The Tournament is at The Four Points Sheraton Hotel, 1150 Wellington Rd South, London Ont. Like most boxing events usually I would be on a card along with maybe 6 or 7 other scheduled fights all taking place on a Saturday night or a specific time and day on the weekend. It has been difficult to tell people that want to come when I will be fighting, the truth of the matter is I don't know. The weigh-ins are tomorrow morning at 9am, after that they will draw out of a hat as to the order the fights will go on. The Gold Medal matches are on Sunday. If I fight friday and win, I will have to weigh-in again on the next day I fight. I could speculate or assume or guess that I will be fighting friday night, this will most LIKELY be the case, but I just don't know. I've been advised to expect to fight at any time and to be perpared for anything.
The tickets you can get there, I know a weekend pass is $60, I am assuming a day pass is $25, great value, you can see a lot of fights, quality boxing and entertainment. Obviously I would love the support from anybody who can come, Team Destiny would love it too. I know that many people have msgd me wanting to come and support me and I apologize for not being able to get back to people, I have really locked down my focus so I hope you all understand, the truth is I haven't even responded to my own family with any details and many of them are waiting for this blog entry as well. I also knew that I would be unable to give a time and/or day that I would be fighting and this would greatly effect people's ability to attend.
SO!!! I will post on my status on FB after the weigh-ins and give everyone as much details as I can. Forgive me if I don't respond, I am focused on what I have to do to perform and support my team as well. I would love to see as many friends and family there but I TOTALLY understand the inconvenience of the situation. There will be plenty more opportunities in the future. Hopefully!
So, we're here, the start of my journey, the start of my competitive boxing career. All the training is done, all the preparation. There is nothing left to do but compete to the best of my ability and enjoy this moment. There are so many people to thank, it would take up a whole blog page, but I just wanted to thank a few people that have helped me on the way to Golden Gloves specifically and not neccesarily my journey, just people that have aided me in preparation for this tournament. Chris, Lucas, Erika, for getting me ready, Dr.T for helping me overcome a dabilitating injury, Conor for throwing punches at me doing slip drills, The staff at Beertown, especially DC, Asian Brother, Simon, BLT, Meadows, you guys tended to my every pain in the ass request with my food and helped me remain discipline in my eating habits although it was chicken and veg with no sauce or beef patty with nothing but tomatoes, no one could make that shit taste good, but you guys always did, I wouldn'tve been able to make weight without you guys. Adriel for all the extra mitt work, especially when Oma passed and I was unable to train at the gym for a week, we put in some great work together, unreal time too. Thank you Denton, for all the talks and advice and putting me through the best(worst) 13 rounds of hell I have ever experienced, but mostly for showing me how to train like a champion, you redefined what I thought was 'hard work'. Jags, for all the love and support and for caring for EVERYONE at BBSV. The kids from March break, you did so many things for me, mostly reminded me of the reason I have passion for boxing, kids, and life. And lastly Jewel, for putting me on the team, and having faith that maybe I'll 'show you something'. You and the gym have meant more to me than you can know, I hope I can show my appreciation through my effort this weekend.
Hope to see some of you there, I will be posting details as soon as I know them. As my journey(boxing) proceeds, there will be significant events that take place, the first was the Golden Glove tryouts, I dedicated my effort there to Katie. I ended up making the team, so being superstitious, I'm going to dedicated my efforts this weekend as well. So this one's for the 40-plus crowd, to those that still believe that you're never too old and that it's never too late, I dedicate this effort to you. Dreams CAN come true, no matter how big or small, if it matters to YOU, that's all that counts. As long as you try. TRY.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Staying Focused
As my journey towards Golden Gloves continues, things in my personal life have become a little difficult. With 4 weeks left until the tournament (less than 2 weeks now), I made a pact with myself, that I wasn't going to have any excuses. I was going to adhere to my routine, stay focused, battle through all injuries, and most importantly, get my work in and continue to train everyday and get my road work in(running schedule). Afterall, although most boxers are treating Golden Gloves very seriously, it's different for me, it's emotional. I've waited 42 years for this moment to compete at the sport I love. It is special for me to be a part of Team Destiny, it is even more special for me to be a part of our dynamic team, a team with such a range of quality people and personalities, I'm extremely happy and proud, just to be their team mate. It is also a special time for D-Mac and I, we've shared a special friendship and bond and have brought out the best in one another, Golden Gloves will provide some of the reward for that for sure. There are so many reasons that this is important for me, I don't know where to begin. I guess I just did! This is the start of my boxing career. By the time Golden Gloves starts, most competitors would've felt that they have waited 8 weeks for the day to arrive, I feel like I've waited my whole life. I get chills thinking about it, it brings me to tears almost every time.
