My Partner Vince Kittle trained this kid from day 1,...I was with him for 3 years as an assistant trainer when me and Vince had a gym together we brought him to the nationals as a JR and he was the #1 Jr SHW for 3 years,...Comes from a nice Family but like many kids could not affoard College,
At 6'3 250 by time he was 14 Football was his best chance at a scholarship for College though Boxing was his #1 favorite. At 15 we had him sparring with local pro's like Gary Wilcox, Shannon Miller etc until they decided he hit too hard......He ended up going to Northern Michigan State on a Boxing Scholarship and is being groomed for 2012 Olympics...
He was already a sparring Partner for this past Olympic team..
Thought it might make for a nice read....Always good to see a kid you helped start out from scratch excel like this..
Trevor Bryan – Planning for London 2012 - Boxing in the Capital Region - Michael Rivest - timesunion.com - Albany NY
Trevor Bryan – Planning for London 2012
January 14, 2009 at 5:21 am by Michael Rivest
Okay, sure. It’s every young boxer’s dream to be on the 2012 USA Olympic Team. After all, it’s a whole four years away. Even the wildest fantasies can sound attainable with that kind of lead time. Geez, within four years I’ll have a doctorate, run a marathon, meet the love of my life, and be on Oprah talking about my new book.
It’s just that when Albany’s Trevor Bryan says he’s London bound in 2012, he’s not dreaming - he’s planning. I’m telling right now, he’ll be there.
I talked to Trevor last night from his room at Northern Michigan University, one of only two schools in the country that awards boxing scholarships. He was at a tournament there two years ago while still a 10th grader at Albany’s Bishop Maginn High School. “While I was there I asked some people where you can get a boxing scholarship?” (I told you he was a planner.) “They looked at me like I was crazy – ‘Right here!’ they said.
(photo by Luis Marin Creative)
Trevor accomplished a lot in the two years before graduating high school and grabbing one of those coveted spots at NMU, where he’s majoring in both culinary arts and criminal justice. Besides the inevitable championships and tournament victories, he was one of only two sparring partners chosen to travel to Colorado to work with 2012 Olympic super heavyweight, Michael Hunter; the other was Albany’s Kimdo Bethel.
“That was a great experience,” he said. “It gave me the feeling of being an Olympian, just to be there, to talk to Mike (Hunter), Michael Phelps - just to be one of them.” Not that Trevor needed another reason to believe, but that sealed it for him. “I’m going to London four years from now, and that’s that.”
“Trevor’s a great kid who backs up what he says with hard work,” says Vince Kittle, Schenectady Youth Boxing Coach. Until letting him go this past year, Kittle was Trevor’s coach for over ten years. “Trevor knows the break he got with this scholarship. He’s not a kid who’ll take that for granted.”
I learned just how well Vince knows him. I asked Trevor last night to name his best asset as a boxer. Whenever you ask that question of a serious fighter, by the way, put your pencil down because you’re in for a sermonette on their straight right, or how they hook off the jab - but not Trevor. His answer was as different as it was immediate: “My focus and my ambition. I want it.”
Just for the record, I’ll give you the sermonette on his arsenal. This kid has a jab that makes you think of Larry Holmes. And, like Larry, who could knock out people with that scary thing, Trevor has sent opponents home early with it on more than one occasion. And when Trevor goes to the body, my goodness. I saw him fight a couple years ago and his opponent’s wince is still in my ears.
I also asked Trevor another question I always ask a fighter and got another surprisingly mature answer. “What’s you biggest fear?” Instead of the usual response, which comes in two forms: “Losing,” or “What fear?” Trevor paused and said: “Becoming too one-dimensional.”
“I know how easy it can be to rely on what you have,” he explained, ”and then suddenly you’re in the ring with somebody who shows you something different. I don’t want that to happen. When talent doesn’t work, it’s because it’s beaten by hard work.”
So when you take Trevor’s prodigious natural ability, his mature focus, his desire and then match them with great coaching, watch out. He’s gone from Vince Kittle, one of the best around, to NMU’s Al Mitchell.
Mitchell is one of the USA’s best. In 1989, he became head coach at the U.S. Olympic Education Center, training greats like Vernon Forrest, Brian Viloria, Jermaine Taylor, and gold medalist David Reid. He’s served as the 1996 Olympic Team’s head coach and the 2004 Olympic Team’s technical adviser.
Trevor and I promised to stay in touch, so I’ll keep you up to date on his progress. There’ll be lots to talk about. He and his teammates will be heading to places like Wisconsin, Colorado Springs, Cincinnati, the Virgin Islands, and Philadelphia. He’ll put the next four years to good use.
No dreams, just a solid plan.
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Article on a Kid I used to train on a Boxing Scholarship to Northen Michigan
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Originally Posted by Boom Boom
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