My name is Gary Hall, I’m 25 and living in Bristol. My aim is to raise £2,000 to continue to pursue my dream of qualifyng for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games!

I started judo at 4 years old and started winning competitions as soon as I entered them. I was named West of England ‘Player of the Year’ 3 years running.

At 12 I was old enough to fight for a place on the British junior judo squad, which I achieved and held on to for the next 8 years. During this period I was the British National Judo Champion 4 times.

I was selected for many top internationals including the Russian Cup, the Cadet Europeans and the Junior World Judo Championships, and I was funded by the Olympic Committee on a scheme called TASS – for talented athletes, which was based at Bath University.

As a senior I am now self-funding (I receive no funding from GB) and finding it difficult to afford the foreign competitions and training camps that I need.

I am a family man, a proud husband and dad to my daughter, and, like most people, I am in full time employment.

I get up at 5.30am every morning to go to the gym before going to my office job. I train most evenings and for a full day each Wednesday at Bath University, where I am a member of Team Bath and follow their full time intense programme.

After picking up a serious knee injury in 2012 I was out of action for some time, going through rehab and bringing myself back fighting fit, I returned in November 2013 and completed at a senior European Cup in Malaga where I took Gold.

This gave me a huge boost for my confidence!

In December 2013 I competed in the British Trials and have secured myself a place on the Senior British Judo squad, again.

In March 2014, I competed in my first World Ranking event in Argentina called the Pan American Cup (Continental Open) wher I  took Silver. This result led me to comlete in my next World Ranking event in Madrid where I won a bronze medal and gained my very first ranking points for the Rio 2016 Olympics!

In July 2014, I competed for Team England at the Commonwealth Games where I won a bronze medal. This was a fantastic achievement and so far a personal best in my career.

Towards the end of 2014 I had some great experience competing in the Croatia Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam where I won more valuable qualifying points towards Rio 2016 and finished the year as British Senior Junior Champion with a Gold medal in the British Judo Championships.

This year started off with the Bulgaria World Cup and Germany Grand Prix where I again gained more points towards Rio 2016 Olympics qualification.

In March 2015, I travelled to Africa (Casablanca) for the African Open and achieved a 5^th place. Coming back from this event I went to Germany for a training camp with their national team.

In June 2015 I competed in the Romanian World Cup and then the Belarusian World Cup where I finished 7^th.

November 2015, I travelled to Glasgow for the GB World Cup where I managed to finish 5th.

Finishing the year as British Champion again, as I won all six fights in the British Senior Championships taking home a Gold medal.

2016 has started on track for me as I travelled to Tunisia for another World cup and finished with a Bronze medal giving me more valuable points towards Rio qualification.

I am currently ranked around 67 in the Olympic Games qualification list, where the top 22 qualify for Rio 2016.

Continuously travelling the world training and competing is very costly, the following training camps and competitions I have planned for 2016 are:

Date	Event			Cost
16/01/2016	Tunisia Africa World Cup			£550
22/01/2016	GBR Training Camp			£180
13/02/2016	Oberwart World Cup			£450
19/02/2015	Germany G/Prix			£450
27/02/2016	Prague World Cup			£450
05/03/2016	Peru Pan American Open			£600
12/03/2016	Casablanca Africa World Cup			£500
02/05/2016	European Training Camp			£420
13/05/2016	Kazakhstan Grand Prix			£600
				£4,200

If I can raise £2,000 (or more), this would help me to continue my Olympic qualification  and increase my chance of qualifying for Rio 2016.

Thank you for your support and taking the time to read my page.