Thread: To Nominate or Not to Nominate

OK I'm in a bit of a dilemma at the moment and unsure of what to do.

My club has had a sort of long off season as far as competing goes so I haven't fought since last year. Not this coming weekend but next weekend there is a show and I think my coaches intend to nominate me to compete.

It's most likely to be only South Australian fighters and I wouldn't be too worried about any of the other girls within my weight range that are likely to nominate against me. I doubt I would be significantly injured or pushed too hard since I have more experience than any I know of unless someone new has just moved into the area.

Having said that I am really stacked up with uni work at the moment and have not been able to train as often as I'd like. I've only been able to do maybe an average of 4 cardio sessions and 3 boxing sessions a week for the last few weeks which is pretty dismal compared to my usual training load.

Plus I have to present at a big conference the Monday after when the fights would be and It would not look too good if I showed up with a black eye and had to explain it to all of these academics who would be 100 % anti-boxing. I bruise easily so that's not an unlikely scenario.

On top of that I'm about 2.5 kg over my fight weight and while it will be easy to loose the first 1.5 kg that last kg is always painful because I'm actually a bit underweight at fight weight. So I'll be hungry and trying to keep up with my study, training and to get a big presentation together which I've had limited time to prepare!

Still I hate to turn it down since every bout is experience and i don't get that many opportunities to compete. Plus I'm not sure if my coaches will feel I'm demonstrating much dedication by turning it down.

Still I won't know until the morning of the weigh-ins for this particular show whether or not anyone has nominates to fight me so I could diet and go all this preparation only to find I'm not fighting anyway!

Advice?!

I honestly don't think anyone can answer this but you. Or are you looking for someone to say..."Go for it!!!" ?

You seem to understand all the variables.

To be honest I don't know if I can look at it objectively - I'm a bit conflicted.

I think other people on here would have faced similar dilemmas before though surely?

Right, so conflicted = not completely focused on strictly fighting, which is one of the variables.

I suppose you might have to ask yourself how much it truly means to you, and weigh that against your other commitments. But that is about all I have, so hopefully others weigh in who have been in similar spots.

In any case, good luck in whatever you decide.

On one hand I think I should just do the best talk I can and fight and if the talk isn't good that's just too bad because I wasn't given a lot of forwarning to prepare for it anyway and I should be allowed to have weekends off. Plus if I have kids one day I'm not going to be apologising for wanting to attend their weekend activities etc.

On the other hand I'm a PhD student coming to the end of my candidature and i guess I can expect to have to put some effort in to establish myself and if I don't do well the only person who really suffers is potentially me when I'm job hunting!

One one hand I could compete as a featherweight which is 57 kg and decide that I don't have to get down to 54 Kg for a change. That would make it easier to focus on my study when I'm not training.

Almost every time I fight somone from interstate they weigh in heavy without warning anyway so I have fought girls this weight and heavier before sometimes also as the less experienced one wich is highly unlikely in a local show.

On the other hand is that a slippery slope though - an excuse to be lazy and not compete in my best shape that could become a habit?

I think I've improved my technical understanding of a few things recently but too recently for it to be habitual just yet. I'm not sure my focus is a problem because I try to avoid thinking about an upcoming bout too much to avoid excessive nervousness.

Still I'm a beginner when it comes to knowing how best to mentally prepare for a bout and I have read that visualizing the competition is pretty key to doing well in many sports so perhaps I should think about it more?

Soooo still conflicted!

Flip a coin?

Usually if I say to myself, "Right, this coin is the decider.. If it lands one way i'm doing this, if it lands the other i'm doing that"....

It always makes me decide one way or another... Not because the coin decides,,, but because the coin lands one way, and either i'm happy with it and like "yep i'll do that then"... Or it lands on the other side and i'm like "damn, actually you know what, I actually want to do it the other way"..

For some reason it gets deeper into your psychology and helps you find out what you really want to do...



Personally I say nominate yourself and take the fight....!

You only live once, and I think looking back in a few weeks you'll be proud of yourself... Testing and trying your skills and personality helps us grow, even if it's temporarily uncomfortable...
It's obvious that you push yourself and test yourself all the time because you have a very strong character.. And diving in head first to this will only be another character building thing in your life...

I'm sure it will be fun..... And how many girls ever get to go up and do an important presentation with a red and purple mouse under their eye?

ummm, not that that is probably a good experience... but you know...

Thats a tricky situation Sharla.

If it were an amateur bout I would take it for the expierience, however, if it were pro, I would shy away had I not trained diligently first.

Sharla, as long as you're training and sparring you will be developing and avoiding ring rust, don't jump into a fight for the sake of being active.
You always remind me to tend to my education before I tend to my boxing.

You'll need time to prepare your presentation and as with boxing, get in the mindset, for your presentation.



Whatever you choose, good luck and keep us posted

Originally Posted by hitmandonny

Thats a tricky situation Sharla.

If it were an amateur bout I would take it for the expierience, however, if it were pro, I would shy away had I not trained diligently first.

Sharla, as long as you're training and sparring you will be developing and avoiding ring rust, don't jump into a fight for the sake of being active.
You always remind me to tend to my education before I tend to my boxing.

You'll need time to prepare your presentation and as with boxing, get in the mindset, for your presentation.



Whatever you choose, good luck and keep us posted

Wow that was 10 times better advice than mine... and with half the words

My only real concern would be the weight loss,if you think you can bring it down with diet and excercise,instead of sauna suit and spit cup,your going to have to get used to taking fights last second anyway.
Might as well do it in the amateurs
Heck B-hop won his 4th pro fight on a fight he took that day,he was sitting at home in Philly,got the call,drove to NY and knocked the guy out

Thanks for the advice guys. It turned out my circumstances made my decision for me because I just couldn't get to training enough in to nominate but it turned out there wouldn't have been a match for me anyway! Oh well - there'll be another show another time!