On tonight's show, Bartholomew speaks with the Olympic weightlifter who is bringing the sport to Maidstone. Plus, he's been given a tour around Canterbury golf course after it won Ecological Project of the Year.
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00:00 Hello and welcome along to Invicta Sport, the only show on your TV dedicated to wrapping
00:21 up all of Kent's sporting action.
00:23 I'm Bartholomew Hall and here's what to expect on this Friday 9th February.
00:28 In on the green, Canterbury Golf Club awarded for eco excellence.
00:34 Lifting for Maidstone, National Youth Competition comes to the County Town and...
00:43 Action replay.
00:44 We take another look at clips and pics sent in by you, the KMTV audience.
00:49 But of course before we get to all of that, a quick round up of the headlines.
00:52 Sam Noakes is flying the flag for Maidstone as he prepares to face Louis Sylvester for
00:59 the British lightweight title tomorrow.
01:01 Following the Stones' magical FA Cup run, Noakes is aiming to add to the feel-good factor
01:07 in the County Town by bringing home the belt.
01:10 He's been training in his Stones top all week and says he's so proud of the place he gets
01:15 to call home.
01:16 The unbeaten 26-year-old has won all 12 of his pro fights by stoppage and takes on fellow
01:21 unbeaten youngster Sylvester at the Copper Box Arena from 7pm tomorrow.
01:27 Invicta Dynamos have their captain back this weekend for what is said to be a crucial weekend
01:32 of Southern Cup action.
01:34 The Moes head to Chelmsford Chieftains on Saturday before hosting Streatham Redhawks
01:38 on Sunday.
01:39 Skipper Harrison Lillis picked up a four-game ban for fighting during Invicta's last match
01:43 against Streatham in this Cup.
01:45 That game was abandoned and Lillis suffered a hand fracture as a result.
01:50 But coming back for this weekend's action, head coach Carl Lennon says even with being
01:53 out of action, the captain has followed the team around cheering them on every step of
01:57 the way.
01:59 Canterbury Rugby Club will be returning to high-flying dorking this weekend, where head
02:05 coach Matt Corker describes it as their lowest point of last season.
02:11 Corker's City players, who are seventh in the National League Two East, will hit the
02:14 road as they face third-place dorking, looking to continue on their run of successive wins
02:20 in recent weeks.
02:22 After a 50-21 loss in the same fixture last year, Corker says his side will need to put
02:27 in a really strong defensive performance this time round.
02:30 Meanwhile, Tunbridge Juddians will host Henley and North Walsham will welcome Sevenoaks.
02:36 Less than two hours to go until Gillingham will be facing Nott County under the floodlights
02:40 this evening.
02:41 The Gilles' boss, Stephen Clements, says it will be a tough game for both sides.
02:45 It comes as he revealed this week midfielder Dom Jeffries won't be able to start for the
02:49 Medway side for up to eight weeks as he battles a thigh injury.
02:54 If Gillingham beat Nott, they will return to the play-off places in League Two.
02:58 Here's the Gilles' boss speaking this week.
03:01 Every game's a challenge.
03:02 People maybe don't want to hear that and think we're just going to roll everybody over, whether
03:07 the team's at the bottom of the league or the team's at the top.
03:10 Every game's a challenge.
03:11 I found that as a football player, I found that as a coach.
03:14 We're playing professional football.
03:16 But it's also a challenge for Nott County playing us.
03:19 So we bring our A game, we'll be right in the game, I promise you.
03:25 Well with that in mind, let's take a look at the fixtures that are happening this weekend.
03:30 As you've been hearing, kick-off is 7.45 this evening for Gillingham's away game to Nott
03:34 County.
03:35 Last time they clashed, Nott walked away as the winners, getting the edge with a 78th
03:40 minute winner.
03:41 In the National League, Ebbs Fleet face Chesterfield away.
03:44 That's after drawing 0-0 at home to Oldham last time out.
