My first Boxing Tournament!

So I won my first tournament on February 2, 2018 at the annual Brampton Cup in Toronto.  Gold matter of fact.  Albeit one bout, I’m taking the gold status.  That was the plan, regardless of bouts and before the weekend was over I was already getting asked:  “So, what’s next?  Taking some time to rest?”

Brampton Cup Venue

Ring 3 – where I went to work!

Sure, but not too long I say.  I’ll be back in the gym by Tuesday (I was).  I ate the well deserved pizza and washed down with some good vino blanco and that’s it if I want to get back into the ring soon again!  For this piece though, I must do a bit of recap for you!  It was quite the mental exercise in the last days leading up to it.  Mind over matter is real talk folks.

It was a good day.  Won by unanimous decision.  My teammate won his first fight as we so 2 for 2 from Kingsway Boxing Club.  He proceeds to finals, mine was final.

Johiz and I after our fights!

Entering into this tournament was worth the wait and in true Shireen tradition I made it a huge production in my head.  It’s what I do, my thing, for every single fight.  And now you know!  I think it’s because my first fight was a big, black tie fundraiser.  I fought in the second annual Fight to End Cancer with  500+ people, walk out song, MC, music, lights yes, all of that + we got a standing ovation and fight of the night.  PS:  To the #FTEC2018 ladies if you are reading this, it’s a long standing tradition that we get fight of the night so go hard on June 2 :). Needless to say, that first high of that first fight and that first win hasn’t been matched yet.

Forever classic – maybe one day it will be worth something hehe!

Don’t get me wrong, all the fights following were dope as hell had their own special nerves, butterflies, pressure and more but that first high, nope.  Third year lucky it was.  So what happened the two years before?  I’m sure you’re wondering.

Brampton Cup 2016 – Woke up one day around 2 weeks pre fight with THE worst pain and tingling sensation down the back of my legs.  When you feel it lying down and you’re not quite sure how you are going to land on your feet when you get out of bed, it’s bad.  Sciatica acting up again I thought, but the tingling down the back of my legs was new and different.  I stumbled around getting dressed for work and thinking about the convenience of my company; that there is a medical centre with docs, physio and chiro.  I figure they know me well, they’ll let me in to see someone without an appointment.  I remember the receptionist not even checking for an available slot.  She looked at me and just said, I’ll go get Dr Bacon Shireen.  Prognosis:  Sciatica along with Piriformus Syndrome.  Click the links if you don’t know.  I would not wish on any opponent, frenemy and certainly not any athlete.  I was out, no tournament and on a 4 to 6 week recovery road.

Brampton Cup 2017 – I was so ready, body whole, healthy and strong and just days before, the opponent pulled out.  That was it.  Shit happens.  Move on.

So we set the goal.  Train, work, grind and see what 2017 brings in terms of club fights and keep going as 2018 will come fast.  It came, and just like that it’s over.

Training camp:

December 24, 2017  to January 16, 2018 I was on vacation in Cape Town, South Africa leaving just over 2 weeks to come back and train.  As we all know, you can’t cram for boxing so I planned my time away for fun, sun and a substantial amount of training both in and outside the gym.  My body loved being able to run outside in the sun, lots of boxing, strength and conditioning both on my own and with a trainer was great.  I told the coaches at the Armoury Boxing Club where I signed up for the 3 weeks about my potential February tournament so they definitely made sure to push me.  I ate well about 80% of the time because yes, I allowed myself cheats and of course beautiful wines….come on now.

New Years Eve 2017 – daytime fun with hubs and bro in law.

Getting ready to return to Canada  I did everything possible to help prevent crazy jetlag – FAIL!!  Wow!  Plus my friends, I learned that travel bloat is a real  THING!!!  A colleague told me it took her a full week to reset post a European trip last year.  My jaw dropped but in my mind I was like “that’s so not going to be me” lol, I’m funny huh?  Coupled with age, time of month – yeah, it wasn’t looking good.  I did not have to get on a scale to know this.  In fact, for the first time in years I was very afraid of my “number”.  Now, I know we are all trying to get away from what you weigh and all of that but, to get it out there and out of the way, my sport is by weight class so it is what it is.  So yes, clean eating at it’s finest commenced right away.  Zero room for any cheats, added an extra liter of water to my daily intake of already close to 4 liters.  I’ll tell you though – it was a hard one but I told myself you can do it.  A hungry training camp to say the least BUT – I came this far, my 3rd year lucky right?

