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Thursday Jun 14, 2018
Sparring with Dara Torres
Most people know Dara Torres as a fish, or at the very least, the human equivalent of one. As the first swimmer to compete in five Olympic Games, bringing home 12 medals (four of each kind) and holding the U.S. record in the 50 meter freestyle, she’s also regarded as an athletic phenom, swimming olympic rings around her competitors into her forties. She is one of only a handful of Olympians to win medals in five different games. There’s not many people who would debate just how big a fish she is in the rectangular ponds she’s frequented over the years. With the most recent games in Rio having come to a close, Torres (who attended for the first time not to compete in the games, but to broadcast the action out in the water) is now looking to make a splash elsewhere: the boxing ring. “You can’t take a fish out of water, so it’s been a learning process for me,” Torres explains, referencing her training for the upcoming October 5th Haymakers for Hope fight. “Swimming has always been my thing. Boxing is new to me and I’m not in my comfort zone.”Torres had begun working out at a gym in Needham, Massachusetts and decided to mix up her usual workout regiment by giving boxing a try. While she didn’t set out to get into the ring with anyone at first, she enjoyed the diversity that came with the training, how the aerobic element mixed with strength training. Her trainer, Jess Smith, eventually began training Torres and her friends at Torres’ home, where she set up a workout space with a heavy bag and speed bag. Smith kept bringing up Haymakers and eventually Torres agreed to sign up. “I’ve sparred about five times now,” Torres told me when we spoke just before the games in Rio began. “It is not easy. I have a whole newfound respect for boxers.” “After the first time I got hit in the face, I was like ‘I’m not so sure I like this!’” she adds, laughing. “It’s not like I’m super strong or anything, but I just don’t want to hurt anyone. I’m not used to contact sports. I’m just hoping it’s a fair fight and a good show, but also that it’s not something where someone gets hurt.”“It’s so different from swimming. It’s one thing going to a gym and training with mitts and bags. It’s another thing being in the ring with headgear and gloves and sparring. It’s intimidating, for sure, but we’re doing it for a great cause and I’m excited about it.”Despite spending more time in Olympic Villages than most, she never had the opportunity to spend much time with any Olympic boxers to absorb their experience and training, aside from watching them from afar, up early and working out in their sweats in the middle of summer. However, that doesn’t mean she hasn’t been able to glean some useful advice from someone with valuable experience. “I work on a show called We Need To Talk for CBS Sports Network with Laila Ali and she’s been giving me some tips here and there. ‘Make sure you get that reach’ is the biggest one,” Torres says. “I’ve told her that while I respected her before, now that I’ve been sparring with someone, I do even more. Facing someone in the ring is not easy.”I ask her what she thinks her strengths will be when she steps into the ring against her opponent. Will she be the faster one? Stronger?“My weakness is definitely my feet. I’m not fast at all. I’ve had knee surgeries on both knees and the most recent one, which was a couple of years ago, [left me] missing a little cartilage so I have some knee pain.”“I think that I’m powerful, but not super quick. I’m in the ring sparring with these kids and they’re fast. I always thought I was fast, but I’m also forty-nine years old. They’re faster. So power, I think, will be my biggest asset.”Keep an eye out for that power when the Belles of the Brawl take the stage at the House of Blues on October 5th. Dara Torres may be known as a fish, but that night, I wouldn’t bet on her being the one caught by a hook. Check out Dara's Fundraising Page
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Thursday Jun 14, 2018
Joe
You likely know the song “Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin.“Cat’s in the cradle, and the silver spoon, little boy blue, and the man on the moon...” For the seven or eight of you in the world who aren’t familiar with it, the song chronicles the relationship between a father and a son over a lifetime. At the start, the father is perpetually too busy to spend time his young son, whose life goal is to be just like his hero, his dad. The father repeatedly assures the son of a vague “soon” in which he’ll have the time for him. “When you coming home, dad? I don’t know when. But we’ll be together then, son. You know we’ll have a good time then...” Midway through the song, the perspective shifts, and the now adult son has built a life too busy to make time for his aging father. In the end, the father realizes that, indeed, his son has grown up to be just like him. I can’t listen to this song. Even before I became a father, this tragic, but all too relatable, story would cause my throat to tighten. I’d turn it off immediately should it come on the radio. It evokes an undefined and aching regret about the times I had been that son to my own father, or been that father to my own son. And yet neither the father nor the son are failing in their familial roles in this song. This is life. Nearly everyone has no choice but to work and that inevitably takes us away from our sons and daughters, our aging mothers and fathers. For better or worse, it’s the way us civilized folks have decided we need things to be. Our professional lives and our familial lives are nearly always mutually exclusive. If we are lucky, we are able to fit enough of both into our days. .........Joe O’Brien is lucky. He might not feel that way today, but he is. For twelve years, Joe spent most days working closely with his father, Joe. Now, many fathers and sons work together, but in most cases this involves some sort of family business or mutually beneficial enterprise. However, these are not your average Joes.