Tony Macconnell

Tony took up judo in 1956. He was a keen cyclist and a member of the YMCA. One day having finished some training he looked in on a room with a group of judo players being taught by Ken Morris. Ken was a small man but when Tony said he would like a go he was thrown all over. Tony was hooked.
Having learned the basics under Ken he discovered another club in Denton with Joe Forster as the coach. It was here that he progressed quickly getting his brown belt in under a year and then going to the Keidokwai in Blackpool to get his Dan Grade. He also spent a few years training at the Renshuden in London, sleeping on the mat because he couldn't afford proper accommodation. He eventually got his 6th Dan in 1975.
At twenty years of age he was selected for his first international - a team event against Belgium. Since then he has won many international medals including European bronze medal in 1964 and Gold medals in the Scandinavian Open, Belgium Open, British Open (twice), and Duch Open where he beat the giant 7ft 3inch Adelaar. He also won the British Open Freestyle Wrestling Championships.
A detached retina stopped him in the 1964 Olympic Trials and a shoulder injury kept him out of the 1972 Olympic Games. He then turned to coaching and the list of teams and individuals who have come under his tutelage are impressive. In 1976 he was the Swedish Olympic Coach, in 1980 he was the Team manager of the British Team in Moscow Games, he was also the coach at the Barcelona Games in 1988. He coached the Communist Chinese team twice and in the 1992 Games he was the personal coach to the Belgian Robert Van-De Walle, probably the most bemedalled male judo player in Europe.
He was the first, with the help of Colin Draycott, to run a full time training squad (at Kenda)l when eight players lived in his house among them 1984 Olympic Bronze Medallist Neil Eckersley was among them. Sadly the finances for that experiment ran out because of the recession but there are still a number of players who owe everything to Tony not just in this country but worldwide.
Outside of judo, which he says has brought him a great life since he was 17 years old and many many friends all over the world Tony has run marathons, gone Hang Gliding, rock climbing and anything to do with the outdoors. When asked for his most memorable moments Tony said there were too many although he did highlight coaching Neil Adams a player he said was so quick to pick up anything he was unbelievable. He said the biggest influence on his judo career came from the late Joe Forster and Alan Petherbridge.