THE injury woes Stuart McWatt has been forced to endure over the past coupe of years are enough to have broken lesser men.
The 20-year-old, who is one of Britain’s brightest judo prospects, ruptured his ACL at the tail end of 2015. An arduous rehabilitation process followed before the then teenager was back in action.
But almost immediately, disaster struck, with his return to full training resulting in him rupturing his other ACL. While some would have called that a sign that elite-level judo was not for them, McWatt refused to be bowed.
The -81kg fighter from Inverurie has returned from injury in impressive fashion and today, will make his debut in the European Championships, which take place in Tel Aviv. And having spent four weeks in Georgia in a pre-competition training camp, he admits that he could not be in better shape to make his first-ever assault on this event.
“The camp was really good - the training was amazing,” he said.
“It was weird being away from home for that long but it was worth it. It was hard - all the guys I was training with were of a very good level.
“It was really good preparation for the Europeans. At the GB centre, we train with each other day in, day out and although that’s good, it was great to go up against guys with different styles because they fight completely differently to how we fight in GB. My body was definitely feeling it though.”
McWatt may still be in the early stages of his senior career but he has already shown glimpses of his huge potential. In 2015, he broke on to the senior scene by winning bronze at the Glasgow Open, which included some of Europe’s best judoka. And whenever he has been fit in amongst his injury problems, he has continued to prove he can compete with the world’s best.
Which is why he goes into this week’s European Championships optimistic that he can make a real impact, and potentially event return home with some silverware.
“I’m feeling good about the Europeans and I’m excited to see how I can do,” he said.
“As long as I do what I need to do in that I follow my game plan, concentrate on my own performance and perform to the best of my ability then I know I can beat these guys on the day so the results will come and the medals will come.
“But I know it’ll be hard. One little mistake within the five minutes can be the difference between winning and losing so it’s about making sure that doesn’t happen on the day.”
As a result of his injury issues, McWatt has been forced to become far more diligent about his physical preparation and he admits that while he does occasionally have the odd flicker of concern about the state of his knees, he is now in a position whereby he has complete confidence in his physical abilities.
“It’s been so good to be able to do a few competitions and training blocks on the trot,” he said.
“Now I’m at the point that even if I do get a little bit of pain in my knee, I know I’m still ok and it’s fine to keep training through it. And I feel like I’m back mentally too. I’ve had some good performances in competitions and that’s helped my confidence a lot.
“This is the best place I’ve been in my career and things keep getting better so I just need to work on keeping progressing in every aspect.”
With Olympic qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Games on the verge of starting, the next two years are huge for McWatt. And he admits that with the prospect of making his Olympic debut potentially on the horizon, he could not be more motivated about what lies in front of him.
“It feels weird that Olympic qualification is so close now,” he admits.
“I was still a junior when the qualification for the Rio Olympics was happening so I haven’t been through the process yet so I’m really looking forward to the next two years. It doesn’t feel too daunting yet, although I’m sure that as the Olympics get closer, it will start getting pretty serious. But right now, I’m just excited to have a crack at the competitions and trying to climb up the world rankings.”
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