A boxing event took place in the city of Kamloops, featuring two TRU students Elija and Eric. This event happened at the heavy metal Gym in North Shore at 10:00am on a beautiful Saturday morning. This event occurs several times in the year for several months, to select competent fighters to represent the city.
It was a promotional event that had just 3 rounds to test the fighter’s ability to defend in a national event coming up next year by August 25th during the summer. The national event is quite significant in the county. This event will showcase fighters that are fit to represent the country in an Olympic. The weight categories of these interviewed fighters are heavyweight with each weighing about 210lb.
Upon finishing the events, Elija was called upon and asked about the benefits and how he manage to chase a career in boxing and combine the hard schedule with schooling. Elija is a young 22-year-old college student who wants a career in boxing and wants to come out of school with a degree in Economics.
Balancing student life and boxing is challenging but essential. Prioritizing tasks, effective scheduling, and maintaining open communication with professors help him manage both commitments effectively. During intense exam preparations, he maintained a strict study schedule. The discipline translated into his boxing training, enhancing focus and endurance, resulting in a successful match.
Elija stated” Boxing serves as a stress reliever, providing an outlet to release pent-up tension. The discipline and structure of training sessions help me approach academic challenges with a calmer mindset, ultimately improving my ability to manage stress and pressure associated with academic responsibilities”.
He reveals that Boxing improves college students’ lives by offering stress relief, fostering discipline, boosting energy and focus, building confidence, providing community support, encouraging goal setting, promoting a healthy lifestyle, and enhancing emotional resilience.
In the future, he envisions his academic and boxing journeys converging. He aims to excel in both realms, using lessons from one to enhance the other. He stated” Ultimately, I aspire to inspire others through my achievements in both academia and boxing”.
Furthermore, At the event was the coach in charge of the training of both fighters in the person of Coach Berry.
He gave his perspective on how he manages his student fighters. He conducts training programs by collaborating with students to create flexible schedules that align with their academic commitments which involves strategic planning and adjustments to accommodate exam periods and project deadlines. To balance physical demands and recovery, he emphasizes the importance of rest days and recovery strategies.
He integrates periodization into training plans, allowing for peak performance during competitions while ensuring sufficient rest to prevent fatigue and injuries. He then says this way, this life of being a student and a boxer can be achieved. “I always advice my students to engage in a lot of sprinting and jogging because this way they will gain a lot of resistance”. In gaining resistance in the sport, they can be able to navigate it into their lives and academics.
Other matches have taken place at the gym featuring interesting and amazing fighters; however, this fight was between Elija and Victor who are in different weight categories Elija is 210lb, and Victor 290lb the superheavy weight category. it was just a sparing event, however, but it was entertaining.
VIDEO LINK TO THIS FIGHT IS HERE: https://youtu.be/7WK83vOKUJE?si=S1tdqa2UUZDn0vQM
In engaging in the sport of boxing and chasing a degree, the speed of moving faster through life is guaranteed because you will be about to navigate different experiences from the boxing into your life.
