Email
Print
Feed
Girl in the Ring |
Tweet |
(page 1 of 2)
Without headline or fanfare, her name appears in agate type in the back sports pages of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Heather Donoho. It caught my eye because her last name is mine, too. Spelling the old Irish moniker this way is uncommon. Could we be related? It occurred to me this coincidence might lead to a good, whimsical story.I was half-right. Forget the whimsy. Sit back for a good story.
Heather Donoho—we are no relation, it turns out—is a 112-pounder from San Carlos. She"s Boxing USA"s number-one ranked amateur female flyweight; she"s also ranked eighth in the world. Heather is only 19, a cute, 5-foot-2 power-loaded pixie. On the street she might, in turn, catch your eye then punch you in the mouth (only if you deserve it, of course).
Growing up, she was tossed from two schools for fighting. Once, when a dad/daughter school dance approached, a classmate made fun of the fact that Heather couldn"t go—her dad had died. "I kicked that kid"s ass," she says matter-of-factly.
Heather graduated from Patrick Henry High with a 3.7 GPA. Today, the self-proclaimed "good girl" carries a 3.3 average in criminal justice at Grossmont College.
She runs 5 to 7 miles every day and trains for another three hours. Every day. Try mixing that regimen into the life of a typical college teenager.
"She works harder at boxing than most guys," says her coach, Sergio Melendrez. "This is her focus. She"s always the last one to leave the gym. In my 25 years of being a trainer, she"s the most dedicated boxer I"ve seen."
Melendrez has chased away any and all male suitors. Heather forgoes parties and myriad social activities to focus on boxing.
To already be so accomplished (yet still unknown) is a testament to her dedication. Observers say she has a lot to learn about the sweet science. In a fledgling sport like women"s boxing, the future holds more questions than answers. And as with most athletes, injuries can happen. When I met Heather in early April, she was bothered by severely strained calf muscles—from overtraining.
Injuries, and life in general, can cause interest in sports training to wane. Interest in the opposite sex can wax. For a female boxer, pregnancy is a huge issue (listen—do you hear Melendrez shuddering?).
To be sure, amateur sports dreams are costly. Heather isn"t a hardship case. But she"d rather be a cash cow than a money pit. She"d love to make money at boxing sooner rather than later. That dream is alive—due to hard work and, in part, brotherly love.
Do you like what you read? Subscribe to San Diego Magazine »
