She’s only 12 years old, yet Mila Ben David has an impressive résumé of international victories in judo and jiu-jitsu.
The grade 6 pupil from the Elite Sport and Cultural Academy (ESCA) in Wanderers, Johannesburg is fresh from winning first place at the Abu Dhabi World Youth Jiu-Jitsu Championships in the orange belt division on November 4.
“My goal is to win the world jiu-jitsu championship in the black belt division,” Mila told Sunday World on Saturday from her home in the northern suburb of Oaklands in Johannesburg.
Mila’s interest in judo was piqued in 2017 while she was watching the world championship on television. Her father Amir Ben David, who also did martial arts, encouraged his daughter to try judo.
“I went to the first training and it was super cool. After a few classes, my dad saw that I was really good,” she said.
The following year in 2018, Mila entered her first competition. “I was so nervous I cried. It was only after I won and they raised my hand that I smiled,” she said.
Mila said that was the first and last time she cried on and off the mat. “Now I tell myself ‘I’m gonna win. I’m confident. It is a chance to give a performance’,” she chuckled.
International competition
The second competition she won was an international competition. She is so good, she even competes with boys.
“I only lose to boys. But the boys don’t want to compete with me anymore,” she said, adding that her losses were international losses and were by referees’ decision.
She said the first time she lost she was devastated. “I was very sad. My coach told me what I did wrong and needed to do to get better,” she said.
She said she took her second loss years later on her chin. “You don’t always have to win; you also learn by losing,” said Mila.
She does, however, admit that she prefers winning so much so that even her hobbies are related to training.
The two-time South African Championship winner in jiu-jitsu enjoys rock climbing which helps her with grips. She also loves muay thai and boxing – and she is self-taught in gymnastics.
In addition to judo and jiu-jitsu, David is making a name for herself in competitive wrestling.
“I started wrestling last year. I had a coach that did wrestling and she said to me ‘I think you would be good at wrestling’.”
Mila accepted the invitation to try out wrestling.
“It is a tough sport, one of the toughest sports in the world.”
Winning against boys
She won her first competition against a boy because there were no girls in her division.
“I have lost only against boys in wrestling. Not girls.”
In the short period that she has been wrestling, Mila has already been crowned South Africa’s champ in wrestling.
She is looking forward to her last competition of the year and hopes to end the year on high note.
On December 3, she will be taking part in her last jiu-jitsu competition for the year – the Submission Kings.
“I have won it a number of times,” said Mila confidently.
She was born in Spain and came to South Africa when she was five years old because her father got a job in South Africa.
She was attending the King David Primary School in Linksfield until last year. Her parents enrolled her at ESCA, a school that accommodates her sporting talent and schedule.
“It has the flexibility of homeschooling but at a school,” said father Amir. Her mother Gabriela agrees that ECSA was the best choice for their little champ.