My first sparring session back was quite the production.  A friend and old sparring partner I hadn’t seen in while came in to work with me.  More experience than me so she always keeps me honest in the ring.  Despite still very jet lagged, feeling heavy, bloated and hazy I make the best of it, or try to because I don’t want to waste her time or anyone else’s.  I was all over the place, couldn’t get settled.  I go between her and TJ, my regular sparring partner, round for round quite terribly and in a round with TJ, I step back on my right with the intention of a small step back and to move around but ended up rolling my ankle instead.  I heard “crack” and down I went.  Pain all the way up my right leg and I actually felt my eyes welling up – maybe a little because of the pain but more at the thought of being out again literally crushed me in that moment.  My coach, Virgil, comes over and he says “you’re ok, it’s fine, take a round” and in my head I’m thinking it’s broken, I’m so screwed.  He asks if I can feel my toes, move them – I can.  I get told to leave my shoe on and get up and finish training and he goes back to his spot.  So, I did what my coach told me, because I trust him and that’s how it should be.

Day 3 – this looks good compared to 24 hours earlier.

He did call me over a few moments later and said I’m putting way too much pressure on myself to perform well on my first day back.  Told me to stick to what I do and try to settle down.  “You’re frazzled” – first time he’s said that to me!  The 30 second pep talk definitely made me feel better.  I don’t think I improved the rest of that training session but was a little relieved after the “chat”.  I went home iced, advil’d, took arnica pills given to me by a good Samaritan named Jane and watched my ankle turn many colors over the course of the next 2 days but the swelling and pain was subsiding rapidly.  I also gave myself quite a few mental pep talks.  In short, told myself to snap the hell out of it – we got a tournament to win in 2 weeks.

Monday comes.  I opt for some elliptical during lunch vs my usual ritual of interval runs on the treadmill.  Not 100% but the ankle is good.  Finish the day, leave work, get to the school and take a look at my mini.  My mind says “WTF”.  When you are afraid to take your kid’s temp because of how hot she is, it’s bad.  So, off we go to the docs.  Strep, which means I could likely get it.  What’s next I say.  I remember texting Virgil while waiting for the doc I realize then that I’m not even anxious here about missing training.  I knew then I’d be fine.  My head already started getting in the game.  The butterflies would be in formation when they needed to and we’d be ready.  The next days were the days that I truly had to make count and I did just that.  The rest of camp was awesome.  Only box left to check was the weight one.

Obstacle after obstacle in a span of a few days and I turned on my mental game, had many chats with higher powers.  We be ready!

Fight Week:

Starts off well.  Weight is at the max in the category which is ok but doesn’t leave much wiggle room.  Monday to Wednesday I’m still in the gym, tapering off a little each day.  Around 10 am on Thursday morning, my body starts feeling “funny”.  That feeling of a flu coming along, like sensitive in the limbs all the way to the bones, a little shaky and giddy in the belly and really thirsty.  I go for my day-before-fight-light-jog and feel ok.  Easy run.  Day progresses without getting or feeling worse but that feeling doesn’t go away either.  My husband is with me in the evening, we drop off the Mini and he’s reassuring me it’s good.  Are you hydrated, hungry etc.  Need anything.  Gosh, I love him.  He knows how to let me have space before a fight but take care of me at the same time.  I stay calm, hot bath and early to bed as per usual and visualize.  Not just the fight but the whole day end to end and every possible scenario that could happen once the bell sounds.  I like this part – visualizing until I get to the end and see my hand raised in the end.

I wake up Friday feeling amazing.  Body feels 100% on point and ready to go weigh in.  I’ve read many athlete biographies and sports psychology books and came across the term “adrenaline dump” a few times which is experienced the day of or day before competition.  At that point I just figure it must have been that because I was feeling top of the world!  I get out of bed and walk to the scale – BOOM – 129 lbs or 58 kgs.  I’m so pumped I had to tell myself out loud to settle the hell down!

