It’s another Saturday afternoon at the Kita Kaze Judo Club in Grande Prairie.
Delayne Rowland, 14, steps onto the mat to show off her grappling skills.
It’s noticeable she’s smaller in height compared to her opponent. And, most of the other judo members on the mat for that matter.
Yet, her six to seven years of judo experience pays dividends despite the height mismatch.
“Sometimes (being smaller it helps). It really depends, especially weight-wise, because everything is by weight, so either I’m fighting people way heavier than me, or the exact same (weight), but I’ve worked my way around that,” said Rowland, with a smile.
“There’s certain throws that could be good for people who are bigger and throwing people smaller and then vise-versa, so for me, throws like a lot of foot sweeps are really good for me… just being able to get them to the ground, basically.”
Rowland started judo at the Hoku Sei Kan Judo Club in Wembley. But because there weren’t any more opponents for her, Rowland made the move to Kita Kaze last year.
The youngster has even already found a judo “nemesis” out of Calgary who she typically faces at most of her competitions.
“You always know you have someone who will give you a challenge and that won’t be too easy or too hard,” said Rowland,
“She almost beat me once (this year), but the next time I fought her, I beat her.”
How does it feel to defeat a rival?
“It feels good,” she said with a laugh.
There’s been no shortage of medals for Rowland in judo.
As she reaches into her gym bag, she pulls out four of her recent medals.
Her wide-gapped smile appears to sum up just how she feels about her judo success.
In 2015, among her accomplishments was winning gold at the Edmonton International against Brooke Corbett, of British Columbia; taking silver in the individual under 44kg female judo event and female team event at the Western Canada Summer Games; winning gold at the Judo Alberta Provincials in Airdrie; and, winning at a University of Alberta judo tournament.
In 2012 and 2013, Rowland also competed at the Edmonton International and placed second and third, respectively.
More recently, on Jan. 23, Rowland took first in the U16 female 40kg event at the 2016 Sask Open Judo Championships.
This year, Rowland will be competing at the Alberta Winter Games, Feb. 13-16, in Medicine Hat, as well as Judo Nationals in Calgary, May 11-18.
“My nemesis will be (at Nationals) and my goal is to beat her at least and if I have three (opponents) there, I want to win at least one fight, for sure, so I actually medal, but my goal is to go for gold,” said Rowland.
By going to Nationals, Rowland said it opens the door to international judo competitions and training camps.
Courtesy of: Daily Herald Tribune