Shauna launches fund to fulfil Olympic dream
A TOP Mayo athlete has her sights set on representing Ireland in karate at the next Olympic Games.
A member of the Irish national team since she was 12, Shauna Mullaney's current world ranking puts her in a great position to achieve her dream.
To get to the Olympics, Shauna needs to compete in premier league competitions, world and European championships to build up her ranking. As a self-funded athlete and full-time student in Dublin City University, the qualifying route is very expensive and Shauna has set up a GoFundMe page - https://www.gofundme.com/im-an-athlete-and-i-need-your-help.
The talented 21-year-old's senior level ranking is 186th in the world, which puts her in a strong position for the end of year because, as she explains, it won’t take much to build up her ranking competitions. At Under 21 level her ranking is sitting at 53rd in the world.
Shauna took up karate aged six, training in Meelick, Swinford, with Kevin Loftus. As she explains: "My mam and dad wanted myself and my sister to do karate for self-defence so we could protect ourselves if we needed too, but I wanted to start karate because of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! My sister and I loved them when we were younger."
Shauna became a member of the national team (development squad) aged 12 and began attending senior ladies squad training when she was just 15, and she hasn't missed a squad training since.
Her parents have been hugely supportive, she said: "My dad, for years, would bring me all over the country and internationally also for training and competitions. When I turned 16 I started to travel on my own with the team."
Shauna achieved her first black belt (shodan) when she was 12 years old and her second black belt (nidan) at age 17, with plans to go for more grades in the future as time allows.
In competition her fighting weight is -55kg, which she sits naturally under, so there's no heavy dieting, allowing her to focus on competing and fighting in her absolute best condition possible.
Shauna attends DCU, where she achieved a sports scholarship for her first year of college. "This has been a major help and the staff in DCU have been very accommodating for my competition schedule and academics, which has made a massive difference to me," she continued.
"I now train in Santry as part of the IKKU, with Sensei Paul Brennan (national senior ladies karate Ireland coach). This has made a massive difference to my training and competing as I am sparring with male and female competitors the same age as me and with the same ambitions, the Olympics.
"In order to qualify for the games we need to be competing with the best of the best all year round in world, European and premier league events such as Series A and K1 events. We get points for attending these competitions.
"It is going to be hard for Ireland to qualify but we aren’t afraid of hard work and we have our eyes set. It has been a dream of mine for so long and now that karate is an Olympic sport I am going to try my absolute best to turn my dream into a reality."
Shauna has a long list of impressive achievements to her credit. Last year alone saw three 11th placings at the Premier League K1 Paris and Dutch Opens and World Karate Championships, Under 21, in Tenerife. She won gold in the Under 21 Scottish Open and took senior silver in the senior national championships.
She has set herself three goals for the remainder of this year: get selected for the World Senior Championships in Madrid, win more national medals and medal wins at Series A events, and get into the top 100 in order to compete at K1 events.
Back in the university, Shauna is club captain and events officer of DCU Karate Club, and she is also on the organisation committee for the intervarsities - DCU will be holding the annual intervarsity karate national championships. At this year's intervarsities DCU was placed second overall with one of the smallest teams, with Shauna winning two bronze medals and a gold.
At this year’s clubs and societies awards she was awarded the Individual Sporting Excellence Award in her first year in DCU - a massive achievement and one she hopes to continue to build and grow on.
And closer to home, she was awarded a Martin Sheridan Bursary Award, which was personally very special. "I went to primary school in Bohola and to know Martin Sheridan was the first Olympic athlete from Mayo made me very proud to be awarded this award," she said.
* To show your support for Shauna, visit her page – https://www.gofundme.com/im-an-athlete-and-i-need-your-help.