Combat sports was always going to play a big part in Callum Nash’s life, the only surprise is the 23-year-old does his fighting on the judo mat and not in the boxing ring.
Nash is one of a seven strong Team NI squad selected for the Commonwealth Games in the West Midlands this summer and his family has already tasted success at the multi-sport event.
Nash’s dad Roy won a silver medal at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh losing in the boxing bantamweight (54kg) final to England’s Sean Murphy.
Read more: West Belfast boxer targeting Commonwealth glory after returning to the ring
Callum’s uncle is Charlie Nash represented Ireland in the ring at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
As a professional Charlie won the British and European lightweight titles but his quest to add the WBC world crown was ended by Scotland’s Jim Watt in the fourth round at Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall on March 14, 1980.
“Dad went over to Scotland and performed coming away with a silver medal," Nash said.
"He doesn’t talk about it too much it is up in the house. Mum would sort of take the reins on it and want him to show it off a bit more but dad is more reserved about it all so he really wouldn’t show off too much, but I know he is proud off it.
“I’d love to get a gold, I’d definitely want to medal but gold is 100% the goal.
“I haven’t talked to Dad too much about it but I reckon when it comes closer to the time I’ll start slagging him a bit about it and see how he takes it.
“I’m too young to remember my Uncle Charlie fighting Jim Watt but I have heard stories about it.
“Charlie would have chatted away to me about it when I was up at the boxing club.”
Nash had the choice between judo and boxing.
“My Mum’s (Donna) side of the family are all judo and my Dad’s side of the family are all boxing, so I grew up around both and it just so of came to the stage where I decided judo," he added.
“Mum when she was younger would have competed in judo at European Cups and things like that, then she would have coached for a number of years but now she just kind of leaves it to me but she is very passionate about it.
“Obviously she wants me to do really well in judo, so she is very supportive.
“Judo just felt right, I had a really good year in judo and it kind of spurred me on that I just wanted more and wanted to do more in the sport so here I am now.”
Nash will be joined in Birmingham by Joshua Green, both have grown up in the sport together.
"Joshua and myself have always been close from a young age when I first started judo back in the day. We have always been training partners coming up through the years and stuff.”
“There has always been that competitive nature as well which has spurred both of us on which has been good as well and we are now at the stage where we are just looking to bring each other on hopefully both of us will be on the podium come the Commonwealth Games.
“The more we got into judo and the more we developed a passion and want to succeed at the highest level we both had the idea of let’s get to the top.”
Nash has plenty of experience of winning medals at big events.
“I won medals at the European Cup in cadets (junior level) and I won a silver at senior level in the European Cup and in other competitions throughout the world. It is all about having a good day and having good training and good prep behind it," he said.
While Birmingham may only be a couple of months away it has been a long road for Nash to be selected.
“This is the first competition that everything has been geared towards with the programme in the last couple of years, this is definitely the first step to many more competitions at this level," he added.
“I have plenty of training camps coming up now and starting to prep so I can peak for that first week in August, so it is definitely going to be busy.
“The camps coming up will be tight going and a grind but good training and definitely the type of level we need.
“When we are in Ireland we are just competing against each other you don’t get that level of sparring you would aboard because there are so many more judo players in different countries so you need that to keep your sparring at the top level so you can feel at the best.”
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