03:47 The Fleet could escape the relegation zone if they get three points this weekend.
03:51 They're currently second from bottom in the table.
03:53 In the National South, Dartford are at Bath and Maidstone welcome Hemel Hempstead to the
03:57 Gallagher.
03:58 Meanwhile, Tunbridge Angels host the league leaders Yovil and the Basement Boys' Dover
04:02 Athletic are off to Worthing.
04:04 Now a big Kent derby taking place in Medway tomorrow.
04:07 Chatham will host Margate.
04:09 Very different season so far for these two in the Idmian Premier.
04:11 Chatham are firmly in second place, whilst Margate are yet to win a league game since
04:16 November.
04:17 And Dealtown will have to wait a little longer to see if they will find themselves in the
04:21 final eight of the FA Vars as their match for tomorrow against Bridgewater has been
04:25 postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
04:29 Now a big topic of discussion today has been the proposed introduction of blue cards to
04:34 football.
04:35 The idea is that referees across the game will have the option of holding up a third
04:39 card which places the offending player in the technical area for ten minutes.
04:43 Now sin bins have already been in place at grassroots football level, such as in the
04:47 Southern Counties East League where many clubs across Kent, including Corinthian FC, play.
04:52 I caught up with their manager Michael Golding to see what he thinks of the blue card proposal,
04:57 but I started by congratulating him on reaching 400 games with the Longfield Club.
05:02 Yeah, no, delighted.
05:03 Obviously it's a club that I hold close to my heart.
05:07 It's a family orientated club and I've been there now for well over ten years as a player,
05:12 as a reserve team manager, as a youth team manager and obviously taking on the first
05:16 team responsibility.
05:17 And it's brought me lots and lots of joy over the years.
05:21 There's been so many hires, met lots and lots of good people through football.
05:25 There's been the obvious lows as well.
05:27 But yeah, in terms of a personal accolade, it's never been about me, but to go or to
05:33 get to 400 games is really pleasing.
05:35 Absolutely.
05:36 It's such an achievement.
05:37 Now, let's talk about what we've really brought you on here for today.
05:40 Blue cards.
05:41 It's this idea of introducing a sin bin style concept with the referee holding up a blue
05:46 card that's in between a sort of yellow and a red card.
05:48 Now, the idea of sin bins has already been implemented in grassroots football, which
05:53 is obviously where you work with Corinthian.
05:56 What's it been like from the ground?
05:58 Because it's only been there for a couple of years.
06:00 Yeah, so we had experience of it in our first, or in our last year in the scaffold before
06:05 we got promoted.
06:07 I'm not a huge fan of it in terms of what I would call the football pyramid.
06:13 I think it almost devalues what we're trying to do.
06:17 In terms of Sunday league and youth team football, I can see it has a place.
06:22 Whether that's going to work in the professional game obviously remains to be seen.
06:24 But I think that the referees and the officials need assistance and they need a tool to help
06:29 them to stop the scenes that we all see on TV.
06:31 And when we're at games on a Saturday of players screaming and shouting and running and getting
06:34 in the officials' faces, I think that needs to be addressed.
06:38 They tried to do it years ago in terms of if there was dissent, they would move the
06:41 free kick forward 10 yards and that obviously petered out.
06:44 So I think they're trying to find the right thing to do.
06:48 Whether that is blue cards in a professional setting, I'm not entirely sure.
06:51 It's really interesting because it feels like everybody's got an opinion on this today.
06:55 It's going to be making the headlines all day.
06:57 One of the ones that I found quite interesting is that some are concerned about the safety
07:00 of players.
07:01 If they're having to step off the pitch for a bit, if it's a cold day, they could end
07:04 up getting cramp.
07:05 Have you found that at all or is it a case of just continuing running on the sidelines?
07:09 Yeah, the players are allowed to move on the sideline.
07:12 We've been fortunate in touch with that.
07:14 We've only had one or two in the couple of years that we've had this.
