Andrew Woodman, Centretown News
Erica Adjei has won the Ottawa Sports Award for boxing for the third time.Six years ago, Erica Adjei was hanging out with a group of male friends. One of those friends happened to have a registration form for Centretown’s Beaver Boxing Club and was saying they should join as a group. Adjei spoke up, agreeing it would be fun to do together, but the friend told her she couldn’t do it because she was female.
Proving him wrong was the fuel that got Adjei into the boxing world and she’s been at it ever since. Her male friend never showed up to the gym.
On Jan. 28, the 24-year-old Adjei received the 2014 Ottawa Sports Award for boxing, her third time receiving the award. She also won in 2011 and 2012. This year’s award is mostly thanks to her performance in the 2014 Canadian Boxing Championships, where she won her first gold in her weight category.
“That was my third time going to nationals,” says Adjei. “So I was really banking on third time’s the charm.”
Adjei credits much of her success to her coach, Greg Gayle. “He’s completely transformed me as a boxer,” she says.
Gayle has been with the Beaver Boxing Club his entire career. He says he saw potential in Adjei from the start and his experience as a boxer allowed him to nurture that potential.
Adjei also credits the boxing gym, which she says has been wonderful. When she first went there, she was a little wary that it would be full of big, intimidating people, but that wasn’t the case.
“The Beaver Boxing Club is such a great atmosphere,” she says. “Everybody’s so welcoming, and people are willing to help you,”
Jeremy Espinal-Flores, Adjei’s teammate at Beaver Boxing, says she knows how to turn it on and off. When she trains, she is laser focused. Once she’s done, she’s outgoing and talks to everyone.
“She loves having a good time, she likes joking around,” says Espinal-Flores. “She’s just a good person to have around.”
A graduate of Carleton University, Adjei is currently working as a business analyst for a software company, on top of her training regimen at the gym. She’s at the gym three or four times a week, and runs about five times a week. That ramps up before big events and competitions.
“I truly feel that you only fail once you stop trying,” says Adjei. “And I feel like I’m always going to keep trying until I achieve what I want to get.”
Winning the Canadian Championship doesn’t give you automatic entry into any international competitions, says Adjei. It helps, but she still has to go through training camps and testing before she’s chosen to represent Canada internationally. She also has plans to become a certified boxing coach.
“I’m really just looking to have fun with the sport. If it’s not fun anymore, I’m going to quit,” says Adjei. “But I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.”