Boxing: Not Just for Men Anymore
On a Monday night in May I attended one of the first practice sessions of the newly formed Dartmouth Boxing Club. I wanted to try boxing to get fit, burn off some steam, and learn a little self-defense. I nervously stepped into the small makeshift gym within Berry Sports Center. I had no experience in boxing, was trying my hand at a typically male-dominated sport, and was sadly out of shape. Assessing my new colleagues, I judged there to be about 40 of us, including six or so women. We were a motley bunch, all sizes, races, and obviously varying degrees of athleticism. As the class began I relaxed a little and got into the workout throwing jabs and hooks at an invisible opponent.
The revival of the Dartmouth Boxing Club follows a national trend of increased interest in the sport. Even so, Dartmouth, Harvard and Columbia are the only Ivies that offer boxing as a club sport. There are no varsity boxing teams left in the Ivy League, and—due to liability concerns-there are no competitive matches between schools. Even sparring is a touchy subject. Dartmouth allows it, but participants must wear a double-sided mouth guard, head protection, and, for women, chest protectors (imagine an armored sports bra). In time I'd come to learn the rhythms of the practices. After warming up and learning the punch combo of the day, we'd rotate through a handful of work-out stations set up by Dartmouth coach Craig McGray, a Ph.D. student in the college of arts and sciences. They include work on heavy bag, speed bag, doubleend bags (small bags attached to both ceiling and floor by long elastic cables), offensive and defensive drills performed with a partner, and various conditioning exercises which I like to refer to as "stations of pain." Even though most of us would not be training for competition, we still would work hard.
Harvard boxing coach Tommy Rawson who is 90 years old and has been coaching for 57 years, says that he teaches students to box "not to make fighters out of them but to teach them the art of self-defense, the skill of the sport...and keep them physically fit." That is a great philosophy to embrace here. Boxing at Dartmouth today is not the boxing of year's past. Back in the 1950s Hanover-based writer Corey Ford '21 Attained the boxing and wrestling teams at his home. Dartmouth boxers were strong contenders in the Golden Glove competitions, and boxing great Gene Tunney was an honorary member of the Dartmouth Boxing Club's Board of Advisors.
But boxing trends and history-were the farthest thing from my mind as my leather-clad fists thudded away at the heavy bag that first night. I started to tire, and paused to wipe the sweat from my brow with the back of my arm. As I looked around I saw my feelings of exhaustion and empowerment reflected in the sweaty, pantingvisages ofmy fellow students and I realized that I wasno longer nervous.
Boxing is ahit withnoviceEdwards.
