People We Like: Kiwi Judoka Elsewhere Profile #1: Mahana Clutha

In light of our announcement of wave upon wave of Judo scholarships, it seems right to pay tribute to those who have gone overseas to develop their Judo without support; People who have largely done it on their own. Here is one of them.


[Mahana (left) on the podium at the 2009 British University Championships, where all medals in the division were won by TeamBath. The other medal winners are two time Olympian Marcon Bezzina from Malta, and top international British athletes Gemma Gibbons and Megan Fletcher.]

Mahana started Judo in 1995 at Canterbury Amateur Judo Club in Sydenham, Christchurch. She moved from club to area to island to national level, and won her first senior national title in 2005 at age 17.

After graduating from university at the end of 2006 Mahana worked three jobs for three months, while training every day, to save for a four-month solo trip to Japan. There she trained two times per day, six days per week, at Tsukuba University, one of the top training centres in Japan. She followed the same training schedule as members of the Japanese national team, the most dominant team in world judo.

Mahana moved to Bath, UK in September 2007. Mahana was one of approximately 50 full-time judo players from all over the world based at Bath. She trained 2-3 times per day following a specially designed programme of judo, strength, and conditioning. Mahana received guidance from the Head Judo Coach, two Coaching and Teaching Fellows, and a specialist Japanese judo coach.

Mahana was also employed to assist in running the European Judo Union Coaching Degree at the University of Bath, the only such course in the world. She was responsible for course logistics and planning, and was able to join many of the lectures and practical sessions, and gained contacts with high-performance coaches worldwide.

In mid 2009 Mahana was invited to move to the newly establish British Judo Performance Institute (BJPI) in Dartford near London, where she is now the only foreigner training full-time with the British national squad. The BJPI has recently been established as a base to prepare for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and also as a permanent training centre for British Judo. Mahana’s main training partner is the British number 1 at her weight (-63kg).

If you're a kiwi training off-shore get in touch. We will try and tell your story too.