Champion for Charity Harmony Voisin ready to throw all 6 punches for MacKids
By Jeff Hicks
KITCHENER —
Harmony Voisin lowered her fists and stared at her coaches blank-faced.
“You’re telling me there’s six punches in boxing?” said Voisin, dripping with sweaty disbelief.
For the first few weeks of training as one of Mandy Bujold’s Champions for Charity, the mother of four was overwhelmed learning two punches — the jab and cross.
Then, the coaches let it slip. With hooks and uppercuts, there were a half-dozen.
The 43-year-old property manager from Kitchener staggered to her metaphorical corner like she’d taken a clout to her jaw.
This was worse than when her dad George — at her insistence — took her to Harmony Lunch in Waterloo for a pork-burger drowning in fried onions.
Voisin, then 10, hated it. But the story went her mom Elaine had gone into labour with her while her dad was having lunch at Harmony.
Hence, the tranquil first name that earned her the nickname “Lunch” at one of her first jobs.
“No 10-old girl wants to eat a pork burger slathered with onions,” said Voisin, recalling how the onions make her tear up.
“I left crying, thinking how I was named after Harmony Lunch and how I didn’t like that burger.”
Of course, little Voisin believed her mom’s less-greasy version of her naming instead. Her middle names are Cecilia and Anna, after her dad’s grandmothers.
The ‘harmony’ comes in the joining of those two beloved names.
Two middle names. Four punches. But six punches? Crazy.
She’d organized golf tournaments. She had taught kids to read. She is an active member of 100 Women Who Care in Waterloo Region. She even played T-ball and Slo-pitch.
But mastering six punches was an extraordinary task for someone who had never thrown a single jab
Nada. Nothing. Nil.
That’s what Voisin, manager of Waterloo’s The Boardwalk and Kitchener’s Sunrise Shopping Centre, knew about the sweet science of boxing before she became a Champion for Charity and embarked on 14 weeks of training.
“Zero,” confirmed Voisin, who will make her fight night debut to benefit McMaster Children’s Hospital in The Brawl at Tapestry Hall on April 4 in Cambridge.
“I’ve watched almost no boxing. Up until we started training for this, I had never been punched by anyone. I had never punched anyone. I really was the rawest version of a boxer you can get.”
Raw? Like the onions Bruce Marks used to pile on the griddle at the old Harmony Hall union haunt and dance palace on King Street.
Even her ultra-supportive husband Nick figured the University of Guelph real estate major would have trouble walloping someone else.
But she figured, ‘Why not?’ and tried, being selected for one of 20 spots.
Her two girls, 12-year-old Mila and eight-year-old Elaina, know how to roll with the punches in competitive gymnastics. Marshall, a fun-loving 10-year-old boy, is a baseball catcher who always knows the count. Nicholas, six, is a Kung Fu firecracker bursting with energy. At first, they were sad to see mom go somewhere without one of them.
Then, their mindset shifted. They were excited for their mom, the “chaos controller” at home, got go to training at Sydfit Health Centre. Now, they’re looking forward to watching the sold-out fight live-stream for a great community cause.
So far, the Champions have raised $381,000 for MacKids.
“My six year old told me he’ll get in the ring for me, if I want him to,” Voisin said.
“It’s been really great.”
It’s also been a journey of self-discovery for Voisin. She’s learned a lot about herself. It’s all right to let go of ‘mom guilt’ and lean on others for carpooling to get kids to their activities.
“It’s OK to ask for help,” she said.
She has also learned a lot about boxing — like when she was told gloves come in different weights.
“No kidding,” Voisin said. “ I did not know that.”
To support Harmony, click here.
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