“There’s times where I’d look back on my day and realize, ‘Wow, I just kicked in a door with my father!’ We just executed a search warrant together!” O’Brien recalls. “My father liked sports, sure, but didn’t really know the ins and outs. This was his sport. Police work was his passion.”O’Brien’s father, also named Joe, was a detective the majority of his thirty year career, but in a weird twist of fate, his son eventually found himself as his own father’s supervisor at the Police Department in Needham, Massachusetts.“Just on paper,” O’Brien insists. “We always joked that I’m the boss from eight to four, but he’s in charge after that. In truth, I learned from him the whole time. He would offer his advice, but just situationally. He was never overbearing, never put me under a microscope. He wanted me to make my own mistakes and blaze my own trail. I got to learn on the job from one of the best in the business.”In my estimation, it was this characteristic of Joe that was paramount in the success this unique father/son/officer/detective dynamic. With a lifetime of experience, wisdom, and insight in the career, it must have been difficult for Joe to allow his son to take the risks and make the mistakes that all individuals must make in this field as they find their way. It would have been easy for Joe to try to guide his son’s path, and venture into controlling and micro-managerial territory. But he didn’t. He understood the importance of the journey itself. “Growing up, he was just a regular guy to me. A dad who took us camping and to Red Sox games. He talked about his work, but not in any sort of heroic way. To us it was his job. But I remember when I started at the Academy and all of the instructors would say ‘Oh, you’re Joe’s kid. What a great guy. What a great cop.’ Everyone always told me about his high energy, how his motor never stopped running.” “Then all of a sudden, I’m the one who has to try to slow him down!” Regardless of how close a son might be with his father, I can only speculate about the depth of that relationship when expounded by the duties and responsibilities that come with police work. The amount of collaborative problem solving, moments of adrenaline, periods of monotony filled with stories and conversation, and the nature of having a shared peer group lends itself to a father/son dynamic that I can only imagine the depths of. In 2014, after a long career, Joe retired from the Needham Police. Around that time, O’Brien had volunteered for Haymakers for Hope a number of times. Another officer from Needham was fighting for Haymakers, and O’Brien had been toying with the idea of signing up one day, though at the time, he didn’t have a reason strong enough to push him to do it. Finally, he threw his name into the ring. It was a long shot. Finding the right person to match up against in a pool of hundreds was no sure thing. Then, in May of 2016, Joe was diagnosed with cancer. O’Brien remembers visiting his father in the hospital during treatment and telling him that if he was accepted, the fight would happen sometime the following May. “Great,” his father had replied, “I should be feeling better by then.” The calm and optimism of that response calls to mind O’Brien’s answer when asked about the most important advice he had received from his father.“Don’t panic,” he states, “Whether being a kid in sports or as a police officer. Don’t panic. Take a breath and let everything slow down. Sparring the first time, getting punched in the face, it’s real. But I hear that voice in my head. Don’t panic.”Joe passed away on December 18th, 2016, just a little more than 6 months after being diagnosed. His son found out a few days later on New Year’s Eve that he had been selected to fight. O’Brien was heartbroken, is heartbroken. The man he was fighting for wasn’t here anymore, isn’t here anymore. Even as he and I talk about his father, it’s difficult for O’Brien to not let the emotion take over. He had always been someone able to compartmentalize things, but the power of this loss is more than he’s ever taken on before. He cites his wife, children, sister Kelly, brother Tommy, Uncle Jimmy (who was the donor for Joe’s bone marrow transplant), and especially his father’s wife, Beth, as the reasons why he’s able to keep it together and carry on. “I remember when I found out that I was selected for Haymakers, I was an absolute mess,” Joe recalls. “I just kept saying how my dad was supposed to be there.”“He will be,” Beth insisted. “He will be.”Today, Joe O’Brien is in the early stages of his training at the Nonantum Boxing Club, training under Joe Penta (bringing the grand total of Joe’s in this story up to three). This type of physical regiment is still new to O’Brien, and something that the physical training involved with police work had not prepared him for. “There are definitely those days where you want to give up in the middle of class. You don’t want to finish out the burpees or leg lifts, but then I think about not only my dad, but Beth and my family and I keep going. They get me through it.”O’Brien is the father of four young children for whom he coaches their sports teams. As he talks about them, it’s clear to see the ways in which his own father’s influence expresses itself in his parenting. “It’s hard not to always want to correct them or give them too many tips,” O’Brien says, “but I remind myself that they are eight or ten years old and this is about the experience of having fun. Also, they are each so different, you really have to raise them in different ways that match who they are.”Should O’Brien ever find himself one day in the future working alongside any familiar O’Briens fresh out of the police academy, I think he’ll know exactly what to do. Either way, while I don’t imagine that that simultaneously beautiful and awful song by Harry Chapin is one that O’Brien is listening to much these days, he can rest easy knowing that it definitely is not about him or his father, Joe. If there’s one thing each had for the other, it was time.
