MELISSA McMillan returned from competing at the Oceania Judo Union World Cup in Samoa with a dislocated AC joint in her right shoulder.
But the 20-year-old — who spent four weeks training in Brazil before the Samoa event — came back with the belief that she could achieve her goal of representing New Zealand at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
“The trip to Brazil and Samoa was to give me experience and to let me see the level of competition I needed to be at to make it to Scotland,” said McMillan, a former New Zealand under-17 world cup football trialist.
“It was a good eye-opener but I know I can make the Commonwealth Games — if I am prepared to make sacrifices and commit myself totally to judo for the next three years.
“That means giving up football, which I love, training six days a week and giving up chocolate, which I also love.
“And I have to lose six kilograms. I fight at under 63kg now and need to be fighting at under 57kg — that’s my best weight — to make the Commonwealth Games.
“I am also putting on hold the possibility of a career in the police.”
McMillan was seventh overall in Samoa at u63kg — an event that attracted players from 37 countries. She had to forfeit her third-round fight after dislocating her shoulder against an American opponent.
“That was disappointing but there was no way I could have fought on.”
McMillan trained with and fought against professional judo players while she was in Brazil, said her coach and mentor, Esther Velloza-Reedy, who refereed fights at the OJU Sao Paulo world cup.
“Our players work nine to five then train,” Velloza-Reedy said.
“We have to then go out and try to match up against professionals. Amateurs against professionals in any sport is hard.
“The professionals also get their trips funded, whereas Missy (McMillan) had to fund-raise for both trips.
“Judo is big in Brazil, with fights televised, and there was tremendous pressure on the referees but I enjoyed it.
“Missy learned a lot from training and being in a professional judo environment. She knows what she has to do to make the Commonwealth Games and I believe if she puts in the effort she can go to Glasgow.”
McMillan said she needed to work on the mental aspect of judo.
“I get really nervous before playing. I don’t know why but I have always felt nervous before a fight.
“I’m not afraid of getting hurt, or even losing, it’s more worrying about whether I have warmed up enough of if I will make mistakes.
“The key for me is believing in myself.”
McMillan lost in the first round at Sao Paulo to the eventual winner, “a girl from Mongolia who won every fight by Ippon, the top score”.
Before that contest they travelled to Rio to watch a grand slam — top players in the world playing for money and points for Olympic Games qualifying, Velloza-Reedy said.
“We also trained at Sao Paulo with the judo team from Osasco, a city of over one million people.
“I used to live there and I still have contacts, so Missy worked with their top team doing judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training (BJJ).”
The pair also trained at two local BJJ clubs and an instructor took them to the federal police building to train with the police team.
“That was cool,” McMillan said.
“We also did Pilates, which was judo specific exercises. Esther’s husband owns a Pilates studio there and he has devised a programme for the studio.
“We also ran on the beach as part of our training. The beaches are packed with people playing football and volleyball.”
Velloza-Reedy said that judo was so popular in Brazil that the Osasco city council paid players to play judo and to teach it in the schools.
While they were in Brazil it was International Day and one of the instructors, Juliana Roche, invited McMillan to go out to a school to teach judo.
“The kids were from five years to eight years and they tried to teach me Portugese,” McMillan said.
“As well as teaching judo, I took presents and spoke about Gisborne, with Juliana translating.
“Going to Brazil was an awesome experience,” McMillan said.
“I learned so much about judo and about myself as a person. But I would never have been able to afford it were it not for the support of so many people.
“There are so many, I couldn’t name them all, but they know who they are.
“The best way to repay them would be to go to the Commonwealth Games.
“To do that, I have to get placings at overseas tournaments over the next three years, continually get points and be ranked No. 1 in my weight division.
“I also need to be a black belt, which I achieved at the North Island champs in Wellington this year.
“That’s one goal off my list; now I want to work hard at ticking off all the other goals.”
But she will have to wait at least six weeks, while her shoulder heals.
“Once that’s OK I’ll be back into training. I miss judo.
“I hurt my back a few years ago when I fell off a horse. After it healed I played football for United women and loved it, but once I went back to judo I realised how much I had missed it.
“The judo club has been like a family to me since I was 12.
“If it weren’t for judo I probably wouldn’t have been out of Gisborne, let alone all over New Zealand and overseas.”
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