Mid-Pacific’s Charlize Jasmine Pascual-Tabuyo has Olympic-size goals

Let it be known that sophomore Charlize Jasmine Pascual-Tabuyo received a scholarship to Mid-Pacific for more than her ability as a judoka.

“When she applied, my athletic director (Scott Wagner) pointed out that we were looking for students with character,” Owls judo coach Michael Valentine said. “And she earned it because of her character. She’s not only a superb athlete. She is in orchestra, she dedicates time to band. She’s in hula. She does a lot. She takes care of her siblings when her parents are busy. She was a captain of the team as a freshman and people say it was because she’s good. I say you don’t need to be good. It’s what you bring. She gets there early, always stays late and when she is injured she still does what she can at practice.”

It just so happens that the 16-year-old Pascual-Tabuyo — known to some as CJ — has loads of talent and an overabundance of passion for the sport. In a first interview, she spoke about trying to do the impossible. Halfway through a 45-minute second meeting, she finally opened up about what that meant when asked, “What do you want to accomplish in judo?”

With no hesitation, she said, “(That) would be the Olympics. It’s always been a little dream of mine to be able to compete in the Olympics. Even when I was little and didn’t know that I was going to be in judo. And now that I’m in a sport that is in the Olympics, I do want to be able to reach it. Yes, I do realize how hard it’s going to be.”

Musically inclined

Usually, there is a long time between an athlete’s sophomore year in high school and an Olympic qualification attempt, and — aside from constant training — she has other things to keep her busy. She’s been playing tenor and baritone saxophone for about five years and has been dancing with Halau Na Momo O Puuanahulu for about seven.

“I’ve grown a passion for playing the saxophone and being able to experience the diversity of music out there,” she said. “I enjoy playing in the band because I meet new people and we put everything together and the final product is pretty cool and awesome. I don’t think I ever want to let go of playing the saxophone.”

Young competitor

Pascual-Tabuyo has been a member of Hawaii Tenri Judo Club under sensei Gregory Chow since age 6. At first, she saw kids tumbling and thought it would be fun — “like gymnastics” — and a pet cat that would crawl across the mat during practice helped with attracting her to come back.

“When I first started to notice that I was getting better is when I moved up and the kids were a bit older,” Pascual-Tabuyo said. “They started beating me up. I didn’t like to lose, so I started practicing really, really hard every day. I would say, ‘I want to beat this person, Mom and Dad.’ ”

Sensei Chow said, “Coaching her is an easy job because she really just loves doing judo, loves to compete, loves to win and knows that the harder you work and the more effort you put in the more likely you will have success.”

Chow was instrumental in encouraging Pascual-Tabuyo to move up to national and international competitions. And it was a prudent move, since she now has 13 gold medals in national or international competitions. She’s competed in Belgium and Chile, where she was a member of the U.S.’s Cadet World team. Another noteworthy stat: She hasn’t lost in Hawaii or nationally since 2013.

On Friday, Pascual-Tabuyo will be going for a second ILH judo championship and a week later will try for a second state high school title. She also owns an ILH wrestling championship to go along with a third-place state placing.

Overcoming injury

Two serious concussions kept her out of wrestling this year, and they also kept her out of most of this judo season, but she said she is OK now.

Despite Pascual-Tabuyo’s objections, Valentine kept her from coming back too early after the second concussion.

“She was cleared in January and I told her that she wasn’t coming back until April,” Valentine said. “I told her she was more important to me as a person than a judo player. She was trying to go (to Hawaii Tenri) to practice and I had to call Sensei Chow and tell him no. I just needed her to show up at our practice every day and do all the drills, but no contact.”

Strong support system

It’s that kind of caring and support that will always resonate with Pascual-Tabuyo — all the way on her journey toward the Olympics and beyond.

When asked what one story from her high school judo days she would tell people in the future, Pascual-Tabuyo said, “Through the training and sacrifice, it’s amazing how much support I get from family, friends, coaches, teammates and some people I don’t even know who donate money when I have fundraisers. Without that, I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am today. It’s about all the people who pushed me and supported me in this journey, and helped when I was down and told me to get back up, saying ‘You’re going to do this.’ ”