Who I thought I'd have on my team for Empowered and who is on it are totally different. I went into Empowered by myself originally, then I took on a business partner, was planning on hiring a fellow pro female fighter I knew, and am now back to running the show but bringing on different team mates.
Who I thought I needed are turning out to be who I wanted and who I need is very different.
I think I may have found a potential boxing coach for Empowered and she's pretty awesome. I saw her when I arrived at the Philippine Army Gym today. She was sitting ringside with a guy, chatting. When she stood up to start her warm-up though, her energy totally changed. She went from being this giggly, young girl to this very focused female fighter. The smile left her face like it was game on.
I started my warm-up but kept my eye on her.
She was sitting ringside when I walked by to turn the round bell on and one of the coaches who had just arrived called me ringside. "Do you want to spar with her?" he asked. I looked at her, asked her how much she weighted and then waited for the expected excuses I usually get when coaches randomly designate girls to spar with me. Usually they act all shy or joke about being afraid I'd kill them in the ring but this girl just sat there. She sat there looking at me, waiting for my answer. "Sure", I then said.
I was hitting the heavy bag when she then stepped into the ring to spar with the guy she had been chatting with earlier. Midway into the first round she took her headgear off; that's hardcore. She dominated the rounds, then stepped out and went straight to the heavy bag to continue her training, as if that sparring was her warmup. Wow. I was impressed.
I ended up talking to her in between rounds. Turns out she's 22 and is on the Philippine National Amateur Team, super impressive. I don't know if it was her English that was a bit off or the fact that she was in training mode but I don't think she really understood what I asked her regarding work. Nonetheless, I'm definitely going to keep my eyes open for this fierce female and approach her again, tell her about Empowered and if she wants a job. She had this amazing energy about her, I was so impressed, and though she looked like every other Filipina walking down the street, her confidence and how she carried herself definitely made her stand out. You knew walking into that boxing club that there was something different about her. She's totally what I'm looking for for Empowered. She is Empowered.
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