I started judo at the age of 9 with my younger brother and some friends from school.

I have fond memories of my earliest gradings – we had to fight … and win … in order to secure promotion to the next grade. In my first ever grading, I jumped from a novice white belt to 4th mon (yellow).
That was it then, I was hooked.
Long term goal – black belt.
It took me almost 10 years to reach that goal but I finally got it.

Shortly after my 14th birthday, my coach asked me to start to help with coaching the younger children.
By 20, I was running my own Saturday morning Kano session

So, at 19, I had my brown belt, was coaching at least twice a week and someone asked me about refereeing. “Why not”, I thought. Not done that before.
I took the course, failed the exam, tried again (3 months later) and then finally became a qualified referee. Of course, I was the best referee ever…. nobody needed to tell _me_ the rules.
What the hell was I thinking. I have been refereeing since then and still have days where something new enters my head.

Refereeing has been hard work but it has led me to London 2012. I have seen many of these competitors on numerous occasions but in the past, they were just judoka. Over the next 6 weeks, these men and women will gain a title few ever hold; they will become
Olympians