Kick boxing. A sport known for its brutality, its tough athletes, and its intense training. And I love it.

I’m a 15 year old girl. Many people might look at me and not realize that I’m an aggressive competitor in the kick boxing arena. But I am, and have been involved for the past 4 years.

How I got involved…

I lived in Lindenwold at the time, which wasn’t the best place in the world to live in. At the town park, there were 3 people shot dead. I witnessed an old man get jumped. I saw someone get jumped for money that would be used for drugs. One day I was walking home from school, I was in the 5th grade. I could tell that there was people following me. When I turned around to see if someone actually was, I saw the 5 girls that my older sister was having problems with in school. When I turned back around, there was a girl in front of me and she punched square in the face and then I fell to the ground. While, I was on the ground they were punching and kicking me until, a cop came and found me. Once the cop came my nightmare was over. The cop took me to the hospital and my parents met us there. I had 3 broken ribs, my left hand was broken, I had a black eye and a fat lip. That’s how it all started.

My Sissy Stage

I began kickboxing when I was 12 years old. My mother was not all that excited about because they thought I would get really hurt again, I wasn’t all that excited about it either but I gave it a try. My instructor, everybody called him Instructor Joe, persuaded my mother to let me do it. According to my father, I was in my “sissy stage,” meaning I was being a sissy because I didn’t want to hit anyone. After a while, I started to like it and then I fell in love with the sport. I started to like being able to stick up for myself and not have my older sister fight all my battles.

I’ll never forget when I got the chance to stick up for myself by myself. I was in lunch and a girl came up to me and pulled the back of my head by my hair. So, I stood up and punched her. I was proud of myself that I hit her, she was one of the girls that jumped me, but I was also upset because I used what I knew for the wrong reasons.

I’ll never forget when I got my first pair of Everlast boxing gloves. They were red and black and really comfortable at first. My grandfather bought them for me before my first match. Sadly, he died before he could see me fight in them. It felt good when he bought me them because, I knew he supported me because he doesn’t buy anything for anything that he doesn’t support. Then, I soon figured out that I needed wrap for my hands to go under my gloves. After a while, you start to punch harder so it hurts your hand more. I learned this because I was working on my left jabs for a competition (my left hand is my weak hand). When I punched the bag, I moved my fingers before I made contact and I broke my hand.

Training

There are two different types of training that I go through to stay in shape to be able to fight. First is relaxed training that I do when I don’t have a competition or a match. For example, if I have a match on a Monday in three weeks. I will do relaxed training 2 weeks before the match. Then, I start the more brutal and intense training. This training is called “Hell Week”. Relaxed training includes: working on jab and crosses, 4 different kicks, and blocks. The exercise are broken into increments big enough to last 7 days.

On Monday and Tuesday, we do 50 jabs, crosses, upper cuts, high punches, low punches and back fists. On Wednesday and Thursday, we concentrate on 6 different types of kicks. The kicks include: 15 tai kicks, front kicks, reverse kicks, side kicks, crescent kicks and round house kicks. Friday and Saturday is when we work on combinations. Some of the combinations are: right jab/left cross with a tai kick/crescent kick, low and high punches with a roundhouse kick with a reverse kick and upper cuts/back fists with front kick/side kick.

Sunday is when we work everything together. The week before and the week of is when “Hell Week” starts. Just like when we mix in everything we learned during relax week on Sunday. We do that everyday during the hell week. This week is called hell week because an hour into it, you will feel like your about to die. There’s no getting used to it because, what is planned for each week gets changed without you knowing it. You may think you’re walking into what might be an easy week but it’s really going to be yet another week from hell.

Weigh-ins and Diets

To me, weigh-ins are the second hardest thing that you have to do in kickboxing. If you train hard and eat junk food, then there is a chance that you will not make the weigh ins. Sometimes, I find myself being put on a strict diet at the worst times so I can make weigh ins. I hate when I have a competition the week of Christmas or Thanksgiving. My family has always been the type to push me to see if I fail or not.

This last week, I had a competition where I had to lose 10 pounds. It seemed like a lot to my family, but to me it was just something that had to be done so I could do what I loved to do. My family made it extremely hard to not give in because, they would sit there and eat ice cream from Royal Crown while, I’m sitting on the couch eating a bowl of fruit. I haven’t been to Royal Crown since it opened this year.

I have had competitions the week of my birthday and haven’t been able to eat my birthday cake. I remember last year, my birthday is in the summer time so I always have an ice cream cake. Last year, I couldn’t eat my birthday cake so, I was eating salad. Who wants to eat salad instead of cake on their birthday? The things we do for the things we love.

The hardest thing for me is the actual weigh in itself. It’s really hard because, if you show any sign of fear while you are waiting for your weight, then other competitors will think that you will be scared in the ring too. What I do, is I step on the scale and stare my opponent right in the eye so, they know that I am not scared even though I may be scared inside.

Weird Traditions 

Everybody has something weird that they do before or the week of a competition. The week of a competition I drink a protein shake. It’s not a very delicious protein shake but its worth it at the end of the day. The shake contains: tuna fish, spinach, milk and a regular protein shake.

Also, I do something else that pretty much everyone I know thinks is disgusting. I drink 3 egg yolks, on at a time, before my competition. I can only do it a few times a week if I multiple matches a week.

I think it’s weird but nobody else does. I drink only water and eat only protein bars the day before my competition. I think its weird and it doesn’t make sense because, all I drink is water but then I have to work off all the water weight. That doesn’t make sense at all to me. I don’t mind the protein bars but the water diet just does not make sense to me.

One of things that I really don’t like to do is to put vaseline on my face and my head. I put the vaseline on my face because, the gloves are made of leather so, the leather could cut my face badly. I put vaseline on my head because, I can’t wear a headband because it will fly off in the middle of the match. It’s nasty because, sometimes I’m really tired and forget that it is in my hair and I fall asleep with it in there. When I wake up in the morning, it’s all caked in to my hair and it takes forever to get out in the shower.

Competitions

Competitions can be something fun to do or one of the most brutal things you will ever do in your life. Some people think that it’s not right, that I love a sport that involves getting hit extremely hard to no extent.

I ask my self all the time why I do it but, then I remember that I continue you to do it because, it keeps me in shape and its something that I’ve basically spent all my teenage years doing.

My dream is to continue kickboxing but doing at a professional level, but the things is I don’t know if my body can handle doing a sport like this medically. I have had 3 surgeries so far. One on back because, I had a plate an inch out of place and a herniated disk. I have had two knee surgeries. One was because, I fell and a welt was growing on my knee but then began to geo inside my knee so I had to get that removed and then another because I had a metal plate put in my knee.

Competitions are something that you have to be physically and mentally trained for.