Good Morning, SB!

The only good thing about trainer Jess's 6am class is that your body isn't awake enough to register the pain she's inflicting on you.

The Gym

As we mentioned before, a large motivating factor for us is to show that we can come from our pink, all-women's suburban gym and represent against the classic "boys' club" boxing gyms.  We have an amazing support system at Striking Beauties from the trainers to our fellow members and we couldn't be doing this without them!

First, let's give a shout-out to our trainer, Zach Reay:

Don't recognize Zach? Probably because he's

not wearing his all-white sweatsuit....

Zach kicks our butt and entertains us all at the same time.  Classes with Zach have almost become too full because the ladies are so drawn to his charm.  The hardest part of our training so far may just be working to resist the allure of Big Z.  Ok, no, it's getting punched in the face by 4x World Champion Jaime Clampitt...that's the hardest part.  But resisting Zach's charm is a close second.

For the past month or so we've also been training alongside Striking Beauties' owner Dena Paolino and member Shelly who are both participating in their first fights in April and fellow members Val and Margie who aren't fighting, but are just awesome!  We've also had lots of amazing sparring partners helping us so far including Haymakers' own Julie Kelly, Southern New England Golden Gloves finalists Amanda and Mel, and World Champion Jaime Clampitt!!  We basically hang out with boxing celebrities, no big deal.

Jess and Nora with Striking Beauties Magen and Tina.

Haymakers for Hope

Haymakers for Hope first came on our radar when "smoking hot redhead" (trademark - celebrity DJ Ramiro from Jam'n 94.5) Julie Kelly started working out at Striking Beauties.  Julie is not just a pretty face and chipper ball of energy, she is also a two-time New York City Golden Gloves champion and cancer survivor.  In 2009 Julie co-founded Haymakers for Hope as a way to continue the fight against cancer and raise money for the Jimmy Fund and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Julie encouraged a few of us at Striking Beauties to sign up for the event, and after the seemingly rocket science-like task of matching potential fighters based on size, age, and experience, only Jess was matched with a fight.  A few weeks later one of the female fighters dropped out and Nora was able to weasel her way into the event.  In total there will be about 28 fights and only 2 women's matches.

Fight night is on May 17th at the House of Blues (or Hard Rock Cafe as Nora was telling people for an entire night...) but the first important milestone will be meeting our opponents in the ring on March 18th for a sparring session.  Assuming all goes well and we're evenly matched with our opponents then the fight will officially be on and we can begin fundraising!  As soon as fundraising information becomes available we'll have to start our hard-core efforts to get to $2,000 each by May 17th!

About Jessica

I'm 31 years old, married, and the mama to a 16 month old little girl named Emmeline. I'm from Cumberland, RI and recently moved to North Attleboro, MA. I work as a corporate actions analyst for an investment management company in Boston. I'm also working on earning my MBA from Suffolk University.

I'm no crazy athlete - I played soccer in high school. I coached high school JV soccer and played co-ed indoor soccer in college but nothing competitive. I started running and kick boxing in college to stay in shape. I like to run the occassional 5K but I'm definately not looking to win the race (I just want to know I can finish it)!

 I've been working out at Striking Beauties for about 3 years now. I loved the boxing and the Muay Thai classes. The workouts were more challenging and more interesting than hitting the treadmill at those $10/month gyms. I was hooked on SB! I loved it so much that I was in boxing classes through my entire pregnancy. After having a baby I returned to boxing to lose the baby weight.

Now that I'm training for Haymakers for Hope (H4H) life is crazy. My weekly routine consists of running, bootcamp classes, boxing classes, sparring, shadow boxing, and small group training sessions. Balancing family, work, school, and training has been tough to say the least. I wouldn't be able to train for this fight if I didn't have the full support of my husband, Josh, and daughter. We are also blessed with many family members that help make it possible for me to drag myself into the gym. Thank you Gravel's, Joyce's, Pellerin's, and Lamarre's. And thank you to SB for providing babysitting!

About Nora

Hi! I am a 28-year old full-time school psychologist at a middle school in Rhode Island. 

This is what I look like in real life (seen here with the hubs),
but chances are you will never, ever see me looking normal
 in a photo on this blog other than this one

I'm not a parent like Jess, but I do have two demanding pets I'm responsible for... That counts, right? (Okay, I know it doesn't! But aren't they cute?)

Welcome to the blog, Boo.

Isis

I was a swimmer in high school and college and have since participated in some short road races and triathlons to find an outlet for my competitive side, but nothing has filled this void as well as boxing.  I got into the sport almost two years ago, taking classes and participating in the occasional sparring session, but I've taken my training to a whole new level since being selected to fight in Haymakers.  After receiving the news at the end of January life has become a never-ending cycle of sleeping, working, and training, but I'm hoping to see results in May when I step into the ring.

Two days after the Haymakers event, I will also be participating in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, a two-day, 39 mile walk to raise money for breast cancer research! I participated in this event last year and absolutely loved it, but now my hope is to simply to survive the weekend by meeting all of my fundraising goals and being able to walk on May 21st!

With the Avon girls Mitch, Nic and Jess.
This year I promise I'll actually wear pink....

Welcome to our boxing blog!

We are Nora and Jess- two amateur boxers preparing for our first fights at a charity event in May.  We are working our tails off in the gym in preparation for Haymakers 4 Hope, a charity that raises money for the Dana Farber Cancer Research Institute and the Jimmy Fund.  Together we will raise $4,000 (or more!) for this worthy cause.  On a more selfish note, we're also hoping to bring a good name to our all-women suburban boxing gym! 

Our hope is that this blog can serve as our platform for keeping friends, family, and training buddies updated on our progress in the gym, our fundraising efforts, and give all our support people the shout-outs they deserve!