Maylifa fighting to follow her dream
PCYC Edmonton has already sent young boxing champion Johnny Addo off to greener pastures in Brisbane and coach Pele Peleseuma believes he has another talented boxer in the making.
Peleseuma’s 13-year-old daughter Maylifa is also chasing her boxing dreams around Australia and will be fighting at the Queensland State Titles early next month.
Maylifa, who fights in the 36kg class, won state titles and Golden Gloves fights last year and is aiming to go bigger and better this year.
The PCYC Edmonton gym is in the final stages of preparation before heading to the Queensland State Titles from March 2-4, which is a pathway event to Australian Titles.
“I want to become a great female boxer, while excelling at school and in the community,” Maylifa said.
Pele says her work rate is unrivalled in the Far North. Former PCYC Edmonton boxer Johnny Addo has linked with the All Star Boxing Academy at the Pine Rivers PCYC in Brisbane. The academy has a dozen state champions following last year’s Queensland titles. It had 15 boxers taking part at the state titles and came home with 12 gold and two silver medals.
“If Maylifa is successful down there, and we believe she will be, she will follow on to Perth for the Australian Titles,” he said of the Hambledon State School student.
“If all goes well, we are looking at getting her in the Commonwealth Games down the line.
“We will be meeting the best fighters as everyone is looking for that position in the Australian team.
“They will be the best from Queensland. “Johnny is going really well down there and he is one of our success stories,” PCYC Edmonton coach Pele Peleseuma said. “Johnny will be attending the state titles too so these two friends in (my daughter, boxer) Maylifa and Johnny, who are now fighting for different clubs, “She will need to be ready. “When other kids are going on holidays and doing that kind of stuff, Maylifa is in the gym working hard all through the Christmas holidays.”
To help in her endeavours, Maylifa was recently awarded $500 by the Far North Queensland Youth Assistance Fund.
For the past 40 years, FNQYAF has provided upwards of $200,000 a year to help disadvantaged youth work towards their study or sporting dreams. can catch up, which will be great.” QUEENSLAND STATE TITLES — Friday, March 2 to Sunday, March 4 at Souths Sports Club, Acacia Ridge — All ages 10-40 — Pathway event for Youth, Junior and Under 15s to Australian Titles
“She certainly has achieved, made good of the opportunities she has been presented with and improved her standards along the way,” FNQYAF secretary Terry Newman said.
“We have assisted Maylifa on two other occasions and we are really pleased to be able to help her for a third time.
“She has gone to various titles around Australia.
“There needs to be merit to the application to receive these funds and the person needs to come from a disadvantaged background with the family not able to fund it.”
Peleseuma coached Addo before he relocated to Brisbane and says Maylifa is also showing promising signs.
“She is such a dedicated young lady, she puts in 100 per cent,” he said. “She trains with the adults and can do most of the things the elite fighters do.
“With the travel expenses and accommodation and whatnot, what FNQYAF are doing will go a long way to helping her dreams.”
When the brain is injured this whole process is disrupted, slowed down, and thinking, emotions, decision-making, and action can change drastically.
I’ve seen several competitors who’ve had multiple concussions or traumatic brain injuries who showed greatly reduced capacity of their frontal lobes, which process attention and concentration.
Cognitive training program Neurotracker showed their brains were operating at a senior citizen level, yet they were healthy and in their mid-20s.
They were easily distractible, which made them more likely to be reinjured by failing to avoid future collisions.
Poor hand-eye co-ordination and clumsiness are key indicators.
One recent study reported young people who suffered from concussion showed losses in the size of their frontal lobes even when the concussion occurred months or years prior.
The issue with concussion is we cannot see or really feel the damage sustained.
I recommend anyone with a history of concussion or traumatic brain injury seek assessment and treatment.
THE ISSUE WITH CONCUSSION IS WE CANNOT SEE OR REALLY FEEL THE DAMAGE SUSTAINED
Rob Gronbeck is a Cairns performance psychology coach