Feedback from the Holme Valley Black Belt Academy inter-club tournment – organised by Jordan Craven

Jordan Craven is a good friend of Huw’s who takes part in the Holme Valley Black Belt Academy.  ‘Crov’ as he is known, came up with the idea of an event run with his club to raise funds for Huw’s trust – and to remember Huw.  Over the last month or so Crov has set up the event, arranged printing for the tickets, promoted the event and then took part in it himself.  The end result – an entertaining event, promotion of the sport, getting a load of good people together, a sense of achievement for all the participants and most of all remembering Huw and raising £500 for Huw’s trust.  Well done Crov and here is a bit more about the event.

We sat with the Hawleys (which is always a pleasure) and saw other friends there – some of whom looked like they had just done a few rounds with Crov  – but fortunately the puffy eyes were acquired through nothing worse than a bit of tiredness acquired during the 24 hours football event. 

The event started with the younger participants demonstrating their talents and taking part in short bouts on the mat.  One of the fighters we knew was Jensen Hawley, who gave an opponent who was 3 or 4 years older than him, a very good run for his money!

In addition to the Hawleys, other specators we saw at the event included the Charlesworths, Nick Greenwood and his family, Jim and Matthew Gardner, and a number of the year 10s.  Nick, Jim and me were all a bit stiff from the football – in fact Jim said he felt like he had taken part in one of the bouts rather than played football a few hours previously 🙂

It was also good to see Tony Sykes again who runs the Academy – Tony helped Crov set up the event and remembers Huw and Carys going to karate some years ago.  They went for around 3 years when they were in junior school. 

The main part of the event was a 3 round kick boxing fight featuring Crov and another opponent.  The other guy was bigger than Crov, but Crov did well and I felt deserved better than the narrow 2-1 defeat he suffered.  It’s a tough sport, for brave guys – but also a friendly sport that seems to involve tremendous respect for your opponent.  Crov was determined to do this event to remember Huw in a positive way and it felt to me like Crov took every blow and made every hit, not only for himself and his club, but also for Huw who is a friend Crov misses so much.

Crov did so well staging this event and also taking part in the bout at the event.  And all this after taking part in the football event a few hours previously!  Well done Crov and thank you – and a big thank you to everyone who took part and turned up to the event as well.  Here are some pictures:

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