Ukrainian Women Warriors, photo by Guillaume Herbaut
It seems that there’s some press around lately on the theme of “getting real” when it comes to fitness. For our friends in Chicago, Chicago Now has a piece about the Warrior Fighting Sports & Fitness gym and its affiliated Knockout Boxing Club in Downer’s Grove, Il.. As the author put it:
“What I was looking for: – I didn’t want to join a large gym and do a cardio boxing class. I wanted the real deal, the same workouts fighters do. – I refuse to wear makeup or dress up for the gym. – I don’t want to be treated like a girl.”
What she found was an environment of hard work, sweat, and the inspiration of watching a group of highly skilled, ranked women fighters across a spectrum of disciplines from Boxing to MMA to Kickboxing. Article link here.
New York City has also seen press lately about the idea of the urban warrior. In a recent article in the local Chelsea Now paper, women’s boxing is touted as one of a select group of “alternate activities to stretch your mind and body in more dynamic ways,” the others being target shooting and rock climbing. Article link here. I know from my own experience I didn’t walk into a boxing gym so much for fitness as to engage in a physically demanding full-contact sport.
When I search around for women’s boxing news, I inevitably find some press related to new boxing or MMA classes and programs for women every few days. That coupled with the upcoming debut of women’s boxing in the 2012 Olympics the sport is building a lot of momentum not only in the United States, but globally.
Andrecia Wasson
What’s cool is while I didn’t walk into a boxing gym until my early 40’s, girls like my daughter know the camaraderie and hard work of the gym starting as young as 8. Detroit fighter, Andrecia Wasson is a case in point. She first walked into the Warriors Boxing Club at the age of 12 and now as an 18-year-old Women’s Middleweight World Champion is starting her quest for Olympic gold.
The thing of it is, go to Gleason’s Gym on any Saturday morning and what you’ll find is a group of dedicated women boxers of all skill levels and ages plying their craft with heart and a lot of positive attitude — and then realize that those kinds of scenes are repeated all over the United States. Then consider that it’s also repeated in places like India, China, Jordan, Zambia and Afghanistan. That’s pretty heady stuff and something to feel very proud to be a part of.
Girlboxing 