I get myself ready and head off to the weigh ins.  I get there and it’s quite the scene of athletes, coaches, officials and parents everywhere.  I finally get told where I have to be for the female weigh in and it’s not as chaotic as the guys.  Less athletes but still a bit frantic for some still cutting weight or trying to gain at the 11th hour.  Now there is some stress I didn’t need.  I see my opponent waiting to see the doctor and it’s now a reality.  We shoot the shit for 30 seconds and politely exit the convo with a “see you in there”!  She showed up.  She’s here, she looks ready.  Good.

Once home, I eat, hydrate, chill on the couch and repeat.  I plan everything I put in my mouth fyi.  It’s nothing fancy nor crappy.  Balanced and thought out.  I save my big-ish meal of brown rice with spinach and homemade chicken and veggie stew with side avocado for around 4.30 to give time to digest and what not.  The visualization that I started the night before hasn’t stopped but now I can just do it with just headphones on and my eyes closed.  I also put on some amateur fights I have saved from a card I fought on a couple of years ago with the intention of watching some of the more experienced fights.  Before I get to them I see my second fight and watch in awe about how far I have come.  Feels good.  Sometime during the day I pack my bag – everything was already laid out the night before – and do a final check that everything is in it and at the door ready to grab when Virgil picks me up and we head off to the venue!

Provisions and hydration for my fight bag!

The fight:

I typically like to be dripping sweat by the time I walk into the ring.   Very warm and very very loose.  So I start when my team mate Johiz starts even though he’s 5 fights ahead of me.  This is when the time just moves.  T.J. is warming me up on pads with Virgil giving tips and instruction on specifics.  Even with an injury and a cold he stays close by.  We see her walk by with her coach and corner man.

Coaches invest so much in their athletes.  Time and effort and always going way above and beyond.  Mine have become family over the years.  I love and trust my team 100!

Walking up to the ring Virgil is beside me and starts talking and within seconds his is the only voice I hear and the only one that matters for next few minutes.  I walk up the stairs, hug Virgil and T.J. and get through the ropes.  Virgil is still talking/coaching.  I hear him say a few times “she’s ice cold, she didn’t warm up at all so she may come out stiff with her punches”.  Ref calls us, says his ref speech, back to our corners and ding-ding!!

I won’t go round for round play by play but  I go in, I’m loose, moving the legs and head, feeling her out.  Yup, she’s stiff alright and in my head I’m thanking Virgil because I’m aware and anticipating a stiff few jabs at first.  Translation:  stay away from it.  My first combination I lead with my right hand and I see she didn’t expect it.  It connected a little and she comes back right away with a 1-2 and I defend answering right away with a 2-1.  The 1 connects clean and sharp and I get out!  I’d like to say she was a little shook…..from my view…so I’ll let that sit there.  It’s on, we have a fight.  We continue, I connect a few, she does too but not many and I feel good about round 1.

The fight continues and this is a rematch if I did not mention before.  I can tell she’s not as nervous this time.  A little more settled but very stiff at the same time.  To her credit, she got my timing down early.  I really wanted to use my right hand more.  Well I did, but struggled at first because as she timed it well.  Once I added a feint first or moved in a direction she wasn’t expecting which was when it landed and when they did land, they were clean and I liked it.  I noticed that she liked staying on the inside too.  She seemed more comfortable there but hey, I can hang too so we traded a little but I don’t overstay my welcome if you know what I mean.  The goal or game plan was to throw your combination and get out.  Come back with a straight something right after.  Question & answer as Virgil calls it and is now ingrained.  It works.  Every.  Single.  Time.  While it wasn’t the most aggressive fight as I didn’t have to take it there, I certainly fought with purpose and made sure to change up tempo and speed in between too.

The final bell sounds, she and I hug it out for a second and I walk back to my corner.  Both Virgil and T.J. are smiling and I see Virg mouth “we’re good”.  I tell them I don’t know, she landed some good clean shots in the last round and round 2 I felt was close.  They tell me don’t worry.  I go shake hands with her corner and they tell me congrats, beautiful fight.  I’m beaming inside at this point.  I still don’t know the decision but I’m positive it’s blue and I did it, first tournament with all the obstacles that got put in front of me.  Overcame it with a confident mind and a lot of faith.

We stand in the middle, ref holding our hands and they announce:  Ring 3, your winner by unanimous decision, in the blue corner…..music to my ears!  My first thought – I promised mini another gold medal to add to the a.k.a. her collection and made it happen!

In the blue corner….