Wednesday April 24, 2019 ~ LANGFORD
~ by Mary P Brooke, West Shore Voice News
Women are competing in the Boxing Canada 2019 Super Channel Championships being held at Bear Mountain Resort in Langford this week.
What’s the appeal for a teenage girl to get into a fighting contact sport?
“The mental and physical aspects, and learning how I can push myself,” says Emily Walker. She’s 17 now, but started learning to box when she was 13 years old. “I did my first fight at 14,” she says proudly.
Spending the full seven days at the championship event (arriving on Easter Monday and departing on Sunday after the Saturday finals), Walker is pumped to enjoy all aspects of the Olympic-qualifying event. Her mom is along for ride. Mom approves of the sport for her daughter: “I was afraid at first. Now I think it’s great, once I got to know about it.”
Walker is in the youth category. She competes in the 57 kg category. A few weeks before a competition she starts watching her weight. And what’s the most aspect of staying healthy for this sport? “Sleep! Without enough sleep you can’t be at your best,” said the teen from White Rock, BC.
For Walker, practice in this sport takes about 15 to 20 hours per week, on top of keeping up with school work and her part-time job at a pizza place. The Grade 12 student will be graduating in June and heading to Simon Fraser University in the fall to study psychology.
She appreciates having trustworthy, reliable sparring partners to be part of her practice. “But I can’t hard-spar with women, because they’re not at the same level as me,” says Walker with a respectful but competitive tone. “There aren’t that many women in the sport,” she tells West Shore Voice News. So, “for hard-sparring, it’s with the boys”.
“BC Boxing is good with safety,” says the teen who carries a mature attitude for her age. “They look after their fighters. There is ringside medical and the referees have their First Aid certification. If you get too many hits they stop, or if you feel blurry. Especially if you’re under age 19,” says Walker. Any injuries so far? “Just a small concussion and a black eye.”
Today was Day 2 of the Boxing Canada 2019 Super Channel Championships. The full event hosted by Boxing BC this week runs April 23 to 27.
This evening’s crowd of about 300 people covered a wide age range from children to older adults, and range of interest from whooping it up to calmly sitting to just be part of energy of the room. For some it was a sports night, for others it was a bit of a date night. Sponsors tables were set up for VIP guests. Vendor stations included coffee and snacks, as well as boxing gear and a massage station.
Boxing matches are watched closely by officials … about eight officials around each of the two boxing rings in which matches run continuously. The next matches are coming up Thursday and Friday 1 pm and 7 pm, with the finals on Saturday at 1 pm.
Tickets for afternoon/evening or the full week are available online and at the door:
• PRE-SALE – Afternoon: $20 / Evening $25 / Day: $40 / Youth (15 years and less): $15 / Family: $50 / Week: $140
• AT THE DOOR – Afternoon: $25 / Evening $30 / Day: $50 / Youth (15 years and less): $15 / Family: $60 / Week: $150
The host organizer Boxing BC has several partners to help pull off this event: Government of Canada, Sting, City of Langford, Province of BC, ViaSportBC, and Bear Mountain Resort Community.
“Langford is rebranding itself as a sports tourism destination,” says Langford Mayor Stew Young. “This boxing event is just one of many events to come,” he says.
The venue is an inflated ‘bubble’ behind the Bear Mountain Resort hotel, with access through revolving doors. Be prepared for a bit of a walk down (then up) a relatively steep pathway. Golf cart rides available. The views of the golf course are breathtaking of course.
Live Streaming of each set of matches is available free on Boxing Canada’s YouTube Channel.