07:18 But the directive from the league is that the players are allowed to be moving up and
07:21 down the touchline within reason.
07:24 They don't have to be confined to sitting on the bench.
07:26 And the idea is that obviously as a management team and with our physio, we'd work together
07:30 to make sure that players match ready to go into it.
07:34 I think when you look at other sports as well, triathlon had a similar punishment for not
07:38 sorting the transitions out properly of people standing still.
07:41 And they came away from that quite quickly because for the biomechanics and the body
07:46 work in having that break of 10 minutes of complete stop or however long the sim would
07:50 be, it didn't work in triathlon.
07:52 And again, I wonder whether the science behind it might actually lead to it being not the
07:56 right thing.
07:57 Well, it does sound very interesting.
07:58 We'll have to see what happens if it does eventually get implemented and what that means
08:03 for the whole pyramid of football.
08:06 Best of luck this weekend.
08:07 You've got a game on with Beirstead, against Beirstead.
08:10 A chance to go top of the table if all goes well and with other fixtures.
08:13 So I'll leave you to it.
08:15 Best of luck this weekend.
08:16 Thank you very much for joining us.
08:17 Cheers.
08:18 Thank you for your time.
08:20 Moving on now, volunteers at Canterbury Golf Club say wildlife conservation is a vital
08:24 part of looking after their course.
08:26 It comes as the club has won the Ecological Project of the Year Award at the Golf Environment
08:31 Awards.
08:32 The club's biodiversity champion and member, Anthony Dance, gave me a tour around the course.
08:39 Built almost 100 years ago, Canterbury Golf Club's greens, fairways and roughs are uniquely
08:44 surrounded by acres of green space inhabited by a rich variety of wildlife, from trees
08:50 and sprouting greenery to bats, moles and rabbits.
08:55 After winning Ecological Project of the Year, the club took me on a tour of the course,
08:59 but rather than playing 18 rounds, it was the elements in the rough that were of the
09:03 most interest.
09:05 You can see that there's regeneration happening already.
09:08 We've got early pioneer species of gorse and broom.
09:11 All that seed and holly was in the woodland floor.
09:15 The wood, the sycamore that we cut, we've stacked and we've created habitat basically
09:22 for insects and small mammals.
09:25 Anthony Dance is a volunteer and member of Canterbury Golf Club.
09:28 He's behind their biodiversity plan, which won them the award.
09:32 It's very satisfying.
09:35 One because I'm very interested in wildlife and nature and conservation.
09:39 So that's my angle really.
09:42 I'm not too bothered about awards, but they bring recognition and validation of all that
09:46 we're doing and can raise the profile as well.
09:49 Oh well, it's fantastic.
09:51 I was blown away actually winning this award and it's testament to the volunteers and the
10:01 creation of the biodiversity plan by Anthony.
10:05 Canterbury's course is classed as a site of special scientific interest, which means its
10:09 land can help make a significant contribution to nature conservation.
10:13 Alongside winning the award, the club is being granted a five-year funding grant from the
10:18 government.
10:19 If it was left to its own devices, invasive species like bramble, sycamore and hazel would
10:26 take over.
10:27 So what we do is in certain areas we take it back to low level, we coppice it, we scrub
10:34 it or we cut it so that we get a variety of habitats.
10:40 I'm here now with some of the volunteers.
10:41 They come here weekly to help work on some of the biodiverse elements of the land here.
10:47 Today they're taking some of the wood that's been chopped down from these trees to create
10:51 a wood pile.
10:52 Now that's going to eventually become a brand new habitat for the wildlife within the woods.
10:58 Golf clubs in the UK make up a whopping 33% of open green space in Great Britain and that's
11:04 why it's hoped more clubs will join in and swing towards a greener future.
11:09 Bartholomew Hall for KMTB in Canterbury.
11:14 Now before we go to a break, don't forget you can keep up to date with all the latest
11:17 football news by reading Kent Online.
