USA TODAY International Edition
Mother and daughter chase dream in the ring
Pursuit of boxing brings sacrifice — and rewards
EL PASO, Texas — The sacrifice is impossible to measure as the hours pile upon hours, the sweat fills bucket after bucket and even a bit of blood and possibly a tear or two accumulate in the hard knock, unforgiving journey that is boxing.
But the pain and the joy are best when shared. And no one can share it like daughter and mother and grandmother. The sport has built an indelible bond between three generations.
Kayla Gomez is but 14 years old, just an eighth-grade student at Bel Air Middle School. But she is already a five-year veteran of the demanding sport and she has already won six national championships and earned a spot on the U.S. National Team. She dreams of going to the Olympics and then going pro.
Crystal Aceves is 32 and is also a fiveyear veteran of the sport, bringing her daughter Kayla with her when they decided to get serious about boxing. And no sport demands that you be serious more than the sweet science. Aceves has competed in three national tournaments and has two second-place finishes and one third.
Cindy Aceves is mother and grandmother and their coach and travel partner.
“I had boxed a little a while back but I didn’t take it seriously,” Crystal Aceves said. “I decided to take it up again and take it seriously and I brought Kayla with me.
“I wasn’t too sure she would like it. But she took to it right away. She was a natural.”
The mother-daughter duo goes through the same intense practice sessions, the same fitness and strength
Bill Knight
training.
“They train for hours and hours every day,” Cindy Aceves said. “At first, I was just bringing them water and encouraging them. I’d done some karate and kickboxing. But another coach encouraged me to get my coaching license. So I did and now, here I am.
“I’m so proud of them,” she said. “It’s just awesome to see them compete at this level.”
Kayla said most of their running is “on weekends and when school is out. We also hike a lot. That’s what we enjoy doing. We get in a workout while having fun, too.”
“Sometimes I forget she’s just a little girl,” her mother said. “She works out as hard as I do. Once we were running and she kept pushing because there were some teenage boys running in front of us and she didn’t want them to beat us. She’s very competitive.”
“This takes a lot of sacrifice,” Crystal added. “Family and friends. They have to understand what we are doing and understand that we have to train and this is pretty much year-round.”
“It is amazing, their work ethic,” said Ladislao Vicencio, the local Golden Gloves director. “Kayla is going to be something to be reckoned with; she has that fighting spirit. She and her mother work out every day and every day is a championship workout. They are both forces to be reckoned with.”
There is so much sacrifice, so many hours of each day. There is also a financial sacrifice.
Cindy Aceves said, “We fundraise for these trips. We do everything we can and then we step back and say, ‘well, OK, we’ll have to drive to this tournament or, if we make enough, OK, we can fly to this tournament.’ ”
Despite all this, Kayla finds time to be a teenager. She plays the guitar, she is a member of the National Junior Honor Society and someday she would like to be a veterinarian.
“Kayla asked me if you can be a professional boxer and a veterinarian,” her mom said. “I tell her she can be anything she wants.”