HONOLULU — You’ll understand if Thomas and Laura Obuhanych don’t exactly squeal every time their daughter Chloe, all doe eyes and shy smiles, plants some larger, stronger girl like a ficus into the mat, or outmaneuvers a more experienced judoka for a winning ippon, or maybe forces some poor unsuspecting young man to submit with a perfectly executed rear naked choke hold.

For the lay observer, watching the champion judo player and nationally ranked wrestler display her abilities to trophy-raising success is jaw-dropping stuff. For the Obuhanyches, it’s another Saturday afternoon in Hawaii. Or Texas. Or — this week — Panama.

Chloe and her Team Hawaii teammates are in Panama City for the Pan American Judo Championships. Chloe will compete in the 15U division starting on Friday.

On the Facebook posts he obligingly composes to keep far-flung family apprised of Chloe’s latest exploits, Thomas devotes much space to expressing thanks for organizers, fellow competitors and their clubs, and Chloe’s coaches and teammates. Of Chloe’s performances, victories are simply “good” days. No fire emojis. No exclamation points. Losses (“not what we had hoped for”) are reported with the same lack of hyperbole, just opportunities for learning and improving.

Thomas saves his adrenaline for those instances when Chloe has to dig deep to pull out a win despite injury, fatigue or other challenges that might derail another young competitor. Laura, herself a prominent fixture in the local wrestling scene as a coach and former competitor, gets pumped when her daughter unveils in competition something she has been working on in practice.

“I get excited when she tries something new, and it works,” she says.

Chloe is mostly mum on the subject of herself, though part of that is a direct result of a serious but non-fatal biological condition: She’s 14.

Pitch her a few softball questions. Lay some hot-take bait. You’re chipping golf balls into a snowdrift of sweetness and silence.

Yet, Chloe is fiercely devoted to her chosen disciplines. While she and her family value process over prizes, she nonetheless collects wrestling and judo trophies like some kids her age collect Pokemon cards. Trades them, even.

She once received in the mail a first-place trophy from the USA Judo Junior Olympics that had been errantly awarded to a girl from Mongolia. In turn, she sent the second-place trophy she had received to the next-highest-ranking U.S. competitor. 

Back in 2018, her 9-and-under girls’ team left the FloWrestling Reno World National Wrestling before finding out they had taken first place. The trophy was so large, the organizers wouldn’t ship it so the club had to make other arrangements to get it to Hawaii.

Her Mother’s Judoka

The genetic source of Chloe’s athletic abilities is a matter of parental debate, but Laura has the clear advantage in documented evidence. Her father was a judo sensei, and she competed in bowling, softball and track before embarking on her own judo training as a high school sophomore, even competing in a national tournament. 

Laura took a break from judo when she started working after college, but was drawn back in to coach for McKinley High School. When the school later started a girls wrestling team, she was recruited as a volunteer coach despite having never wrestled before. Learning on the job, she eventually began competing, mostly in national tournaments.

“I learned from the girls,” she said. “They taught me how to wrestle.”

Laura, a National Board certified teacher at Holomua Elementary, continued to coach with stops at Mililani and Campbell High Schools. She’s still at it at Pearl City High School and with O2 Rhino Wrestling.

An Early Start

Laura introduced Chloe to wrestling when she was just 5 or 6 years old via an informal kids’ wrestling club she started with a couple of other coaches who had children the same age. The sessions were mostly just the kids rolling around for fun, but some actual skills were imparted and, at least in Chloe’s case, some fires lit.

“I think she was just 5 and there was a state youth tournament at Moanalua,” Thomas recalled, chuckling. “She placed second to this Maui boy who looked like a little bodybuilder. So they’re standing on the podium and she’s staring down the whole time. Everyone is going up to her to congratulate her, and she’s giving stink eye.

“She hates to lose,” he said. “She used to cry a lot when she’d lose. I’d comfort her, and she’d have big bubbles because she just couldn’t take losing. I think that’s what drove her to get better.”

Just as importantly, Chloe’s drive was properly channeled by experienced coaches, including Laura, who provided the right kind of environment to keep her focused and motivated.

“She would not have fit into one of those hardcore clubs that are just very old school,” Thomas said. “She likes to have fun with her friends, too.”

As she grew older, Chloe trained intensively in both judo and wrestling, competing in up to 80 wrestling matches a year and only slightly fewer in judo. The disciplines proved complementary, as they do for many young competitors, and Chloe showed an early aptitude for both, consistently winning more than she lost.

She even trained in jiu jitsu, initially as a preparation for the more combative style of judo she’d be facing as she got older. She progressed so quickly that it wasn’t long before she was placed in expert divisions with bigger boys and older, heavier girls. The competition took a toll, and she’s since stepped back to focus more on judo and wrestling.

Chloe started competing nationally in 2016, winning her division in the Winter Nationals judo tournament in Azusa, Calif., on one of her first trips. She started wrestling nationally the following year to similar success.

“At that point, we were like, ‘Wow, she’s the real thing,’” Thomas said. 

“The Results Don’t Lie”

Early success is no guarantor that a gifted wrestler or judoka will ascend to the highest levels of their discipline. It’s a fact Kevin Asano understands better than most.

Still, the 1988 Olympic silver medalist sees rare potential in Chloe.

“She’s very serious, focused, diligent and hardworking,” said Asano, who has worked closely with Chloe for years. “You don’t see that too much in younger kids. There’s a fire burning inside of her.”

Cedric Yogi, head instructor at O2 Rhino Wrestling, sees the same potential in her wrestling.

“She started very young, which was a big help,” Yogi said. “She trains hard and conditions, from push-ups to hitting the weights. She has really good mental drive and her length helps. She has good reach, and she’s very intelligent.”