11:19 But did you also know you can have your weekly digest of Gilles news sent directly to your
11:24 email inbox.
11:25 Search Kent Online email alerts and sign up on the website for all the latest written
11:29 transfer news, match reports and interviews.
11:32 And if the Gilles isn't your cup of tea, well there's plenty more email alerts to choose
11:35 from, including all the latest non-league football news too.
11:39 Now time for a break.
11:40 Coming up we'll be delving into the intense world of weightlifting as Maidstone gears
11:44 up to host the England Age Group Weightlifting Championships.
11:48 Plus stay tuned for another exciting edition of Action Replay.
11:51 See you in just a few moments.
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15:10 Hello and welcome back to Invicta Sport live on KMTV.
15:14 Now it's time to remind you that you can keep up to date with all the latest sports news,
15:18 interviews and features from right here on Invicta Sport by heading to our website kmtv.co.uk.
15:23 Go there and click on the sports tab.
15:25 There you'll see videos like this one from when I caught up with Olympic gymnast James Hall from his home gym in Maidstone.
15:32 Born in Australia but made an Olympian in Maidstone.
15:39 This year James Hall is hoping to take part in his second Olympic Games as part of Team GB's men's artistic gymnastics squad.
15:46 It comes after he helped the country qualify for the Games back in 2022.
15:51 However he says this year's Olympics could be his last.
15:54 I think from a lengthy career I've managed to garner quite a lot of experience and over the years it's kind of helped me keep a cool head.
16:02 It will be full on but I'm looking forward to the challenge and I think this will probably be one of the last years of my career.
16:10 I'm getting a bit old now but my body's starting to feel it.
16:13 But I'm ready for the challenge and I think as you get a little bit older you think,
16:17 you know what this is less about just making a team but fulfilling my potential wherever that may be and giving it my all.
16:23 James spoke to me just before a mid-week training session at his home club Pegasus.
16:28 For an onlooker it was incredible to see the sheer potential of the unassisted human body at peak fitness.
16:35 For James however every one of these sessions means mastering the routine that will secure his spot on the squad in Paris.
16:42 Gymnastics isn't just a sport or a hobby, it's a lifestyle.
16:45 It's kind of one of those things that as soon as you finish a session you can't just switch off, you go home, you think about it.
16:50 We're into the competition season now and that means practising your routines that you do for the competition.
16:55 And at the moment they're a little bit rough around the edges, we've still got time.
16:58 So any repairs that need doing or bits that need working on.
17:02 So lots of flying around bars and somersaults.
17:05 James first arrived at the club at the tender age of just six in 2002
17:12 and almost 20 years on made his Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
17:18 And it's safe to say that he's become a staple of the club's family.
17:22 So with the hope of an Olympic summer ahead of him, James Hall will have to stretch, spin and somersault to the best of his abilities
17:29 in order to make his Olympic dream come true.
17:32 Bartholomew Hall for KMTV in Maidstone.
17:35 Now after the success of Maidstone United in the FA Cup, the rise of Sam Noakes ahead of his huge fight tomorrow
17:43 and of course Olympians like the gymnast James Hall.
17:46 All eyes have been turning towards our county town recently.
17:49 Well, another to add to the list is the England Age Group Weightlifting Championships,
17:53 where weightlifters from eight to 18 across the country will be travelling to Maidstone Leisure Centre to compete.
18:00 Helping to get Maidstone's crucial part of hosting the event, Borough Councillor Dave Nagy
18:05 and former Olympic weightlifter Matt Vine joined me in the studio earlier this week
18:09 to explain what people can expect from these championships.
18:13 Well with weightlifting, the age range starts from children very, very young, 12 years of age,
18:19 who are just sort of learning the sport, learning how to do the lifts properly,
18:22 all the way through the different age groups, under 15s, under 17s, under 20s, under 23s.
18:28 So they bring them all together for almost like a festival, youth festival weightlifting over a weekend, over three days.
