The big year is here…

Reading this blog, you will be a month into 2012, and for most of us the festivities, eating, parties and family reunions will be all but a distant memory. We will be looking forward to 2012, planning the year ahead and organising our lives and the lives of our girlfriends, boyfriends, wives, husbands, children and friends.

Rewind to 2011.  It's Christmas Eve, Saturday 24th December 2011 and I'm heading down to my parents’ house to spend time with my family for a couple of days over Christmas. I had a busy morning, doing last minute jobs and picking up some Christmas meat from the butchers. This was followed by a bike training session, then eventually it was time to leave. I went through all my bags, one last time (having already checked and re-checked 100 times. Why do I always do this?) making sure that I had everything for the week ahead. Following some time with my family, I was heading to Kendal in the Lake District for the famous ‘Kendal Winter Training Camp'. As part of the GB 2012 Olympic Squad, this forms one of our training camps, helping to prepare the squad as we head in to a busy season of competitions and camps.

Most people reading this may know a little bit about me or may have seen me once or twice at a judo competition. If you don't know me, let me give you a little bit of background information. My name is Sarah Clark. I am a full-time judo player in the Scottish, Team GB and Olympic squad and I am based in Edinburgh.  My aim is to be successful in the London 2012 Olympic Games.

My personal coach is Billy Cusack who has coached me for the last 16 years. I was born and grew up in South Shields in the North East of England.  I began judo at the Kodokwai Judo Club in South Shields aged nine, where I trained until I was 18, before moving to Scotland to train full-time at The Edinburgh Judo Club.  I am part of the current GB Olympic Squad based out of The JudoScotland National Training Centre at Ratho, near Edinburgh.

Writing, and filming this blog, I hope I will give everyone reading and watching an insight in to my life as an athlete, what I do day to day and what happens as I train and compete around the world. I'd like to think that some of my thoughts and feelings will be conveyed to you over the next seven months in the build up to the Olympic Games and that you get an insight in to 'My life as a Judo Player'.

I will be keeping you updated with video blogs and written posts and I will try to document as much as possible. There will, no doubt, be highs and lows along the way.

 Click here for the first video .  To keep updated on the latest blogs and videos follow me on twitter @sarahclark_judo and through the JudoScotland website and Facebook page. 

It will be my story and I hope you enjoy it.

Sarah Clark