Judo Athlete Andrea Sellens
Location: St Leonard’s on Sea, East Sussex. Near Eastbourne
Andrea: “I got beaten up when I was a kid and judo built up my confidence again. I’m not afraid to fight bigger opponents, even grown men!”
Paul Everest, coach: “Andrea is single-minded and when she decides to go for it no-one will stop her. Judo is her life.”
Andrea is 24 years old. She first started judo when she was 9 years old. She says she became involved to try to build up her self-confidence after she was bullied. She tried out at the YMCA in Hastings and loved it straight away. She has trained with a number of club but has been coached by Paul Everest for the past 10 years.
Andrea has competed with Special Olympics in two national Games and abroad in Holland. At last year’s national games in Glasgow she won a gold medal. She trained hard in the hope of being selected for the last world games but missed out because SOGB entered only a male team.
Coach Paul says: “I thought that would really knock her back but she tried even harder.”
Andrea is one of only two female judo players in the SOGB squad for Shanghai. Coach Paul has no doubt she will do well. He says:
“She has lots of determination and she’s single-minded. When she decides to go for something she’ll move heaven and earth. “
In competition Andrea shows no sign of nerves. Paul has seen her come back from losing to win some very tough fights.
Andrea often trains with male judo players, most bigger than her. Paul says it’s a mark of how much her confidence has progressed. In the past she would have been daunted by a stronger opponent, now she never thinks twice, just gets in there for the fight.
Paul describes Andrea’s groundwork style as excellent. If she has a weakness it’s her stamina but she works very hard at improving this. In training for the world games she is spending a lot of time building her arm and leg muscles with the ‘medicine ball’.
Andrea has bounced back from a number of sporting injuries. She says: “I’ve had sprained ankles and someone landed on my wrist once, very painful. Last year in Glasgow I injured my leg. And once I broke someone’s toe.You have to be skilful so you don’t injure yourself seriously.”
Andrea is currently living at home after a period of independence in warden-assisted accommodation. She has faced some difficult times in her personal life and has sometimes been unable to continue with her judo. The longest period has been 6 months but she’s always come back to her sport with renewed determination and commitment. She recently underwent an operation to tighten the tendons in her ankles but after a month recovering she was straight back into training and focussed on Shanghai.
As well as continuing to push herself in her own judo playing, Andrea is also hoping to train as a referee. But she says everything is on hold for now because her only focus is the world games and she has a lot of hard work to come before then. She had mixed emotions when she heard she’d been selected. At first she didn’t want to go because it’s a long way from home, a strange country and a long time to be away from her family. But she was persuaded by Paul and now she’s looking forward to it. She says: “I’ve got Oliver and Liam and my coach Paul with me. That’s very important. Also my Grand-dad paid for my fare before he died. So I’m doing it for him. Thank you Grand-dad!”
Andrea also has a sister who plays judo.
TO ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ATHLETES OR COACHES, PLEASE CONTACT THE SOGB NATIONAL OFFICE.
TELEPHONE: 020 7696 5569 OR EMAIL TO: pr@sogb.org.uk