Four youth boxers from Rival Boxing Gym in Cochrane have been spoiled.
Not spoiled because of the medals they recently won. Those were the results of endless hours of training and dedication, but spoiled by the fact that those medals came at the Alberta Winter Games, one of the biggest youth athletics tournaments around.
And the big kicker? It was the first large tournament they had been to.
Lewis Chiddle, Luke Foster, Maxence Roussel, and Jude Wilkinson were all part of the six-man Zone 2 group that took part in boxing at the games which were held in Medicine Hat on Feb. 13-16.
Each walked away with a medal, as Roussel took gold in the 15-16 Jr. C 66-70 kg category, while Foster took silver in the same weight class.
Chiddle won silver in the 15-16 Jr. C 46-48 kg class, and Wilkinson also grabbed a silver in the 13-14 Jr. B 70-75 kg category.
The other two members of the team – Ty Klassen (Calgary) and Anthony Walsh (Olds) – also had strong showings with Walsh winning gold in the 13-14 Jr. B 6-70 kg class, and Klassen nabbing silver in the 13-14 Jr. B 50-52 kg category.
“I’m very proud of all the kids,” said Rival Boxing coach Craig Wilson.
“Luke Louis, and Jude have been with me for just over a year, and Max for a year and a half. It’s been great, they’ve come a long way in a short time.”
What were Wilson’s expectations going into the games, considering none of his fighters had ever been to something like it before?
“They’ve had bouts at club level, and smaller tournaments throughout the season like Silver Gloves and novice stuff, but this was the biggest for them so far,” he said.
“They’re all relatively new at the sport, so as long as they give it their all, and have fun, that’s what I want. They’re still green, but they’re learning quickly. Once you get to that 10-15 fight mark, then we can take it a bit more seriously. I have the utmost respect for anyone who steps in the ring. All that matters now is they enjoy what they’re doing.”
As for the fighters themselves, it was the experience of a lifetime that justified their six-time a week training regime.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Chiddle.
“I didn’t expect any of the big stuff, like the opening ceremony.”
“Yeah, we had no idea what we were in for,” Roussel reiterated.
“Seeing all the people that were there and how they were kind of looking up to us was pretty amazing. It was great.”
Next up for the fighters is the Golden Gloves tournament, taking place Feb. 27-28 in Spruce Grove, which Wilson calls, “the Stanley Cup of boxing.”
He is expecting his boys to build on the confidence they displayed in Medicine Hat.
“It’s going to be a bigger test for them,” he said. “There’s 180 boxers in the whole tournament, which means more people in each division and tougher competition. But, I have 100 per cent faith in their abilities.
“As long they show up on the day, they can do anything.”
