Carly Marcella earns silver
One big difference between chess and judo is that a mistake in chess doesn’t put you on your back. But the mental preparation and execution required for success in both activities is similar.
And her mental approach is one of the factors which has put Shadle Park High School freshman Carly Marcella at an elite level only five years after she began competing as a member of the Pacific Judo Academy.
Marcella won a silver medal last month in the 40kg (88 pounds) division at the Pan American Juvenile Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The United States team won 12 medals overall, including two golds.
It’s been quite a journey for Marcella, who followed her brother and father into judo and took first place in her first tournament in 2002. She’s been coached by veteran mentor Bob Harder the entire time and also by her father, who accompanied her to Santo Domingo.
“The tournament was a big part of my life,” Marcella said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m still going to compete in tournaments, but judo won’t be a fulltime thing the way it was when I was getting ready.”
What she likes best about judo, Marcella says, is the disciplined training, the opportunity to work out and to learn self-defense techniques which will last her a lifetime.
“It also gives me the chance to test myself on the mat both during tournaments and workouts. I think judo is more mental than many other sports – to be successful, I have to think ahead to what moves or counters I want to do next. Judo requires you to know your limits, but also to push to new ones. And I’ve learned a lot about self-control.”
Harder remembers Marcella as a gentle kid when she began, and recalls how challenging it was for him to get her to become more aggressive.
“I had to get her to realize it’s a contact sport and to mix it up a little bit. For the first year and a half, I thought she’d be a recreational player, but all of a sudden when she got serious, she really took off. During the competitive season, she probably spends six or seven hours a week training at the academy, and at least that much on her own going through her routines both physically and mentally.
“Perseverance is the key to judo as it is in most sports. When other kids are fooling around in the mall, Carly’s had to be on the mat working on her judo. That’s been the biggest key to her success. We lose a lot of promising kids once they get to high school because there’s so much competition for their time that it’s hard to keep them on task.
“That hasn’t been the case with Carly, though. I never have to get on her – she does most of the work for me!”
Harder’s been coaching for some 50 years, mostly in Spokane, and currently has around 100 competitors of all ages registered at the academy. He was reluctant to miss the Dominican competition, but recently had a hip replacement and was unable to travel.
Marcella is also a member of the Shadle Park gymnastics team, and is currently polishing her skills in weekly club gymnastics workouts. She’s been a club gymnast for several years.
In his long career, Harder has had several judo players who’ve competed internationally, but, as he said, “It’s nice to watch when that happens. It’s always payday when kids like Carly come along.”