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Thursday Jun 14, 2018
Stopping in at Trinity Boxing NYC
Yesterday, the Haymakers team made their way back to Trinity Boxing Club downtown to meet up with Eric Goldfisher (pictured left) and John McDonald (pictured below). Eric has been training at Trinity on and off for the past eight years, and has two white collar amateur fights under his belt. John, our first British fighter, on the other hand, has never done any sort of fighting before. Regardless, we couldn't get over how well he could jump rope! Haymakers founder Andrew even found it in him to teach John how he likes to wrap his hands (it was very cute).Brooklyn born Eric was hitting the bags and going a few rounds on the mitts looking very sharp. Both fighters deserve credit for training on such a hot day, proving their determination to win their bouts! Be sure to see them fight for Haymakers for Hope in their first NYC event at the Roseland Ballroom on November 8th!To check out more of John's training photos: Click HereTo check out more of Eric's training photos: Click Here
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Thursday Jun 14, 2018
Mommy's Going Boxing: From the Road to the Ring
Three years ago, I became a runner. I have always played sports, worked out, been active and competitive; however once Lucy, my third child, came along, the solitude of the road held more appeal to me than a crowded class at the gym, or sweating it out next to someone on the elliptical. Running was the only time that I had to myself, to be alone with my thoughts. Okay, I wasn’t totally alone; Rihanna, LL Cool J, The Black Keys, and a few others hit the road with me. But for the most part, it was just me, myself, and I. I quickly transitioned from being a casual runner to being a competitive runner; from 5K to 10K to half and then finally full marathons - there was always a bigger goal, always a personal record to set. And every time I set out for another run, every time I sat down to lace up my sneakers, one of my kids would call out to me, “Mommy, are you going running?” Yes guys, Mommy’s going running. Around the same time that I became a runner, I also picked up boxing. Nothing competitive, just a class for fun and fitness. Boxing class was a great workout, a social workout, and it also prevented me from becoming one of those runners who does nothing else but run (no offense to those runners who do nothing else but run. More power to you. And your legs.). After a little over a year of boxing for fun, I decided that it was time take it to the next level. It appears that I am incapable of doing anything just “for fun.” A good friend of mine, Julie Marobella, suggested I start working with her trainer, Marc Gargaro, over at Nonantum Boxing Club (http://www.nonantumboxingclub.com/). In the fall of 2012 I started up with Marc. When I began working with him, he asked me if I was interested in fighting. “Nah,” I told him. “I just want to get better at the sport.” I’m sure you can guess where this is going. After several months of private lessons with Marc, taking classes, surrounding myself with active amateur fighters at the gym, I got the bug. In the early winter, I put my name in to be considered for the May 2013 Haymakers for Hope (http://haymakersforhope.org/) event at the House of Blues in Boston. I had met Julie Kelly at Nonantum several months earlier, and was inspired by her story and the organization that she and Andrew Myerson had started. Unfortunately, cancer is a disease that hits very close to home for me. I have witnessed many family members and close friends bravely battle this disease, some coming out on top, others struggling for years but eventually being overtaken. Like fair skin and light eyes, cancer seems to be passed down through the generations of my family. Whatever I can do to raise money and awareness, to maybe prevent my children from having to witness the struggles of their loved ones with this terrible disease, whatever I can do, I am willing to do. Although I didn’t get a match for the spring event, I continued on in my journey to become a better boxer. Seeing Marc once a week, heading to the gym every Wednesday and Sunday to spar with some fantastic women, fighting in a few exhibitions; I was determined to grow as a fighter, to get myself to the skill level where if an opportunity for a fight arose, I would be ready. Then, Monday, June 10, 2013, I received the e-mail that would set me down my current path: Dear Felicia, Congratulations! It is with great pleasure that I am informing you that we have found you a fight for our 2013 Boston Women's event. We are very excited to welcome you to the Haymakers for Hope family. My journey continues. Now, every Wednesday night when my kids are sitting down to dinner and I am heading out the door, every Sunday when I grab a cup of coffee and go, either Will, Charlie, or Lucy invariably call out to me, “Mommy, are you going boxing?” Yes, guys. Mommy’s going boxing.
