Champion for Charity Matt McHugh plans to paint the ring red — as in Red Team — on fight night
By Jeff Hicks
WATERLOO —
The sweet science of painting, like boxing, requires two-fisted stamina.
“Strong forearms, steady hand,” said master brush-slinger Matt McHugh, one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 Champions for Charity who will enter the fundraising boxing ring in The Brawl at Tapestry Hall on April 4.
Oh, there’s more to applying a coat of many colours, while perched on a ladder, than that.
You need strong fingers, for sanding. You can’t be sloppy on the edges.
Attention to detail determines whether you roller to victory or get knocked on your paint can.
“I believe in giving back to the community and getting a team on board to do it,” said McHugh, owner of McHugh Painting in Waterloo.
“There’s power in numbers.”
So, McHugh is part of the 10-fighter, Champions for Charity Red Team, raising money for McMaster Children’s Hospital. So far, more than $375,000 has been collected or MacKids.
There’s power in numbers at home too.
McHugh and wife Norma, who is from El Salvador, have six kids.
Not bad for a couple that met on a staff lunch-break rendezvous at a Waterloo sporting goods store where McHugh sharpened skates and re-strung tennis racquets.
She was in soft goods. He was in hard goods. Both were in sales.
Twenty years later, they still argue over who introduced themselves first.
Their newest addition, four-month-old Santiago, is a southpaw like his dad, McHugh laughed. Of course, McHugh is a lefty, like his Opa Werner, a German painter who brought his Bavarian brushstrokes to Canada.
When Norma was still carrying Santi, the couple went to McMaster to have the specialists, who were welcoming and professional, make sure all was well with his heart.
“We were anxious about the whole situation,” McHugh, 43, said. “They just reassured us everything would be okay. Sure enough, it was.”
Will everything be okay in the ring April 4? McHugh won’t, uh, paint himself into a corner.
“I just need to be good with my feet and dance,” he said.
Dance like his oldest boy, 18-year-old Orlando, strutted around the ring recently at the Brampton Cup for Red Team coach Syd Vanderpool’s competitive squad.
His oldest daughter, 16-year-old Annabella, will keep him on his toes with advice about his parenting and pugilistic skills.
Maybe Abigail, 13, and Annabella will make him a snazzy bracelet to wear to the fight.
Estella, 8, can capture the evening with one of her artistic drawings. Emma, a five-year-old firecracker, is probably a better boxer than her dad anyway.
McHugh loves boxing. McHugh, who once recruited most of his high school soccer team to pick up brushes, loves painting too.
Just like he loves his mountain dog Aruba and his bengal cat Gigi.
“I like the technical aspect,” he said of painting. “You can transform someone’s home and brighten it. You can change the energy in the room.”
Sold-out Tapestry Hall will crackle with electric energy on April 4. It’ll also be filled with McHughs. And one jab at a time, one brush stroke at a time, the Champions for Charity will make a life brighter for kids in our community in need of top-notch care.
“It’s been an amazing experience,” McHugh said of training to be a Champion.
But one question remains, will Matt and Norma have a 7th kid?
“If it was up to me — yes,” McHugh said.
Sounds like it’s not up to him.
To support Matt, click here.