The weight cut alas is over. After experiencing difficulty after getting to 142(I'm fighting at the 139lbs category), feeling weak in training and not looking good, I made a decision to not diet to drop weight, to eat healthy, no junk, and just train hard. I was prepared to go into the tournament at 143-144 and just cut the water weight the day of. I wasn't really looking forward to this, even though Syd felt I would be fine. This last week of training has been my best ever, and I have ignored the scale as much as possible, this morning I stepped on, and was overjoyed to discover that....I was 140lbs! I feel strong, look great(compared to looking almost sick at 142) and feel a big relief.
Along with the weight cut news, I have also made an effort to work with some guys at the gym doing mitts(pad work) whenever possible. I've also scheduled days with my roommate and my cousin to get extra work in as well. This has also aided in my improvement and has given me a lot of confidence that I can execute some combinations that I feel I can use and will be successful with. I have some 'tricks' up my sleeve for the tournament, I know I can pull it off.
I've also found a way to train with a serious injury that I got at the tryouts. I feel that it is almost healed and that I've mentally gotten tougher from this, it has raised my confidence and belief in myself even more. So, I'm building myself up, I feel better everyday, and I will have absolutely NO excuses come tournament time, I'm going to put it all out there, give it EVERYTHING I have, and have no regrets, whatsoever. I'm focused. Sure there are tons of things going on in my personal life,(things keep piling, my grandmother passed this morning) but I've learned from mistakes in the past, and I am staying focused on what I need do.
Most importantly, I'm going to have fun. I'm going to enjoy the moment. Every minute. I'm going to embrace the company of my teammates and celebrate their efforts. I'm going to fight like I've never fought before, I'm going to live out my dream, I'm going to compete with heart and love every second that I am in there, even when I'm getting punched in the face! I don't know if I will win, I don't know how I will perform, but I do know that when that bell sounds to end my time at GoldenGloves I will have nothing left, because I plan on leaving it all in the ring.
The weight cut alas is over. After experiencing difficulty after getting to 142(I'm fighting at the 139lbs category), feeling weak in training and not looking good, I made a decision to not diet to drop weight, to eat healthy, no junk, and just train hard. I was prepared to go into the tournament at 143-144 and just cut the water weight the day of. I wasn't really looking forward to this, even though Syd felt I would be fine. This last week of training has been my best ever, and I have ignored the scale as much as possible, this morning I stepped on, and was overjoyed to discover that....I was 140lbs! I feel strong, look great(compared to looking almost sick at 142) and feel a big relief.
Along with the weight cut news, I have also made an effort to work with some guys at the gym doing mitts(pad work) whenever possible. I've also scheduled days with my roommate and my cousin to get extra work in as well. This has also aided in my improvement and has given me a lot of confidence that I can execute some combinations that I feel I can use and will be successful with. I have some 'tricks' up my sleeve for the tournament, I know I can pull it off.
I've also found a way to train with a serious injury that I got at the tryouts. I feel that it is almost healed and that I've mentally gotten tougher from this, it has raised my confidence and belief in myself even more. So, I'm building myself up, I feel better everyday, and I will have absolutely NO excuses come tournament time, I'm going to put it all out there, give it EVERYTHING I have, and have no regrets, whatsoever. I'm focused. Sure there are tons of things going on in my personal life,(things keep piling, my grandmother passed this morning) but I've learned from mistakes in the past, and I am staying focused on what I need do.
