Ontario Provincials — Hard Work Pays Off

Goal accomplished.

After ten solid months of training, competing, and winning, I finally allowed myself to believe that maybe I could really do this boxing thing; and maybe I was actually good at it. Over the year, I’d learned who the top competitors in my weight class were and had even trained with some of them. I knew I’d have to face them eventually; I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon.

Thanks to our momentum and hard work, my coach was able to get the approval to open up me as a boxer, despite not meeting the usual fight-count requirement. I was grateful because I had no interest in slowing down.

That decision put me in my biggest challenge yet: competing against women who had been dominating the division. From the moment we arrived, I knew this tournament was different. There was more on the line, and any advantage an opponent could take, they would.

We rolled with it all, fight times changing, opponents watching my warm-up, comments before the bell. None of it mattered. I had a job to do.

Stepping into the ring against the reigning provincial champion, I knew it would be a real boxing match. And it was. I had to dig deep both mentally and physically. This wasn’t sparring anymore. There was no “get the points and stay safe” mindset. Every opponent was coming for me, which meant I had to be even more ruthless. I took punches to give them back, added extra intention and spice to every shot, and walked out victorious, only to immediately shift focus to the next fight.

The finals was my most fun fight yet. I respected my opponent’s skill and appreciated how perfectly she timed her shots and counters. It forced me to lock in and be at my best. It felt like we were playing the game at the highest level, enjoying every second. Combo for combo, offense to defence; it’s a fight I look back on and smile.

I walked away as the Ontario Provincial Champion, with fewer than ten fights under my belt. I’ll let that speak for itself. This win though meant it was right back to work to prepare for a challenge I had hoped for, though not quite so quickly- apparently that’s the theme of my career so far!