Blind man grapples with long odds because he hates losing
Clinton Davies can’t see the opponents he beats, or the medals he wins.
Davies has been 95 per cent blind since the age of two, the result of an allergic reaction which also blistered his skin and affected his lungs.
But the 34- year- old Aucklander — who sees rough shapes up to a metre — beat the odds and many naysayers to become a top wrestler and jujutsu exponent. He has won 10 national wrestling titles and two in jujutsu, and represented New Zealand at world championships in both.
The remarkable Davies, who won Pan Pacific jujutsu medals in Melbourne last week, is about to enter new territory as a motivational speaker. He chats to the Herald. As a blind person, wrestling. With jujutsu, you keep in contact with your opponent all the time. In wrestling, guys came to use blindness against me which i s the smart move. They started attacking from long distance. I had no complaints. In sport you use any advantage that you have. Lots and lots of training. I still wrestle six times a week, work with MMA fighters, train jujutsu twice a day six times a week. I lost every wrestling fight for t wo years when I started, about 40 fights. Worse still, I didn’t even score a point. I don’t quit. I told people I was going to be a national champion and go to the world champs. So many doubted me. My mum was stubborn. Maybe I got it from her. I hate losing. It sucks. I had three brothers and a sister. We were brought up all over the North Island, between Featherston and Auckland. My mum had itchy feet. You’d come home and she would be changing the house around. We moved 15 times during one three year period. I kind of stopped making friends which was the hard part and back then there wasn’t the technology for blind people to keep in contact. We became experts at packing — she would tell us one day before the truck arrived and we’d pack a four or five bedroom house in a day. There are five things that make you successful . . . make sure you really want what you are aiming for . . . believe in yourself . . . have one person who also believes in you . . . goal setting including small goals . . . and of course hard, hard work all the time. The first time I won at the Oceania Champs. They were playing the national anthem and raising the flag . . . you can’t describe that feeling to someone who hasn’t experienced it. ( Olympic gold medal- winning cyclist) Sarah Ulmer . . . she was awesome. She never quit. And back then she had to deal with more negativity about women’s sport. People ask why I was never interested in the Paralympics. I did consider it but people see Paralympians as less, even though they argue they don’t. I’d like to see the Paralympic events put into the Olympics — everyone would just be Olympians. This might sound up myself but all I care about is winning a world championship jujutsu medal. Never. People ask if I wish I wasn’t blind. No way man. I had a pretty rough upbringing, shifting all the time. I got bullied at school. But now I have a fantastic life. I’m such a lucky person. I’ve had a partner ( Andrea) for 15 years, we hardly ever argue, two awesome kids, roof over my head, food. I’ve got nothing to complain about.