18:34 So in total the entries are now closed and there's over 200 competitors over the three days.
18:42 Boys and girls, women and men and females.
18:45 And strangely enough, there's more females entered than there are men.
18:49 Okay, not perhaps what you'd expect.
18:51 Not what you'd expect. And with weightlifting, rather similar to boxing, there's different weight categories.
18:56 People always used to assume it's just big fellas doing it, but there's different weight categories and different age groups.
19:01 So it's really, as I say, a festival weightlifting for all these children from all over the country.
19:09 So I've looked at the entry list and they're obviously coming from every part of the country, from England,
19:13 as far as Newcastle, North Yorkshire, Cornwall.
19:18 So it should be quite a good event.
19:22 All eyes on Maidstone, not the first time in recent weeks of course.
19:25 And Dave, you've got your Maidstone United colour tie on there.
19:29 With pride.
19:30 With pride, absolutely. And you were on the bus to Ipswich, weren't you?
19:34 I went to Ipswich for that unique occasion, historical.
19:39 And that's what seems to be happening in Maidstone at the moment.
19:42 And the weightlifting coming down, how unique is that for Maidstone?
19:47 First time down this way. I think first time they went to London once, but they come down to the south-east and the county town.
19:54 And Matt, you're from Maidstone, you grew up here and you've been all around the world representing Team GB.
20:01 You competed in the Olympics of course for the country.
20:04 How does it feel now to give back to the place you came from for Maidstone?
20:08 Because you work obviously with Maidstone Weightlifting Club, with some of these youngsters that will be competing.
20:12 Absolutely. It is very rewarding because obviously you see, I can relate to it, about starting off in it
20:21 and people making their way through the actual sport.
20:24 And obviously trying to give them some sort of guidance from experience.
20:28 Most experience is when it's gone slightly wrong, you're trying to guide them not to go in that particular way.
20:33 But it's very rewarding to see the kids involved, particularly from the local area and so on.
20:40 And hopefully, obviously there's a few of them who have aspirations to move up to high levels and so on.
20:47 Some are at the moment, which is very, very good.
20:49 I've known Matt for many years, he's an inspiration.
20:53 I wouldn't go that far, I think it's possible.
20:56 He's in the Seoul Olympics and is only one standard with Matt.
21:00 And I think that's why Maidstone Weightlifting Club does so well.
21:04 Because like everything, you're only as good as your coach.
21:07 I think for whatever reason at the moment, and I say this quite often, we're having an era.
21:14 Lots of sports teams, everything really has an era.
21:19 But it is the golden era when for whatever reason, we have a group of talented kids that have come together.
21:26 And that encourages other people to come and join as well.
21:29 Because obviously we've got a reputation at the moment, so that's really good.
21:33 And weightlifting itself is such a unique sport as well.
21:36 Such discipline that you need to take part in it.
21:40 And some of these kids as well, they're as young as under 10s is the lowest category.
21:44 So they're going to take this with them through the rest of their lives.
21:48 I think so. It's very much like a stage school for people going to the theatre.
21:55 Because they're learning it from such a young age, it's almost in the system.
21:58 So when they come to do it, they're just on an automatic pilot.
22:02 Because they're growing up with it and they're learning it when they're learning the whole experience, the whole procedures from a young age.
22:08 So it's quite an advantage because obviously it just comes as second nature to them.
22:13 Of course it's going to be in Maidstone Leisure Centre as well, the centre point for a lot of the activity that's been on there for years.
22:20 I remember going to Maidstone Leisure Centre as a youngster.
22:23 Being able to bring it to that specific location, talk to me through that.
22:27 I did one for a friend of mine, power weightlifting, in 2006.
22:32 So I knew it was a possibility that Maidstone might fund it.
22:36 And I said to Matt about it and he said what a great idea.
22:40 And he went to the association and said look, I could have a free let for one day, because Maidstone Borough Council do that, to encourage things like this.