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Thursday Jun 14, 2018
How to Become a Boxer in 8 (Not-So-Easy) Steps
“Look Ma, No Hands”Sign up for HaymakersForHope. Receive a free gym membership to Redline Fight Sports.Quit drinking.OK, drink occasionally.Box four or five days a week.Start sparring. Spar against a guy who apparently fights Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) professionally. Wish that you had known this before MMA Guy beat you up for two minutes straight.Realize you need to eat better. Glance longingly at each Dunkin’ Donuts you pass. Eat spinach.Dread going to sparring class on Mondays, partly because MMA Guy might be there, and partly because a new guy could show up and not show restraint. Lament the fact that other MMA guys enjoy trying their hand at boxing. Compared to getting kicked in the face, boxing is a meditative pursuit akin to bird watching or Hacky Sack. “They’re just punches,” says one of them. Make a mental note to never hang out with an MMA guy.Finally, endure the following phases, culminating in your fight: 4 months before the fight: Boyish enthusiasm3 months: Confidence2 months (following your 2-round sparring match against your future opponent): Reassessment1 month: Self-assessment. Analyze your strengths and weaknesses and decide what style of fighter to be.2 weeks: Impatience.1 week: The most nervous you’ve ever felt.3 days: Relieved that you got your final sparring session out of the way. Sore from an MMA guy’s left hooks to your kidney.2 days: Confident. Boxers are supposed to be confident, right? Day before: Pleasantly surprised. At how relaxed you are. You were much more nervous a week ago. You realize that the hard part is over. The training, the sacrifices, the fundraising – that was the hard part. The fight itself is your reward. All you have to do now is go out there and have fun. MMA Guy wasn’t the only one who gave you that advice. Have fun. Don’t think. Be confident. Trust your training. And don’t forget to breathe. Always breathe. Fight Night: Fun. Confidence. Fun. Confidence. Keep those butterflies to a minimum. Show up at 4:30pm to the House of Blues and wait in line to weigh in with the other 25 Haymakers fighters. Hop onto the scale and flex (fun, confidence). “Don’t do that,” barks the USA Boxing official. “Stand still.” Recall that you are not Floyd Mayweather. Finish weighing in. Eat dinner. The next few hours will be some of the most memorable of your life. Enjoy all of it. The rival trainers milling about whispering who’s training who. The rising murmur of the crowd as the first fight draws near. Warming up backstage on a linoleum floor. Entering the ring to a 30-second song clip of your choosing (I made a clutch decision to switch from “Harlem Shake” to “Remix to Ignition”). Finally, try to give the crowd a good show, and don’t embarrass yourself in front of your friends, family, and 1500 strangers. But seriously, regardless of the outcome of your fight, always tell people about the time you put your ass on the line for the fight against cancer. A cure it is not. An effective way to spread awareness and raise funds for cancer research? I think so. And it doesn’t hurt that when people ask me now why my wristband says Haymakers For Hope, I tell them about those four months when I was a guy who boxes. Boxer Guy.
