A Kelowna musician is adding boxer to his personal resumé.
Neville Bowman is a talented musician and has recently challenged himself to shed his instruments in favour of gloves and step into the boxing ring in support of local charities.
Fight for the Community III is a local charity boxing match where ѻýthree-round heroesѻý train and fundraise to support local outreach programs and recovery homes for addicts in the community.
ѻýI think itѻýs about getting people to focus on their physical health as well as their mental health,ѻý Bowman said.
ѻýAddiction recovery is about learning about yourself I think, and boxing is like that too. Fighting might be the dumbest thing for a piano player to do, but itѻýs the most insane, awesome thing Iѻýve done in a long time.ѻý
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Put on by local boxing gym Los Gatos Locos, the ѻýthree-round heroesѻý are tasked with raising $1,500 during their months of training with coach Geoff Lawrence. The money is put back into the community and donated to Okanagan recovery houses Ozanam House, Karis Support Society and Freedomѻýs Door. The money helps keep the doors open and allows those living in the programs to then join the boxing gym.
Bowman, whoѻýs also a personal trainer, said boxing provides a physical distraction to the recovery home residents that take part in the boxing training.
ѻýItѻýs a really good way to get people something other than the usual go-to, whether itѻýs drugs or alcohol. This a very real issue in Kelowna, and to just throw money at people, doesnѻýt necessarily help them,ѻý he said.
ѻýBoxing offers something else and a different focus in life.ѻý
The fight takes over Rutland Centenniel Hall July 6.
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With his fundraising complete, training all but wrapped up and his fight booked for Saturday night, Bowman is drawing confidence from his experiences as a performing musician before his first ever fight. Bowman said there are many comparable traits when going from pianos to punches.
ѻýThe parallels to music are there, to go through the motions to rehearse or train, you have to trust that process. The discipline it takes to be good at both (music and boxing) is very similar.ѻý
Heѻýs performed live before, but when the starting bell dings in a entirely new arena, he hopes heѻýs ready.
ѻýAll the stuff you learned, unless itѻýs really drilled into you, it will go out with the first punch,ѻý Bowman said.
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Bowman is careful to which charitable endeavors he chooses to as he needs to be 100 per cent committed. When he heard from friends that more ѻýthree-round heroesѻý were needed, he made the jump. Supporting the growing issue of addiction and mental health in Kelowna while promoting physical fitness through boxing was something he felt he could help with.
ѻýI would recommend the training to anyone, itѻýs wonderful. And the self learning and mental fitness is really valuable to everyone and addiction recovery is about self learning,ѻý Bowman said.
But as for the actual stepping in the ring to fight, Bowman said heѻýll comment on that afterwards.
More of Bowmanѻýs story can be found .
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