It was a year of firsts in the boxing ring for a pair of sisters.
Marley and Evelette Theis has never been in boxing ring prior to September, but the siblings were named the most valuable boxers by the Thomas Settee Boxing Club on Monday night.
The sisters made the trip from Saint Brieux to train in Prince Albert multiple nights a week.
“I was introduced to it by my mom,” Evelette explained in an interview. “She doesn’t do boxing herself, but she’s like ‘do you want to do boxing?’ There’s some benefits to boxing like self-defence and stuff. It was really hard at first because my body wasn’t used to it. I think as I come along, my body got used to it.”
The sisters never sparred, but participated in training during the boxing season from September through June.
Marley says the experience of training for boxing pushed her beyond what she thought her physical limits were.
“It was really difficult at the start. I didn’t know that I was able to sweat that much. It was very, very difficult. But after a while, my body kind of got used to it. Then we kept increasing the difficulty. I kept doing harder and harder things. It definitely pushed my body a lot more than I was anticipating. But it was totally fine.”
The sport of boxing provided a benefit outside of the ring for both sisters. Marley says participating in training has made her feel more confident about self-defence if the occasion were to ever arise.
“I boxed a kid in my yard, and he was a very cocky person. It was very nice to just put him in his place for once, because he insisted that he would be able to beat me, and he did not. Going places, being a 14-year-old girl, it just made me and my mom both feel a lot safer about going alone, because I had the ability to defend myself if I needed to.”
Evelette says participating in boxing has also made her feel more confident in her self-defence.
“I think it’s gonna make me feel more comfortable walking in public. There’s a lot of dangerous people and it makes me feel more comfortable knowing that I will be able to defend myself in these dangerous situations.”
Marley says she doesn’t plan to continue boxing, as she wants to pursue figure skating. Evelette is looking at continuing with the sport and she is proud to come away with an award from her first year in the ring.
“It just feels special. I don’t really have a reason to why it just really feels special and I might continue it on next year, see what else I can achieve. I got a reward now and it feels nice have a reward.”
sports@paherald.sk.ca
