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Sporting success rarely follows a straight trajectory.
The dream, coming off the pitch in Grade 12 in Fort St. John, was to make the University of Victoria Vikes soccer team. Instead, Bryan Colwell is pounding his way to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics inside the boxing ring.
sa国际传媒 has had some punch in the heavier categories of Olympic boxing, with Willie DeWit and David Defiagbon winning heavyweight silver at L.A. in 1984 and Atlanta in 1996, respectively, and Lennox Lewis the super-heavyweight gold medallist at Seoul in 1988.
Colwell, of Sooke Boxing Club, looks to follow in that tradition after winning the Canadian amateur heavyweight title in Quebec City last week. That makes the six-foot-two, 201-pounder the nation鈥檚 leading candidate in that class for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games next April, the 2019 Lima Pan Am Games and 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
The first national team assignment for Colwell is the sa国际传媒-Cuba dual meet in Regina on May 26.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty exciting to get in on the ground floor of this cycle,鈥� the 27-year-old converted soccer player said. 鈥淚 walked into Island MMA under Jason Heit [himself a former pro boxer who started out on sa国际传媒鈥檚 national amateur team at the 1995 Pan Am Games] and never wanted to play soccer again. I was never a good teammate, anyways.鈥�
The Camosun College business and accounting major found his true calling in an individual sport.
He has a relentlessly dedicated coach at the Sooke club, Ellen Connor, in his corner.
鈥淓llen is the most passionate coach I have ever trained with,鈥� Colwell said.
鈥淪he has been so intense and persistent on the phone in finding fights for me.鈥�
Connor, a corrections officer at William Head, started Sooke Boxing Club three years ago. Now its website proudly boasts that it is 鈥渢he home of sa国际传媒鈥檚 heavyweight champion.鈥�
With more to come. Connor鈥檚 daughter, 12-year-old Jill Doucette, is an age-group sensation and has already received media attention.
鈥淪he鈥檚 a natural and wants to fight in the 2024 Summer Olympics,鈥� Connor said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e a small little club with two huge talents. We鈥檙e a very new club, but definitely making waves.鈥�
One to come, the other arrived.
鈥淸Colwell] is now on the national team and on the right track to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,鈥� Connor said.
鈥淲e got him to box. I told him not every punch needs to be a knockout.鈥�
That said, Colwell won three bouts to take the Canadian championship in Quebec City, including a lacerating knockout of Quebec鈥檚 Jean-Nicolas Legare in the gold-medal bout.
Meanwhile, sa国际传媒鈥檚 national boxing team is always at the mercy of their top athletes being lured away by the pro game. That is the nature of the sport.
鈥淚鈥檓 already 27, so we鈥檒l see what comes my way,鈥� Colwell said.
鈥淚 will definitely stay amateur until the end of the year. I am lucky to have two options and both are pretty good 鈥� the chance for Olympic gold or maybe going [pro]. I鈥檒l take it as it comes.鈥�
The national boxing team is based in Montreal. Coming from Victoria, home of several national teams, Colwell understands the system and the need to relocate to Montreal.
鈥淭here is definitely a lot of support for athletes on the Island with the likes of the rugby, rowing, triathlon and mountain biking national teams located here in Victoria, and the boxers are centralized in Montreal,鈥� he said.
Connor knows it鈥檚 part of the process and she must now let Colwell go, as all club coaches must in any sport when their athletes make the national team.
鈥淏ryan belongs to them [national team coaches] now,鈥� she said.
鈥淓verything he needs is with Boxing sa国际传媒 in Montreal.鈥�
But whether in Sooke or Montreal, these are fists looking to make contact.
