Charity boxing event to aid kids
‘Twas the fight before Christmas and all through the gym, two left hooks are swung and an uppercut to the chin. Moves such as these can soon be seen as GCSU prepares for its third annual Santa’s Miracle Fund boxing tournament.
Founded three years ago, the event is a Santa’s Miracle Fund inspired charity event. The desire to get males on college campuses to participate drove the development of the event. GCSU’s 2007 and 2008 tournament raised thousands of dollars and hundreds of students attended. Santa’s Miracle Fund and the GCSU Registered Student Organization student volunteers are hoping for a three-peat Saturday.
“As the event nears, there are no real differences in comparison to last year’s tournament as of right now,” Director of the Santa’s Miracle Fund Blair Morton said.
This year, like the last, includes four divisions of competition. The divisions are as follows: welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and finally the heavyweight contests. As imagined, the multitude of divisions and matches requires quite an amount of manpower in order to get the event up and off the ground.
“Fighters, trainers, ring girls, referees, MC’s and volunteers all make the event. Many of the fighters prepare for the event or have boxed in the past,” Morton said.
As fight night fast approaches, the concentration falls heavily on the preparation. This not only includes the volunteers, both student and local, but also the boxers themselves. Quite a bit of moxie is needed to step out into the ring in front of a crowd. How do these brave souls prepare for their time in the limelight?
“My freshman year, I fought without doing much of anything and got beat up pretty badly. I should have done more that year,” junior Matt Nelson, a two-year participant in the tournament, said. “The next year, I met and practiced with some guys. I increased my cardio a little bit and practiced with a coach. I ended up doing much better my second year.”
Nelson, who competed in the light heavyweight division both years, found himself bloodied and bruised but, in the end experienced mostly enjoyment.
“The events were a blast,” Nelson said. “There is nothing like getting hit right in the face for the kids.”
Thus far, there are a number of confirmed boxers and volunteers but the organizers are still in need of volunteers. The SGA-sponsored event will be selling tickets for $5 each across campus through Saturday. The contests will be held once again in the GCSU Centennial Center. The bell will ring at 8 p.m. and matches will continue through the evening until 11 p.m.
Everyone who attends the Santa’s Miracle Fund tournament will be helping children, as all of the tournament’s proceeds will be directed to young children with disabilities.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Dec 4 2009. Filed under News.
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