She circles her opponent, gloves raised, her mind calculating her first move, she’s ready for anything.
No, this isn’t Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby, but it’s Prince Rupert’s Tanveen Sahdra, and the opponent is her punching bag, although she hopes to change that in the future.
The 18-year-old is crazy about boxing in a way that only athletes who are really willing to sacrifice their body are.
Sahdra can be found training at Red Shadow Boxing and Fitness nearly every day of the week, and sometimes twice a day. She takes part in classes but also gets one-on-one training from Davit and Kirsten Dzavashvili.
These workouts aren’t typical, either. It’s a gruelling one-hour training session where Sahdra is pushed to her limits. Sweat pours off her body and she reaches within to find the strength to push herself to the next level. But it’s worth every drop of sweat.
“I’m willing to work as hard as I need to get there,” she said.
She’s talking about getting into a ring for a real fight. That’s part of her plan when she moves to Vancouver this year.
Sahdra only got into boxing two years ago. She had always been keen on the sport, but it wasn’t until she heard about Red Shadow that her interest went into high gear. It was the hard work that attracted her to the sport in the first place, but it’s become about something more since then.
“You kind of zone yourself out in a way and you feel like this is my time. You feel powerful, that’s the best way to describe it,” she said.
She also played soccer, basketball and volleyball in high school, along with boxing, but she knew she was most passionate about boxing when she found herself willing to skip a day-long trip for one of the other sports so as not to miss an hour of boxing.
“I absolutely love it and it’s definitely something I want to keep doing,” Sahdra said. “I’ve been training really hard right now and I’m moving to Vancouver soon so I’m really hoping that with all the training that I’ve done the past two years, I can start fighting.”
Boxing isn’t a sport for the weak of heart, and the Rupertite has seen how the sport has changed her.
“The best decision of my life was to start and I’m just so happy that I did and it has transformed my life completely. I’m not the same person that I was two years ago,” she said.
Part of that transformation has been gaining a confidence and inner strength due to the sport, and even “learning to suffer is important” as her coaches often remind her.
“I have to put in everything I’ve got, 110 per cent and you just give it all and that’s the one thing about boxing, it makes you feel so much more confident about yourself,” she said.
Sahdra admits that the most difficult thing about her drive to be a boxer is how hard she works and how much time and effort it takes to succeed, but it’s also her favourite part of the sport.
“My highlight is when you set goals for yourself and when you reach them. You know how hard you’ve worked to reach that goal so when you finally do get it, that’s the best,” she said.
While Sahdra’s focus is boxing, she is also a part of the Rupert running community. Rupert Runners awarded her a $1,000 bursary for her involvement in the running community.
“I love the races, there’s just so many people that you know and you just go out with your friends and run the race. Especially the less competitive races, it’s more of just supporting each other,” she said.
Sahdra ran more two years ago, but now she does it more to supplement and improve her boxing career. Being active is important to her.
“It is basically just living a healthy lifestyle. Our bodies were meant to move. Exercising is so important because it’s a form of therapy,” she said.
For now, Sahdra pretends the punching bag is a real person, an opponent she has to defeat using everything she has learned about being a boxer. But she’s convinced she has what it takes to one day be a real fighter.