Jamie fighting: The 23-year-old will be competing for the Wales Judo Team on the first day of competition (July 24th) at the Games
Being awarded a first class honours degree is not enough for one dedicated student as he aims to fight his way to another first when he represents Wales in Judo at the Commonwealth Games.
Jamie MacDonald gained the top classification from the School of Computer Science & Informatics at Cardiff University for his Business Information Systems degree, and is hoping to have twice as much to celebrate as he aims for his second first in the space of a month at the Glasgow Games.
Whilst some students may have a reputation for over-indulging in the nightlife and enjoying regular lie-ins, Jamie has been juggling the demands of studying, training, and holding down a part-time job for the past two years.
“It has been ridiculous,” admitted the 23-year-old from Maesteg. “Since coming to Cardiff I have been training between two and four times a day, and would only miss the odd session because of university. The discipline needed for judo helps to be up for training and you can’t be out all the time. I kept with a schedule – I had to be doing certain things at certain times, and would prioritise whether I had a uni deadline or a judo event; it was just a balancing act.”
Jamie took up judo at the age of 11 and qualified for the Welsh squad aged 15. He took a break from the sport when he originally went to Plymouth University for two years, but returned to the sport during a work placement year when he didn’t have much to keep him occupied during the evenings. It was at this point Jamie’s Welsh coach noticed he had started training and competing again, and approached him about coming to Cardiff where he could complete his degree whilst train to hopefully qualify for the Common Wealth Games.
“I transferred to Cardiff in Year Two,” explained Jamie, “but I only had funding for one year as I was resitting a year and had already taken the work placement year. I lived in the Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff because it’s free for athletes, and had to borrow money from my gran. It’s also the reason I took a part-time job.”
In addition to the financial problems, Jamie has also been plagued with injuries during the 18-month qualifying period for the Commonwealth Games which began when he came to Cardiff during the summer of 2012, first injuring his wrist, then elbow, followed by a serious shoulder injury.
“During the last 18 months I have not been fully fit for one competition,” said Jamie. “I was competing with my existing injuries at the BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) tournament in February when I landed on my shoulder in the first round and separated the AC joint. I had surgery in March and wasn’t allowed to do anything for six weeks. I could start training very gradually just on the bike, and began ramping it up through physio with the University’s High Performance Programme which was brilliant – I couldn’t have got through it without them”
Despite this setback which meant he was unable to attend a week-long training camp as part of preparation for the Commonwealth Games, Jamie was able to put a positive slant on things as it coincided with the deadline for his final dissertation and exam.
He said: “It meant I had no distractions and was able to concentrate on my dissertation which I believe helped me to achieve the First. I didn’t get the results I had hoped for in the January exams as they coincided with qualifying events so I didn’t get as much revision done as I would have liked. Also, living at the Sports Centre could be challenging as it’s not a great atmosphere to do uni work. I was the only person living there who was also in university – most others were just able to focus on the judo – so that could be really tough. I did all of my work at the School and was so grateful for the 24-hour lab access.”
All of Jamie’s hard work studying has now paid off, and he was even able to combine his love of judo with his degree by creating a judo-related dissertation which he now uses to store all of his competition results, and a number of the Welsh squad are also utilising.
“Getting the First was a brilliant boost. I’ve been a student for five years and my gran and parents have put money in and helped me out so it’s nice to get the First for them too. I also have a job starting in September as a Support Software Developer which seems really good and I’m looking forward to.”
But for now Jamie will be focusing on preparing for the perfect performance at the Commonwealth Games, and he recently competed in his first event since coming back from his injuries in which he won a bronze medal. He is also off to Spain for a tough five-day training camp where he will be expected to have eight fights every session, before flying to Poland for a further week-long training camp – which means he has to miss his graduation ceremony – just in time for the start of the Commonwealth Games on July 23rd.
“It’s nice to be back training properly after having the best part of three months off – if I hadn’t had my uni work I would’ve gone crazy! I feel very lucky to have been selected for the Games given all of my injury problems, but I am going to put that to the back of mind and have a good day for the one day I need to. I would really like to come away with a medal and think I will be fully prepared for the event. I am going for the double firsts in the space of a month!”
Jamie will be competing for the Wales Judo Team (Under 66 kg) on July 24th at the Commonwealth Games.
