It's becoming a little tired to say that every week of my fight
training tops the last, in terms of both challenges faced and
progress made but it remains true, and week 6 has been no different
and included my first actual knock-down. I don't remember exactly
what happened except that I was caught by a punch and found myself
kissing the rather sweaty germ-infested floor of the ring. Jumping
straight back up, I knew immediately that this was another obstacle
overcome and that, whatever happened, I had to finish the
round.
For many people that might seem the most obvious reaction, but
for me it's fairly new; I cannot imagine behaving like that 6-8
weeks ago, but then… so intense is this process that sometimes I
can't actually call to mind what my life was like back then, before
twice-daily training sessions, regularly getting walloped in the
face and even more regularly feeling like I want to dive under the
ropes and hide under a bench press. Luckily for me - sorry, here
comes another cliché - a problem shared is a problem halved, or, in
my case, 'thirded', as I'm going through much of this experience
with two other women, both of whom are gorgeous, something which,
I'll admit, makes the whole thing somewhat easier to bear…
Firstly there's my coach, ex-professional boxer, Cathy Brown
(www.cathybrown.co.uk)
whose expertise, dedication and patience have made fight training a
fairly profound experience for me. I feel exceptionally lucky in
being trained by Brown, not just because of her great skill, but
because I imagine it's not everyday you find a teacher who is as
kind, generous, humorous and takes such a holistic view, always
equally concerned by my emotional health and wellbeing by my
technique and physical health.
Then there's Georgie 'Big G' Banton, my training partner, also
fighting on 16th November in York Hall and coached by
Brown (see pic, of Big G, hiding her glee at getting her neck
stretched by Brown). Sometimes I feel like Big G and I are
contestants in The Hunger Games - the film and book whose central
premise is that contestants (a.k.a. pawns in the games) work
together to stay alive until, ultimately, they face each other. So
it is that Big and I chat happily together about the crazy journey
we are on before quickly stepping into the ring to compete against
each other.
That's the strange thing about boxing though; it seems a
contradictory sport to say the least, as full of respect and
comradeship as it is of aggression and self-interest. I still smirk
at the irony of thumping someone on the nose (or being thumped) and
then, once out of the ring, thanking them for allowing (or
offering) it. I'm not sure how it is in other clubs, but speaking
for our sparring sessions at The Third Space, I can say that boxing
is the most gentle(wo)manly of ungentle(wo)manly pursuits; it's
about avoidance as much as attack, about retaliation as much as
initiation and - most of all perhaps - about attitude as much as
ability. Perhaps it's unsurprising then that my own feelings
towards boxing training are also contradictory; I love it as
viciously as I hate it, look forward to sessions as much as I dread
them and want it all to be finished as much as I want it to
continue… Like it or not though, the days go by, the fight is on
and, with jangly nerves, I can now write that in under two weeks it
will be over and - last cliché of the blog I promise - I'll never
quite be the same again.
Fight night is 16 November 2012. Buy tickets (£25, £35 or £45)
at fightformind@yahoo.com
If you want to sponsor Lucy "Firework" Fry (all the money raised
goes to MIND), please visit www.justgiving.com/frylucy