22:48 And they went for it and it's turned out to be fantastic.
22:51 The council contributing and people usually have to travel up north, but this time it's the other way around.
22:58 And it's fantastic.
22:59 And being the county town, to have this in the south east is fantastic I think.
23:05 Unique is the word I would use.
23:07 And it's of course Olympic year as well, we have to talk about this before we wrap up.
23:11 Such an inspirational event as always, we always talk about it, ever since London 2012, the sort of legacy of it.
23:18 And how inspirational it can be when it comes around every four years.
23:21 Is there a hope that this event will inspire more people to take up weightlifting?
23:25 I think so, because quite often we've got a number of children locally and we've pushed to try and get them included, particularly in the development phases.
23:33 So they're going to come along and hopefully they're going to enjoy the whole experience.
23:37 So that just may sway them that this is possibly the sport for them if they get a great experience.
23:41 Which hopefully, being in their home town, there will be a lot of local support.
23:44 Hopefully that will just, as you say, inspire a few people that this could be the sport for them.
23:50 And the Olympics, Olympian himself, he's got that experience, he can pass on.
23:55 Well, it was a long time ago now and it's a far more competitive world out there now than when I was doing it.
24:01 So it's a slightly different approach now.
24:04 But there must be, going around the world and competing for the country, there must be some lessons that you learnt through that experience that you're passing on to these youngsters when you're training with them week in, week out.
24:14 I think there is that aspect to it where you're trying to pass that experience on.
24:19 But to a certain extent they're learning their own way of doing it, their own approach to it and so on.
24:25 But I think quite often, one of the most important things, if you can get them to train together as a group, that helps greatly.
24:33 And training with other people, other locations, other coaches, that gives a much broader experience of weightlifting.
24:39 And that does help because you can actually get very, very comfortable in your own environment of course.
24:44 But then you start moving, travelling abroad and it's completely different.
24:47 So you've got to prepare them for it. It's not exactly the same as it is here.
24:51 So that's quite important as well.
24:53 Well it sounds like it's going to be a spectacle.
24:55 Three days of weightlifting, all different age ranges taking part.
24:59 We'll come down and we'll film it of course and see how it gets on.
25:03 Thank you very much for joining us.
25:04 Thank you very much.
25:05 Well we've reached full time on today's episode but there's just a few minutes of extra time to take a look at this week's Action Replay.
25:13 It's of course the segment where we take a look at the clips and pictures that you, the KMTV audience have sent in of you taking part in sports.
25:20 So let's see what we've got in store on this week's Action Replay.
25:23 This week's Action Replay starts with a big congratulations to Gravesend Star Kickboxing in the WKO English Championships
25:32 where they won a whopping 23 medals including 12 golds, 9 silvers and 2 bronze.
25:39 This year's event took place in Barnsley meaning even after facing the 4 hour drive up from their gym in Shorn,
25:45 they managed to pull off quite the success. Don't they look happy?
25:49 Moving on and power sliding enthusiast Warren Lees, whose antics on Kent's Road sparked outrage, is now launching his own drift track.
25:57 Here he is, spinning and sliding across the new track at Manston Airport.
26:01 Stationed just north of the old runway, the 34 year old hopes his new advanced driving school will be a safe place for him and others to indulge in their passion.
26:10 And finally, here's the moment a Maidstone United supporter found himself splashed by his own beer
26:17 when defender George Fowler cleared the ball directly into his cup.
26:21 It happened during the Stones 3-2 win over Torquay United at the Gallagher this week.
26:25 Talk about a direct hit. The club reminded everyone on social media to stay focused on the ball at all times.
26:32 Well that's it for this week on Action Replay. Send in your clips to appear here next week.
26:37 Ah great stuff. Well that's full time on today's episode of Invicta Sport.
26:42 If you want more from KMCV just head to our website kmcv.co.uk.
26:46 I'll see you on Monday. Bye bye.
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