By Jeff Hicks
Team Bujold
KITCHENER —
Syd Vanderpool twirled around the ring like a boxing Baryshnikov.
With a showman’s flourish, he delivered the final faux birthday blow to Nelson Leite’s burning midsection.
“Fifty-four. Fifty-five. Fifty-six,” the crowd of prospective 1st-time community pugilists cheered.
Twenty other Champions-for-Charity hopefuls counted out Leite’s considerable candle tally with each each whack from Vanderpool’s well-padded stick.
The Birthday Beats came to a raucous close of laughter and applause. Fifty-six.
Why was Leite enduring this good-natured indignity on his 56th birthday?
Why was the chief operating officer of a Waterloo-based clean-energy technology company trying out for one of 18 spots in the second Champions-for-Charity even run by two-time Olympian Mandy Bujold and her Olympic coach Vanderpool? For very good reason.
“The cause is near and dear to my heart,” Leite said.
The cause is to raise money for McMaster Children’s Hospital Foundation, which the event raised $168,000 in support of back in 2019.
The cause is to benefit the same remarkable children’s hospital that saved his great nephew Bennett. A respiratory infection threatened Bennett when he was just nine months old. The situation looked hopeless and the family prepared for the worst. But, Leite says, McMaster doctors worked their “magic” with the now-two-year-old.
So Leite, if he makes the Champions-for-Charity cut, will step into the ring for the first time for those medical miracle-workers. He’ll gladly endure three months of training and get punched in the mush for them on April 12th at Tapestry Hall in Cambridge.
“We owe them so much,” Leite said.
“We felt so absolutely helpless knowing what he was going through and not being able to help. Now, I can with this charity. So it really means a lot to me.”
Around the Sydfit Health Centre, the other Champions-for-Charity toiled with the same cause in mind. Teachers. Software Engineers. Cement finishers.
Nicole Colasimone, a 37-year-old national marketing manager, shadow-boxed with Paige Pye, a London police officer.
Colasimone exhaled with every phantom wallop, just as Bujold did in her storied boxing career.
“Ch-Ch-Ch.” she bellowed.
That was fitting. A year ago, Colasimone had her first child Jack about the same time Bujold had her second girl Myra. Of course, Mandy is an expert at combining motherhood with the sweet science. Her second Olympics came in Japan after having her first girl Kate Olympia.
Now, Colasimone wants to follow her mentor Mandy’s path to the ring as a new mother.
“I always said I wanted to do one fight,” Colasimone said.
“So why not couple that one fight with a good cause?”
With each jab into the air before Colasimone’s stare, Pye flexed the intricate Lady Liberty tattoo sleeve on her left arm. A hummingbird danced for her dad. Roses bloomed for her mom. The pi sign — π— and “Family” featured boldly.
Pye was moved to try out after hearing Bujold speak.
She doesn’t mind traveling to become a Champion for Charity. The cause is worthy, she knows.
Vanessa Macedo, development officer for McMaster Children’s Hospital Foundation, was amazed at the commitment — boxing training 3 times a week and performance/medical testing at The Armoury in Waterloo weekly, for three months — shown by those who tried out over two sessions.
“To do all that to support a cause is remarkable,” Macedo said. “It’s inspiring.”
After the selections, the first-time fighters will be split into teams. Kaitlyn will coach the Blue Team. Syd will guide the Red Team.
Many trying out have no boxing training experience at all.
“I’ve got the cardio,” said 58-year-old Jeff MacIntyre of Kitchener, president of a construction association and runner of 14 marathons.
“What I don’t have is the boxing.”
That is exactly what he’ll learn if he makes the cut after his try-out efforts wearing his Boston Marathon 2008 “Wicked Fast Runnah” sweatshirt.
Boxing, even for a great cause, is a whole new Heartbreak Hill.“This is a real boxing thing,” Mandy said of the Boxing Ontario-sanctioned event.
“You will get punched in the face.”
But the cause is worthy and the benefits are life-altering and profound.
“Inside this squared circle, you really get to find out something about yourself,” Vanderpool told the hopefuls as he stood in the ring at the SydFit Health Centre.
A past Champion-for-Charity, Lara Johnson, offered wisdom and encouragement.
“You’ll be surprised what you’re capable of,” Johnson said. “I promise you, you won’t regret it.”