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Thursday Jun 14, 2018
Belles of the Brawl V: Jacqui Berardi
During the coming months, we’ll be highlighting our fighters in training for the upcoming Belles of the Brawl V in Boston on October 5th. They’ve committed to four months of fundraising and training in preparation to get in the ring and literally fight for a cure. Whether they've had first hand experience, their father has passed or their friend has put up a victory against the disease – they’ve all got a story to tell and they’ve all got a reason to fight. Below you’ll hear from Jacqui Berardi, fighting out of Nonantum Boxing Club in Newton, MA.Where are you from? The Loaded question lol I spent my school years growing up in Marlboro, MA. My family is all from the Watertown/Brighton area and they moved back to Newton 16 years ago. I currently live in the South Shore area.Where’d you go to College? I received my bachelors in Hospitality Management from Newbury College. After college, I went on to study culinary arts in both Florence, Italy & Barcelona, Spain.Did you play any sports growing up? I’m pretty sure I tried every sport for at least one season, well besides football because they wouldn’t let girls play back then! But if they did I would’ve been all over that. Basketball & softball were my top two sports through high school.What do you do for work? I’m in the restaurant industry. I own a breakfast eafé called Jac’s Café & a sports bar- Players Sports Bar & Grille. Both are located in Rockland. On any given day, you can find me pouring coffee, serving drinks, sweeping floors, washing dishes or up to my ears in paperwork.Why boxing? Did you ever picture yourself fighting? I’ve always stayed pretty active and the gym has always been my one place to release from daily stress. Years ago a friend suggested I include classes at Nonantum Boxing Club into my routine. I was hooked immediately and loved the Conditioning involved in a fighter’s regimen. Actually, training and fighting for a boxing match has been on the top of my bucket list ever since.Why on earth did you sign up to fight? The same friend that suggested boxing, fought in the 2012 Haymakers and I went to the event that night. I loved the everything about it, I remember having goosebumps the whole night, thinking how amazing it was to see all these people from different walks of life getting out of their comfort zone and training to fight for a cure. In the past 5 years since I’ve opened two restaurants and had a baby, I figured it was time to tackle this goal!You’re stepping into the ring to literally fight for a cure- where are you drawing your inspiration from? How has Cancer affected you? I literally can remember the word CANCER from the day I can pretty much remember anything as a young child. Although at the time I didn’t fully understand what it was, I knew it was what my cousin Jamie (2 yrs my senior) had been diagnosed with. Jaime was my best friend and passed away at home from brain cancer right before her 7th birthday. I’d be lying if I said there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her and what it would’ve been like to have her here all these years through life’s milestones. This is why I have asked for all of my donations to be restricted to Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer Center. Jaime spent a lot of time in Boston Children’s Hospital as did my family. I know she’ll be there looking down cheering me on come October 5th!Unfortunately, in my early teens CANCER returned to my life this time taking the life of my cousin Tracy, she was beautiful, successful, engaged and building her dream house as a young adult. I always looked up to her and she was taken from us way before her time. I think it was then I really realized how much Cancer sucks!!! Many other friends & people I know have been severely affected by Cancer, and the more I talk to people about Haymakers the more I learn of people whom have fought the battle or are currently.What is going to be the most difficult thing to give up during your training? Well I would like to say sleep but with the two restaurants and a 3yo, sleep is not an option. I think by far the most challenging is going to be not eating the INSANE specials we come up with at Jac’s Café! Think Banana Bread French toast & Cannoli Flapjacs! Most people can have their meals prepped and avoid restaurants where they may be tempted. I live in TEMPTATION City, developing the specials with Chef and then walking away without a taste is going to take a lot of willpower! Sugar destroys me and luckily we have many healthy options so wish me luck:)When you’re not throwing punches and training—what other hobbies/interests do you have? I don’t have much free time as you’ve probably imagined by now but when I do you will find me with my family especially my son Nico. I’ll never get these years back with him so I try to make every minute count!Who do you think is the most excited to watch you get punched in the face come fight night? Haha well, I’ve had to hire/fire a lot of people in my fast-turning Industry, so I’m sure there’s a few of them that would be happy. My support much outweighs any of that hater bs! Other than that, I would say my sister and brother. They probably secretly want to see me get punched in the face for all those sibling rivalries we had!Be sure to check out her fundraising page here and wish her luck! Best of luck, Jacqui!
