The father of a pupil at Haberdashers’ Girls’ School in Elstree has spoken to RADLETTnews after she won a silver medal at the British Judo Championships in December.
Emma Almond is now the English number one and number two in Great Britain at U15 level despite being just 12 years old. She narrowly missed out on a third consecutive gold medal in the final of the U36kg category in golden score, the equivalent of overtime.
On her way to the final, she beat the English number two and Scottish number one, before she was beaten by the Northern Ireland champion.
The defeat was her first-ever loss at the British Championships since she started competing at national level three years ago. Her nationals performance still secured her a place on the England Judo Squad for 2025.
Emma was initially disappointed with the silver medal, but coach and dad Ben told RADLETTnews that the setback would benefit the ambitious young athlete.
He said: “One of the mentalities of judo is not to be better than other people, but to be better than yesterday; we’re only up against ourselves. Whilst the silver was not the result she wanted, the outcome is still helpful. It shows she isn’t perfect, and that’s okay.”
Ben, who has coached four of his talented children, said he knows the process of reaching the top will take time and Emma is still in the very early stages of fulfilling her potential.
He added: “I’ve been doing this for a long time. Emma is making great progress but she’s 12; it’s more about her journey at the moment than her achievements so far. She has a long way to go.”
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