 I had the opportunity to go out to Washington D.C. for the Regional Golden Gloves on April 20th. It was a boxing show that was packed with entertaining, hard fought matches.. The first fight was a contested fight that occurred before the show started. It was the first time I had ever seen this, but it was good to see. I was able to referee an exciting bout between two talented 125 boxers. They fought cleanly and I didn't have to step in too much, but I did give an 8-count at the end of the match. I was nervous to get in there, but I think things went really well after a bit of confusion at the beginning of the bout. I really enjoy refereeing and getting better at it. I feel like I'm at 50% of where I want to be, but luckily I have so many great officials around that I can learn from. I judged quite a few bouts and was spot on with my decisions, so that felt good. Judging comes easily to me and I have a good sense of how to narrate the fight in my head so I can keep track of who is winning. There were approximately 18 fights on the card and almost all were evenly matched and it felt like a championship atmosphere, There was unfortunately only one female bout, but 4 other women won by walkover including Deborah Grant from Fayetteville, NC. The red corner were Virginia and North Carolina fighters versus the blue corner who were Maryland and D.C. fighters. One of the best fights of the night was contested by a couple of 17 year olds at 147 lbs. named Justin Almonte of Virginia Beach and Markell Steele of Temple Hills, Maryland. They both showed so much heart. Steele was the harder puncher and hit Almonte with some wicked body shots, but Almonte kept fighting back and had his moments as well.  We only had one boxer from North Carolina compete and he was actually from Raleigh. Michael Nwaschukwu fought an incredibly entertaining fight in the 203+ division. It was the last fight of the night and the crowd was glued to their seats. He channeled George Foreman and the fight was nonstop! All the open level winners advance to the National Golden Gloves in Detroit. I am eternally grateful to LaTasha Washington, president of the PVA boxing association and Chief of Officials residing over the event. She made me feel so welcome and supported and gave me great feedback on my officiating. It was also nice to work with Lisa Cuellar, another top notch female official who comes from Virginia and has a fight background. I learned a lot from the many talented officials. The atmosphere at the event was fun. There was even a live band and ring card girls. The motto of the tournament is Heart-Pride-Desire to Win and the boxers on this night showed it. Grateful to witness and be a part of it.
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AuthorYvonne Caples is a Learning Experience Designer who is passionate about making learning meaningful and engaging for all. Posts
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