Chloe is slight of build, mild in demeanor, an intimidator by reputation only. But she’s tough and unperturbable, at home in the fray. Opponents unfamiliar with her skills and overall acuity might underestimate her, but only once.

Thomas has a favorite video clip from one of Chloe’s wrestling matches. It was taken at the Maui Championships and her opponent was a former middle school champion and high school junior varsity champion for her weight class. Chloe had moved up in class to face her.

Midway through the match, the girl scooped Chloe for a ferocious slam and a 10-6 advantage. It seems a pivotal moment. The opponent, now up 10-6, walks away, clearly energized. Chloe seems shocked, a bit stunned.

The girls reengage, obligated to play out what now appears to be the final minutes of a convincing victory for the other girl. But then Chloe shifts her weight, makes use of that good reach and, with a move she’s never attempted in competition, turns her opponent for a pin. She wins.

“She’s not musclebound,” Asano says. “At first glance, she’s just a normal kid with a normal physique, but the results don’t lie. It’s her heart.”

Chloe’s emergence as an elite competitor was swift and by late-2018, she was on a tear.

In October, she emerged from a 20-deep division with a 5-0 record and no points given to take first place at the Freakshow National Youth Wrestling Tournament in Las Vegas and the outstanding wrestler trophy for the elementary girls division. The following month, she went undefeated in two USA Wrestling tournaments. Over the next few weeks, she also won the second of what would be three consecutive Hawaii State Judo Championships titles and first place in the annual Jr. Officials Middle School Wrestling Championship.

Momentum continued to build through 2019 as she placed first in the 50^th State Judo Tournament, earned her fourth consecutive Hawaii State Triple Crown award by placing first in the state in freestyle, folkstyle and Greco wrestling, and earned top honors in the JBBH Summer Judo Tournament, the Gracie Uptown Invitation Jiu Jitsu Tournament, the Uemura Cup Judo Championship, the Hawaii State Judo Championships (her third in a row), the Hawaii USA Elementary School Fall Wrestling Championship, the Hawaii USA Junior Officials Middle School Wrestling Championship and several other competitions.

She also competed in the Pan American games in Guadalajara, Mexico, and in the USA Judo Junior Olympics.

The Restart

And then the pandemic hit and Chloe found herself without a competitive outlet for the better part of two years, a veritable eternity for a young athlete still building the foundation of a competitive career.

The family bought mats and tried their best to keep up training at home, but the extended layoff took a toll mentally and physically. 

The return to competition has come in stops and starts, gold medal performances at the USA Judo Junior Olympics and a fifth consecutive Hawaii State USA Wrestling Triple Crown award interspersed with less successful showings exacerbated by nagging injuries.

Finally, though, the rust has fallen away; the injuries have resolved and Chloe again seems poised to reassert herself in local and national competition.

Earlier this week, she took gold at the USA Judo President’s Cup National Championships in Irving, Texas, winning all three of her matches by different ippons. On Friday, she’ll cinch her judo belt to represent the USA in competition against the top 15U judoka.

The Future

Thomas and Laura understood from the start that it wasn’t their children’s obligation to fulfill their hopes and aspirations, rather it was theirs to make sure that both had every opportunity to find their own happiness and fulfillment. Their older child, Chase, an excellent student, was a standout baseball but gave it up to concentrate on his studies and eventually took up judo. For Chloe, the possibilities are wide open.

“How far she goes is to be seen,” Asano said. “It’s what she wants to do going into high school and college; she has to decide between judo and wrestling. If she wants to go to the Olympics, she has to make a decision. It’s about heart, if she wants it. The road to the Olympics is very difficult and you have to want it. You can’t get pushed into it.”

If Chloe does want to try for the Olympics, her best shot would be 2028, he said.

“She’s competing at a high level, but you can’t tell at this age because some kids are pushed too hard and they burn out,” Yogi said. “She’s definitely good enough for the college level. The Olympics are hard to tell. It takes a special mindset.”

It takes a certain breed of parent, too. Thomas and Laura have invested incalculable time, energy and money into supporting Chloe and Chase’s pursuits. They are familiar faces within the expansive national network of judo and wrestling club parents and coaches who look out for each other on the tournament circuit. Yet, their investment comes with no expectation.

“Chloe’s parents are good and they know when to push and when to back off,” he said. “Laura and Thomas have always put their faith in us as coaches and we work with them very closely.”

Laura, who once competed against Olympic bronze medalist and current Iowa University women’s wrestling coach Clarissa Chun, said she would like to see Chloe use her skills to perhaps earn a college scholarship, but both she and Thomas are fine with whatever she chooses.

“She loves it so I don’t see her quitting,” Thomas said. “But if it does happen, I just want whatever she wants.”

Picture This

Yogi has a favorite moment involving Chloe that he just had to capture on his phone.

Chloe and his daughter are best friends, have been since they were little. They both excel in wrestling and just about everything else that interests them (this year, they joined the Pearl City High School air riflery team, which went on to win the state championship). Tournament trips turn in to mini family vacations as the girls and their families visit theme parks and fishing spots and other attractions together.

And Yogi knows well how quiet Chloe can be.

“She never talks to anybody,” he said. “But we were in Reno for (the Freakshow National Youth Wrestling Tournament) and Serah asked if Chloe could catch a ride with us. They were in the backseat and it was the first time I heard her talk at all. It was the just the two of them talking to each other and laughing like any other girls.”

And that, the Obuhanyches agree, is what all this has always been about.

“She loves the relationships, the friendships,” Thomas said. “She’s made so many lifelong friends. She enjoys the competition and the training and winning, but she loves all of that as long as her best friend is with her.” 

Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii.