SHOOTING HOOPS TO RIGHT HOOKS
BOXING: Canada is the second-most successful boxing team in Commonwealth Games history, and they’ve chosen Toowoomba as their base to add further glory. The squad made their way to Smithy’s Gym yesterday, where they will prepare for the Games on the Gold Coast. One of those striving to continue the Canadian dominance is Sabrina Aubin-Boucher. Competing in the 57kg category, the combative sport wasn’t always her first preference however. “I played basketball for nine years. It was my life. I was refereeing on the weekend and coaching a team,” AubinBoucher said. “I had a big accident while playing in my last year and had three surgeries. I couldn’t play as well after that, so I looked for another sport.” Aubin-Boucher was determined not to let the setback stop her from living out her calling as an athlete, taking up the sport at the age of 21. “I started boxing because it wasn’t bothering my knee as much,” she said. “I’m an athlete in my heart. It’s in my blood. I have to perform and I have to try stuff. “I had a friend who was giving boxing classes just for fun, and I saw the movie Million Dollar Baby. The day when I saw the movie, I said okay, I’m going to start. “My friend who was coaching said to try and have a fight. In my first event I fought someone who was really good, and she told me to not quit and that I would go far if I kept going.”
She took the advice on board, and after a century of amateur fights, Aubin-Boucher is preparing for the opportunity of a lifetime at the Commonwealth Games.
“When I started to see the challenge and what I could do against boxers who were really better than me, so I thought there was something I could reach,” she said.
“I was trying to reach the Quebec team, which was big for me at that point, and then the nationals. I took it step by step.
“Because my weight class wasn’t an Olympic one, it was confusing because we didn’t know if I could go or not.
“I was asking all the time if the spot would open, and one day they told me I would be on the Canadian team for the Commonwealth Games.
“It was the best day of my life.”
Despite a tough field of competitors, Aubin-Boucher has the confidence and self-belief that she won’t be headed home empty-handed.
“For around a year my performances have been really constant. What I’m doing now is working a lot on my psychological training and it helps me a lot,” she said.
“Here ... my big goal is to ... perform as much as I can.
“I know I’m the kind of athlete who can beat everyone here and be on this podium.”