SWANSEA: British judo champion Zac, 14, wanted to quit when his mum was diagnosed with cancer
When Zac Thomas found out his mum had breast cancer, the Swansea teenager wanted to give up and stay at home with her.
The news “shocked me a bit”, the 14-year-old said. “I wanted to quit and stay home with my mum, but I thought that I just had to push through it.”
He didn’t quit. In the past 10 months he has become British Judo champion and British School Judo champion, the awards say.
On Friday night he won the Young Sporting Hero award for over-13s at the Child of Wales Awards.
The ceremony at Swansea Building Society Arena marked the awards’ fifth anniversary, with 700 guests.
Zac on the podium at a British Judo event (Image: Child of Wales Awards)The only Welsh child picked for the British squad in Japan
Only one Welsh child was picked to go to Japan with the British squad, and it was Zac. He is also a three-time Welsh jujitsu champion and a member of the Welsh Jujitsu Squad.
His family say he has been invited to South Africa and has trained in other countries. He “went to Malta for the Commonwealth Games” and came home with a bronze, they said.
At one competition he won three gold medals in three different weight categories, they added.
Zac lives with autism and the attention deficit conditions ADHD and ADD, the awards say. He also passes on what he knows about judo to other young people.
Zac at a Welsh Judo Association event (Image: Child of Wales Awards)Judo started when he watched his brother
Football came first, when he was four or five, and he played for Cardiff City, he said. Then came rugby, which he loved, but he wanted another sport.
Judo came from watching his brother. “I watched my brother do it for like a month. Then I really wanted to start doing it,” he said.
His coach told his dad he was ready. After his first training session, Zac said, he “loved it”.
Football and rugby have not gone anywhere. He helped Penlan Football Club win the league, cup and Champions Cup, and was part of Dunvant Rugby’s Ospreys Cup win.
Zac playing rugby (Image: Child of Wales Awards)New on Facebook
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Christmas morning, serving dinner to people who are homeless
Every Christmas morning he gives up to six hours to serve a three-course meal to people experiencing homelessness, the awards say.
He and his brother have done it for “a good few years now”, his family said, going down to “cook, and give out the food”.
“I can stick up for myself now”
Everybody loves him, his family said, “but he is the lovable rogue in school, out of school, in judo”.
They were “gobsmacked” by the award. “He deserves this, especially all that he’s been through,” they said.
Zac Thomas with his Young Sporting Hero award at the Child of Wales Awards (Image: Child of Wales Awards)Zac has plans of his own. When he finishes school, he said, he might start his own company, called Zac Thomas Club.
The reason is what judo has given him. “I can stick up for myself now, which I’m very happy,” he said.
He wants to pass that on to others, “so they can feel the way how I feel now”.
BBC Morning Live presenter Gethin Jones hosted the awards for a fifth year. The night raised money for Wales Air Ambulance and the mental health charity Big Moose.
Neath dad John Jenkins, who carried his daughter Leah to the top of Pen y Fan, also won on the night.
So did Pontardawe’s Cian Evans, 11, who plans to walk up it 10 times in 24 hours.
Llandovery firefighter Cathryn Moore, 19, was named Young Leader.
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Young Fundraiser at this year’s Child of Wales Awards.
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Cathryn Moore, Young Leader winner.
NEATH: Dad ran 27 miles to Pen y Fan, carried his daughter to the top, then ran home
John Jenkins, Above & Beyond winner.
More on the Child of Wales Awards
Every story from the awards for Wales’ young people.