and while he was momentarily distracted Rylan’s opponent threw him with only two seconds to go.
Eva came up against some really difficult competitors in the junior girls, and after losing her first fight in a ground hold, she was also able to compete in repechage and fight for the bronze medal.
It came down to the opponent’s strength which got Eva in a ground hold.
Amelie won her first bout convincingly in the junior girls, which put her up for the silver and gold medal fight.
This was an awesome bout, with Amelie managing to fight off many of her opponent’s attacks around the head, unfortunately Amelie just couldn't get her grips for technique and lost this fight.
However walked away happy with a silver medal.
With the wins and losses came experience and wisdom, congratulations to the four of you, we are extremely proud of your achievements.
Yuukan Judo members also had their end of term tournament and it was great to see so many come for the night.
With so many competitors from our club it meant we could mix you all up to get you all some fights and put you in different divisions.
Division 1 – Zac, Miki, Jennifer
Division 2 – Raedon, Eva, Emily
Division 3 - Bodin, Noah, Ottis, Drew, Jake
Division 4 – Chelsea, Jonathon, Jess, Rylan
Division 5 - Bella, Christabella, Lily
Division 6 – Amelie, Jet, Jack B, Jack R
Division 7 - Riley, Jack B, Jack R, and Blake.