Phil Makela’s Huntsville Judo Club firmly demonstrated their position as one of the premier judo training facilities in Ontario with an impressive showing the Crown Hill Winter Invitational in Barrie on January 16.
Sending one of the largest contingents of competitors in club history, it was a great day on the mat for Huntsville, with 18 fighters between the ages of five and 30 coming home with five gold, seven silver and six bronze medals.
Leading the way once again was current Canadian champion Jeff Allen, who has adopted the role as the club’s competition team coach alongside chief instructor and founder Phil Makela. Makela first opened the Huntsville Judo Club as a facility with the goal of enabling athletes to reach their desired level of participation in the sport, from simple recreation to the Olympic games.
Allen’s son Lucas (blue gi) won a silver medal in Barrie after taking some time away from competition over the past year
“I couldn’t be more proud of the team, we had an excellent day,” said Allen. “Lots of great fights, a great turnout, just a fantastic experience. Everyone came home with a medal.”
The impressive showing is indicative of how the Huntsville program has taken great strides in recent years to produce high-calibre fighters in a wide variety of age and weight categories. Now, with Allen at the helm, the team will be looking to engage in more tournaments and competitions throughout the year to expose especially the younger fighters to a wider variety of competition.
“A lot of our kids do recreational training, but very few compete,” said Allen. “We have some real good young talent at the club and we are trying to get them more involved. Not only do they get to fight, but they get to watch the other fighters from the club compete too. They go to events, they’re having fun, we give them good positive feedback and they come away smiling.”
Allen himself had a great day in Barrie, bringing home the gold in his division to continue his dominant run of podium finishes since first picking up the sport with his son Lucas (who earned his second silver medal of the month) four years ago. Read Doppler’s story on Jeff Allen heading to the Judo World Championships in Amsterdam last fall here.
Allen poses at the top of the podium with his gold medal at the Crown Hill Invitational
The gold comes on the heels of Allen competing at the national Elite 8 competition held in Montreal earlier this month. A prestigious annual event, the Elite 8 brings together the top Canadian fighters in each weight class to prepare for the upcoming national championships in May. Allen represented not only Huntsville, but all of Ontario in the senior men’s +100 kg category, despite usually competing in the Masters division. Making his way to the Bronze medal match, Allen lost a close fight but came away with additional knowledge and experience that he feels will make him a more rounded fighter this spring.
“It’s good, it put me in a good place to compete this year, where I may be able to medal in two divisions,” said Allen, who is now ranked in the top four in the country in both categories. “Masters division fighters are aged 30-35, where as Seniors can be anything over 18. That being said, the Senior fighters tend to be a lot bigger, typically over 150 kilograms and between 6’5″ to 6’6′, and having around an extra 70 pounds on me.”
The club will have a chance to showcase their skills closer to home when they host their inaugural Huntsville tournament on March 5, inviting fighters from all over Ontario to train and fight as a warm up to the Peel Championships the following month.
The full list of medal winners is as follows:
GOLD:
Raili Makela
Kyria McKay
Roberto Magdalena
Nicholas Robinson
Jeff Allen
SILVER:
Lilea McKay
Benjamin Sawyer
Austin McKay
Warren Knox
Walter Knox
Luke Allen
Nate Leney
BRONZE:
Rachael Makela
Max Tulloch
Ayla McGuey
Bradley Royal
Savannah McDonald
David Robinson
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