A student at Saint John Houghton Catholic Voluntary Academy has won Gold and Bronze at the European Jiu Jitsu Championships.
Fifteen-year-old Jack Bridgewood, who is visually impaired, won Gold in the GI category and Bronze in the no GI category, in the 14 to 15 age range.
The teenager has been visually impaired since birth and said that no special amendments are made for this.
He said: “It can be difficult, especially when I’m turning. I started doing Jiu Jitsu when I was four. My uncle is a Jiu Jitsu coach. I train with Allegiance Jiu Jitsu in Ilkeston and I used to go every day but now it’s about four days a week due to an injury.”
The European medals follow on from success at the World Championships in Wolverhampton in the summer, when he won Bronze.
He said: “It felt great to win Gold at the Europeans. It was amazing. I won the first fight 16-0 and the other one was 7-4. You basically get told if you’ve won through an app and that’s how I found out. My uncle is my coach and he was really happy.
“If you’d told me a year ago that I would win this competition I wouldn’t have believed it, especially with the problems with my eyes and I also have brittle bones. My mum had been trying to get me to quit because she was worried about me but she was very proud.”
Steve Brogan, Headteacher at Saint John Houghton, in Kirk Hallam, congratulated Jack on his incredible achievement.
He said: “We are so proud of Jack, of all that he has achieved and that he is a student of our school, Saint John Houghton Catholic Voluntary Academy. On top of being a champion, he is a great student and person and he really deserves this success. He is living proof that with determination and drive, we can achieve our goals, in spite of the difficulties and challenges we face in life. He is an inspiration to us all.”
The GI category refers to the specific weight class category that allows practitioners to compete in a GI, the traditional uniform worn by practitioners.