Most importantly, I'm going to have fun. I'm going to enjoy the moment. Every minute. I'm going to embrace the company of my teammates and celebrate their efforts. I'm going to fight like I've never fought before, I'm going to live out my dream, I'm going to compete with heart and love every second that I am in there, even when I'm getting punched in the face! I don't know if I will win, I don't know how I will perform, but I do know that when that bell sounds to end my time at GoldenGloves I will have nothing left, because I plan on leaving it all in the ring.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Some Info
So here are some details for The Ontario Golden Gloves Championships. They will take place In London, Ont at The Four Points Sheraton Hotel on the weekend of April 19-21. The winners will advance to The Nationals in BC on July 19, the winners from that competition will go on to The World Cup! I believe there are several people on our team that could go all the way to the World Cup I would not be one of them, The OBA (Ontario Boxing Association) divides the competition classes very fairly and attempts to break down the categories very specifically. I will be competing in the novice category(those that have 10 amateur fights or less) as opposed to the elite category(more than 10 fights). Only those that compete in the elite category will be eligible to go on to Nationals and Worlds. I'm good with that, I just want to compete.
Which brings up some details. We are looking for me to compete at the 139lbs weight class, the next category above will be 147lbs. Syd would like to see me fight at 139lbs. We feel that the 147 lbs category will be tougher for me, and that I will be able to 'hold my own' better at 139. At the time of the tryouts I was 153ish. This morning I was 145. Last week I managed to get down to 142.6, but that was after a workout in a sweatsuit! Realistically I have to get to 142, the rest of the weight I can lose overnight and in a sweatsuit, simply losing 'water' weight. The last time I remember weighing 140lbs, I was in grade 10. I've been a little concerned with how I would feel at that weight so I wanted to get to it as soon as I could before the tournament. The weight cut has not gone well for me. Last week, I feel I dropped too much, too quickly and was very weak in training. Last tuesday in sparring, my legs were shaking after the warm up, and we hadn't even started sparring any rounds! So I figure that it is pointless to train on this low energy, I'm going to eat healthy, ban junk and fast food and try not to pay attention to the scale(we weigh-in every tuesday and friday as a team AND I have a friendly bet with Erika so we weigh-in every wednesday), even though it will be next to impossible. My workouts were so unprductive last week due to how weak I felt that I don't want to sacrafice my developement for weight loss. I believe I can still lose a significant amount if I continue to eat well and train hard and stick to our team running regiment. Hopefully I make the 139, we'll see.
Other than that, I feel pretty good. I've done my best to keep my personal life seperate from my blog although sometimes it is difficult. So much of my journey to box IS personal. It's emotional and everything in my life operates around my boxing, so it is always a challenge to seperate the two. Lately is has been a challenge though, my personal life is, how can I put it, 'colourful' I guess, for lack of the right word. Things never seem right or balanced and as I search for that balance, the only thing that ever feels right is being in the gym. Being in the gym. An addiction. And as an addict, I understand my condition all too well.
Which brings up some details. We are looking for me to compete at the 139lbs weight class, the next category above will be 147lbs. Syd would like to see me fight at 139lbs. We feel that the 147 lbs category will be tougher for me, and that I will be able to 'hold my own' better at 139. At the time of the tryouts I was 153ish. This morning I was 145. Last week I managed to get down to 142.6, but that was after a workout in a sweatsuit! Realistically I have to get to 142, the rest of the weight I can lose overnight and in a sweatsuit, simply losing 'water' weight. The last time I remember weighing 140lbs, I was in grade 10. I've been a little concerned with how I would feel at that weight so I wanted to get to it as soon as I could before the tournament. The weight cut has not gone well for me. Last week, I feel I dropped too much, too quickly and was very weak in training. Last tuesday in sparring, my legs were shaking after the warm up, and we hadn't even started sparring any rounds! So I figure that it is pointless to train on this low energy, I'm going to eat healthy, ban junk and fast food and try not to pay attention to the scale(we weigh-in every tuesday and friday as a team AND I have a friendly bet with Erika so we weigh-in every wednesday), even though it will be next to impossible. My workouts were so unprductive last week due to how weak I felt that I don't want to sacrafice my developement for weight loss. I believe I can still lose a significant amount if I continue to eat well and train hard and stick to our team running regiment. Hopefully I make the 139, we'll see.
Other than that, I feel pretty good. I've done my best to keep my personal life seperate from my blog although sometimes it is difficult. So much of my journey to box IS personal. It's emotional and everything in my life operates around my boxing, so it is always a challenge to seperate the two. Lately is has been a challenge though, my personal life is, how can I put it, 'colourful' I guess, for lack of the right word. Things never seem right or balanced and as I search for that balance, the only thing that ever feels right is being in the gym. Being in the gym. An addiction. And as an addict, I understand my condition all too well.
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