Champion for Charity Kristin Diebel stays patient with herself, patient with the process for ring debut
By Jeff Hicks
KITCHENER
The two secret letters are often hidden from sight.
Buried beneath Kristin Diebel’s Red Team boxing gloves. Concealed also by a snug hand wrap. The ever-optimistic mother of two, one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 Champions for Charity, has a consonant and a vowel etched with permanent ink into her right wrist.
There is an H. There is an I.
They read the same with her arm sideways as straight up and down.
No, she’s not saying ‘hello’ to her BlueTeam opponent with every rib-crunching cross to come in The Brawl at Tapestry Hall to raise money for McMaster Children’s Hospital and children’s charities like Scotland’s Yard and KidsAbility.
The letters are for her son Harry and her daughter Isabelle.
High-energy Harry is an ambitious eight. Isabelle, her shining jewel, is an observant old soul at 10. They matter most to Diebel. That’s why she got the modest two-letter tattoo last year.
“It’s a good reminder to keep myself grounded,” said Diebel, a self-described extrovert and senior director of a Kitchener robotics company called Avidbots.
“Having kids yourself, it jostles you to think of what some people go through. We’re stepping in the ring for this great cause. But the real fighters are those kids and their families.”
So the Champions for Charity have raised $565,00 and counting for MacKids.
Diebel herself has raised $10,845 surpassing her personal goal of $10,000.
She sold two tables for Fight Night too.
Not bad for robotics runner who has pounded the flat, wide streets of the Berlin Marathon to the deceptive overall decline of the Boston Marathon.
From Brandenburg Gate to Heartbreak Hill.
Diebel, like her son Harry, likes to jump in with both feet; often not reading the fine print.
Damn the fine-print torpedoes that suggest a minimum fundraising goal, selling a table, and 4 days of training a week.
“He’s always looking for something new to try — kind of like me,” Diebel said of Harry. “He will be the first one who signs up for the boxing match without reading the FAQs.”
Oh, Mandy told Diebel, a proud Preston girl, to read those Frequently Asked Questions on the Champs website before signing up to try out for The Brawl at Tapestry Hall on April 4.
But Mandy’s Champions sales pitch sounded like too much fun.
The FAQ’s would have buzz-killed the invigorating vibe that day on the Lion’s Head beach with their kids splashing around in the heat of August. Diebel went in blind.
Maybe Mandy and her good friend Shannon — Diebel’s sister — knew this. Perhaps they conspired with a nod and a wink, certain that Kristin would leave the better part of valour in the soft sand that summer day.
Diebel is suspect. But Champions for Charity training has underscored her inner fortitude.
“It’s important to be patient,” Diebel said 13 weeks into 15 weeks of training.
“Patient with yourself. Patient with the process.”
So she’ll go for a 10K run with her beloved dog Abby. Her senior pooch Henry is long-retired from long runs but is paws-in for the cool downs.
With frustration boiling over, learning a new skill like boxing can be daunting. The reaction-ball headband is something she has yet to master. Her kids like to try and hit the tethered tennis ball more times in a row than she does.
So far, she is the Reaction Ball champ in her household. Harry does not agree.
“There is a big mental game to boxing,” she said. “It’s definitely not just physical. You have to be able to roll with the punches.”
Be patient. Stay grounded. Remember the H and the I on your right wrist.
Then, jump right in. Never mind the FAQs.
“When’s the next fight?” Diebel asked.
To support Kristin, click here.
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