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Thursday Jun 14, 2018
Olympic Athletes are Juicing... Beetroot that is
In a blog post that can be found on the NY Time's website, a study shows beetroot juice is having a positive affect on athletes performances at the Olympics. The exact affect of the juice is unknown, but athletes that have been drinking it before competition have seen an increase in what they can do. However, it seems that the beetroot juice only has an affect on sports where you need explosive movements. There is no evidence that athletes who have tried beetroot juice for long distance running for example, have seen an increase in their performance. This is an extremely interesting discovery if the juice actually does increase athletic abilities.To read the complete blog post: Click Here
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Thursday Jun 14, 2018
Teammates
I have always been a team player. Literally. Since I was a child, up through my teenage years and early 20’s, I always played team sports. Soccer, lacrosse, one ill-fated season on the middle school softball team (what do you mean I shouldn’t slide into first base?) – I always and only played sports where I was a part of a team. Sure, there were always individual statistics; goals scored, assists doled out, individual accolades. But when it came down to it, my personal success meant nothing if not for the contribution to the success of the team. It didn’t matter if I had 6 goals and 3 assists in the game; if my team lost, those stats had little value. And sure, I had to do some training and work on my own in order to be successful: go for a few training runs, practice corner kick placement, spend some Saturday afternoons with my lacrosse stick and the wall. But the majority of my hours spent practicing were spent practicing with others. My teammates. So it’s kind of funny that as an adult, the sports that I would choose to focus my time and energy on, running and boxing, are individual sports. If I have a bad race, I can blame no one other than myself. Or the cocktails that I had the night before. Eh, no, wait, still my fault. And boxing? Me against my opponent. The two of us, in the ring, one on one. Nothing more individual than that. Sure, I am fortunate enough to have some strong coaching behind me, but when it comes down to it, Marc isn’t the one fighting the fight. I am. It’s just me and me alone. After I received my email from Haymakers for Hope, welcoming me to the organization, I was talking to Julie Kelly about some of the logistics. I was curious, too. Would anyone else be training at Nonantum? Yes, she told me, there would be two other women fighting out of Nonantum. One of which would be Marc’s wife, Shannon. Marc had told me about Shannon before, that we were close in age, around the same size. The panic set in. Would I be fighting her? Was she my opponent? How could I fight my trainer’s wife? “Relax,” Julie said to me. “She’s not your opponent, she’s your teammate.” She’s my teammate? What did that mean? How does a fighter have teammates? I mean, I had never thought of myself as totally alone in this sport; after all, I had my coaches and trainers behind me. Marc, who works week in and week out to help me grow into a technically sound fighter, who has taught me how to strategize and think about boxing in ways I never knew possible. Chris Bullock and Greg Lazeren, the trainers who built the boxing program at Bosse Sports, who first introduced me to the sport, who helped lay the foundation upon which I continue to build. But teammates? And then it hit me. These fantastic Nonantum women, these women who have been beating me up every Wednesday night, at least one day each weekend, and the occasional Monday and Friday, these women are my teammates. And like any good teammate, they do so much more than just punch me in the face. There is the physical practice and motivation that teammates provide. Back in February, Marc told me that in addition to working with him weekly, it was time for me to start sparring again. He said that Kate Durgin would be the perfect sparring partner for me; she was in my weight class, was in the gym training hard like I was, and was super experienced. Oh, and she just won the Golden Gloves. Oh yeah, she just WON the Golden Gloves. And now I was going to get in the ring with her. To say I was terrified the first time we sparred would be an understatement. But now, 6 months later, I am a stronger, more skilled fighter, thanks to the many, many rounds that Kate and I have done (and as an added bonus, she doesn’t scare me quite as much as she used to). I can only hope that our relationship is reciprocal, that I have provided her with the challenge and physical push that she has provided me. In addition to being a living, breathing, quick footed [not so] heavy bag, Kate has also become my friend. There’s nothing that brings people closer together than spending hours in the ring nailing each other with body shots. I am lucky to call Kate my friend and my teammate; I want to make her proud when I step in the ring on October 17th. Teammates can also provide mental and emotional support. Julie Marobella is one of the teammates that does that for me. Within five minutes of leaving Nonantum after our Wednesday night sparring sessions, my phone is at my ear and Julie is on the other end of it. She is my only teammate who has children, a husband, and a career to balance. I have driven home in tears, complaining