Even though P.E.I. won’t have any competitors, coaches hope that young girls will be motivated to go to the next Games
When female boxing makes its debut at the Canada Winter Games, there won’t be any P.E.I. athletes there. However, people in the sport hope that young girls on the island will be inspired by what they see and try to get to the next Games in 2027.
Tracy Stretch is in charge of boxing on the committee that is putting together the 2023 Games.
In 1995, she was the first woman to represent P.E.I. in the first women’s national amateur boxing competition. She won a bronze medal and made boxing history, but she was not able to compete at the Canada Games.
“It was kind of a letdown because I thought, “Why not?” I’m able to do it at the national level. I can represent my province in competitions in other parts of the country. “Why not at the level of the Canada Games?” Stretch said.
Stretch said, “At the time, in 1995, boxing wasn’t an Olympic sport for women.” At the 2012 Summer Olympics, it was the first time that women could box.
“When I heard that boxing would be included in these Canada Games, I thought, “About time!”
‘There were no females
Cassie Watts recently won a silver medal in boxing at the largest amateur boxing tournament in Canada, the Brampton Cup.
She is too old to compete at the Canada Games now that she is 31, but she remembers clearly when she was a teenager training in boxing and wondering why she couldn’t compete at the event.
Watts said, “When I was training for boxing in Charlottetown, all my teammates were men.” “There were no women.”
“I just remember how much I wanted to be a part of the Canada Games when I saw them getting ready.” “And now that it’s official that there are women involved, it makes me so happy,” she told me.
I think it takes a certain kind of athlete to want to do boxing as a woman because it is a contact sport.— Cassie Watts
Watts said that men can be very good at the sport.
“It’s tough to see women come in and stay.” “I think it takes a special kind of female athlete to want to do a contact sport like boxing,” Watts said.
‘They’re so pumped
Taylor Perry has been boxing for eight years, and at the KO-ED Boxing Academy in Charlottetown, she coaches a group of only women.
None of her boxers had enough experience to compete at the Canada Games in 2023, but she has high hopes for 2027.
Perry said, “I’ve talked to the young girls, and they’re so excited.”
“Some of them are volunteers, so they’ll get to see a lot of the boxing.” I think it will have a big impact on them just to see what they could be in the future. Hopefully, it will really push and drive them to keep going for that goal.
Destiny Perry, who is 19 years old, has been boxing for four years. She said that the athletes coming to the Games have inspired her.
“It was great to see women from small towns or countries like Canada there,” Perry said.
“It’s not just a sport for men. When I saw them getting in the ring, I thought, “Wow, I could do that, too.”
“Before I started boxing, I honestly didn’t see many women in it.” “When you watch it on TV, most of the people fighting are men,” Genevieve Roach, 15, said.
“When I come in here, I see Taylor and everyone else, and I think it’s great that women are getting into a sport that men usually do.”
It’s great that women are getting into a sport that most men do. — Genevieve Roach, 15
Emma Campbell, who is 13 years old, might be able to compete in the next Canada Games.
She plans to go to the competition so she can see it for herself.
Campbell said, “Just to see what I can do, to see what they’re doing, and to get better so I can do it too.”
“I just love this sport so much, and I want to get my name out there so I can box more and have more chances to do so.”
In Week 2 of the Canada Games, female boxing will be held for the first time in Summerside, P.E.I.
Stretch plans to be there when it does. “I’ll probably be very, very excited and feel like a kid in a candy store.” “I’m already excited on the inside because it’s finally happening and because it’s happening here in Prince Edward Island,” she told me.
“This is a big, historic moment for women’s boxing in Canada, and I couldn’t be happier that it’s happening right here at home.”