Today we’d like to introduce you to Mariah Holguin.
Hi Mariah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started judo when I was 9 years old. My coach had moved from Albany, New York a few years earlier to retire in San Antonio. My dad’s friend did judo up in the northeast when he was a kid and knew about my coach from back in the day. He thought it would be fun to get my brother and his son into judo.
I started going to his practices with my dad just to watch. After a few weeks, my coach came up to me and asked if I would like to try. After that, I never stopped. Ever since I started judo things just continued on the upward. I won my first nationals at the age of 11. Multiple cadets, and junior national titles. Ever since I was a kid, I had a dream of going to the Olympics.
When I was 13 my coach sat me down and asked me what my goals were. I told him that I want to represent the USA in the Olympics someday. He told me something that I will always remember if I committed myself to judo, training, and competition no dream is too big. Fast forward I started competing in senior competitions at the age of 15. Won my first senior international cup gold at 18. Became Senior National Champion in 2021.
Then in April of 2022, I won bronze at the senior pan American Championships. Everything that I have accomplished has been a goal that I have set ahead of time. Through constant travel, training, conditioning, and competing I am continuing to take steps toward my goal of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No road is ever completely smooth. I have had my ups and downs throughout my 10-plus years of competing. To this day, I can look back on every major loss or injury and say that I learned something and grew from it. I always tell myself sometimes I will lose battles, but as long as I win the war.
As an athlete, you ideally never want to lose. However, that is not always the case. When I was 17, I fractured my leg in Taiwan in my bronze medal match. I ended up missing 2 World Teams due to surgery and recovery. My recovery was long, painful, and mentally exhausting.
Every day, I worked as hard as I could because of my desire to go back better than before my surgery. Then another challenge I faced was in 2017, 2018, and 2019, I got 2nd place at the Senior National Championships. I lost in the finals to 3 separate opponents three years in a row. This fact weighed on me even though I continued to progress internationally. It was a weight that I carried.
Finally, in 2021, I overcame this streak and won my first Senior National Title 2021. Then I followed it up by winning my second title this year. The struggles that I had in the previous years made my win in 2021 even sweeter. Those losses also propelled me to work even harder in other international competitions.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As well as being a full-time athlete I am also a full-time student. I am currently in my last semester at the University of Texas at Arlington. I will get my bachelors in Public Health.
My goal is to continue on to get my masters in public health. I have been traveling because of judo since I was a kid. I got to see all of these different cultures, and communities, and this drove me to also seek a profession in being able to help others. I am most proud of my ability to compete in judo at such a high level as well as get my degree.
I am proud that I am on my way to accomplishing the goals that I have set for myself since I was 15. I think what sets me apart from others is my drive to be great, competitiveness, and resiliency.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
People can support me by donating to my club Universal Judo’s non-profit San Antonio Parent Judo Parent Booster inc.
If they want to donate they can also reach out to me over social media. You can also just support me by following me on Instagram, and Facebook!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @mariah_hjudo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mariah.holguin.79