about what a bad night I had, how exhausted I am, how I can’t believe there was any part of me that thought that as a 35 year old mother of three making an attempt to enter back into the workforce, that I could possibly embark on an amateur boxing stint. Julie talks me down, restores the calm, and helps motivate me to walk back into Nonantum another day. And then, the next week, it’s my turn to do that for her. Like I said, teammates support each other. An added bonus to my friendship with Julie is that we were friends before boxing, we live in the same town, have kids the same age, and husbands that are friendly. I’d like to think that when John and Brian are on the golf course or having a beer they are talking about how wonderful it is that their wives are so dedicated to their sport. I said I’d LIKE to think that’s what they are talking about. Not that I ACTUALLY think that’s what they are talking about. And Shannon Gargaro, now she’s my teammate, too. We are embarking on this Haymakers for Hope journey together. She is newer to boxing and fighting than I am, so now it’s my turn to show someone the ropes, just like Kate and Julie and Dena and Amanda have done for me. Help her make her way through the gym and drills and training to fight. We click. We are both type A perfectionists; neither one of us is put out by the other one’s need to be organized and have everything planned out. We work well in the ring, and get along well outside of it. When I step into the ring on October 17th, it will be my fight. Me alone, physically, facing my opponent. But there is pride and identity that comes from being a Nonantum fighter, being part of the Nonantum team. My teammates have helped me grow into the fighter that I am today, the fighter that I will be on fight night. I would not want to do any of this without them. In fact, I could not do it without them. Even though I alone am in the ring fighting my fight, I have my team behind me. Because I am a team player. To help support Felicia in her fight to KO cancer, click here
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Thursday Jun 14, 2018
Tour of NYC Boxing Gyms
Thursday was an action packed day for the Haymakers team on the island of Manhattan. We started the day bright and early at Mendez Boxing to check out Charlie Alovisetti (pictured left) spar and hit the bag. Charlie's comfort with the bag is obvious and shows through his fluid movement and crisp punches. Next up we visited the ever entertaining Jamie McDonald, donning a suit and tie, boxing gloves and the Wall Street Journal for a photo shoot. After a verbal sparring of which pictures would be kept and which would be deleted from his training album, he changed into his gym clothes to start his work out. While Jamie insists his biggest strength is jumping rope (or "skipping" for all our British fans), his boxing skills are improving every week.After Jamie, we hopped on the subway and headed back to Mendez to meet up with Peter Meskouris. Peter's comfort with the sport shows in the way he moves around the gym with ease. We watched as he warmed up, hit the bag and did some shadow boxing, proving he is a force to be reckoned with. Next, we hit the pavement and arrived at Church Street Boxing gym to watch training partners Reed Werbitt and Mike Barbara move around the gym. After taking a moment to survey the myriad magazine clippings of motivational pictures and words plastered all over the walls, it was time to get down to business. The boys warmed up, hit the bag, did some shadow boxing and got their sweat on- then it was time for us to move to our last gym of the day.We arrived at Trinity Boxing as the sky was beginning to get dark to watch John McDonald, Eric Goldfisher and Joe Mele. The energy at Trinity is palpable and everyone totally means business. Joe sparred for a few rounds while Eric hit the bag and John worked with a trainer on the mitts. All three looking more and more fierce.To see all of their training photos, click here.
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Thursday Jun 14, 2018
Visits to Mendez Boxing and Trinity Boxing
Yesterday, the Haymakers team got an early start to the day (6 am!) and met up with Patrick Barrett (pictured left) at Trinity Boxing down by Wall Street. Patrick, who used to room with one of our favorite veteran fighters, Jim Ramella, at BC, was looking sharp, even before the sun came up! We saw him do drills and hit the bag, looking impressive for a novice.Later in the day, we hit up Mendez Boxing to meet up with Peter Meskouris. Peter has been training on and off at Mendez for a while, and we can definitely tell! Being in the restaurant business his whole life, Peter is very quick on his feet and is one strong son-of-a-gun!In the evening, we went back to Trinity and saw Eric Goldfisher and Joe Mele. Both guys started shadow boxing, then moved on the bags. Joe claims he's only been training for "uhh, about a week and a half?" If that's true, then he must have brothers because he sure knew how to throw a punch! Eric was also looking sharp, moving around the bag in circles (we would have gotten too dizzy!).Be sure to check out these four guys and more November 8th at Roseland Ballroom to see Haymakers for Hope's inaugural New York event!To see Patrick's training photos, click here!To see Peter's training photos, click here!To see Eric's training photos, click here!To see Joe's training photos, click here!
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