In May, the boxers of ‘Adelitas Team’ traveled to Canada, now they welcome female fighters from this country to share cultural techniques

Jorge Ramos Perez
San Miguel de Allende.-With no other motivation than to promote the sport and culture of their respective countries, the boxing teams ‘Adelitas Team’ of San Miguel de Allende and ‘Wonder Woman of Victoria’, Canada, have started a program of cultural exchanges between their fighters.

On this occasion, the young Canadians Jill Doucent and Britynn Carter spent a month in Mexico with the leader and trainer of the Adelitas team, Laura Leyva, who in an interview with Periódico Correo shared that in addition to enriching their boxing with the Mexican style, the boxers lead an unforgettable life experience.

“It’s a tremendous experience that every athlete in any sport deserves to have, despite all their effort, dedication and hope,” he said.

“You leave, you lose and you come back”

Laura Leyva says the idea for the swaps came from discussions she had with Wonder Woman’s trainer Helen Connor at the event in Canada last May, where 11 fighters from Guanajuato and one from Aguascalientes.

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There Laura and Helen agreed that when boxers and any athlete visit another country for a tournament or event, only a few days pass and they don’t have the opportunity to soak up the local culture and traditions. .

“That’s where the idea came from, so that the girls don’t just go and compete and send them back, that often happens in official Olympic tournaments, that they always go there, participate and the send them back, and in the worst case, you lose and you they come back You don’t know the country, you don’t learn anything, you don’t go out, you don’t travel, nothing So we thought: that would be great if they knew more,” he explains.

This concern motivated them to organize the exchange program so that boxers from Mexico and Canada have real experiences abroad, which will help them not only to improve their boxing, but also to make them grow culturally and personally. .

“As a Mexican and from Guanajuato and San Miguel, I’m proud of my land, of my roots, and you can’t get to know the region in a four-day visit. And there the same…”

Jill Doucent and Britynn Carter: Canadians in Guanajuato

The trainers agreed to start the exchanges immediately. Since the Mexican pugilists had just visited Canada, they decided it would be best for the Canadians to come to Mexico, and after getting permission from their parents, Jill Doucent and Britynn Carter were chosen.

Both spent a month in Mexico with Laura Leyva, who hosted them in her own home in San Miguel, where they took the opportunity to immerse themselves in Mexican culture.

“They leave happy and with lots of memories. I took them all over the area (…) we took them to many places, as many as possible in a month. They trained every day, they ran at 6 in the morning…”, he commented.

And in addition to the cultural aspect, the exchange allowed the Canadian and Mexican fighters who trained with them to absorb different and unknown styles which improved their boxing.

“They had the idea that Mexican women are very brave, well inducted. The Mexicans were afraid that the Canadians were super technical. But what just happened this month is that they met as athletes, simply, as someone like you, with the same hopes and the same efforts.

Laura pointed out that between the two boxing games there was a lot of learning in training and in all the technical aspects of boxing in each country.

One last competition in Ensenada

Jill and Brit finished their stay in Guanajuato this week, but they haven’t left Mexico yet, as they still have a competition in Ensenada, from where they will return to Canada.

This competition was organized by Laura from San Miguel de Allende, in collaboration with the local Alpha team. And in addition to Jill and Brit, a contingent of 42 young people from the capital of Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, Celaya and León, San Luis Potosí and Aguascalientes will travel from Guanajuato.

Read also: Boxers from Guanajuato leave for Canada in search of glory

But in addition to the fights, the coaches will use the tournament to plan more events and exchanges, even with the possibility of starting to travel to Europe.

“This weekend we are going to talk about Cancun with other people who are going to join us, and we already have Tijuana to work in the north, center and south of Mexico. We already have the agreement with Canada, the coach comes to speak too, and we are in almost closed talks with Denmark and Spain as well”, she revealed with emotion.

Mexicans go to Canada

With all this, the first thing that comes for ‘Adelitas Team’ is the already agreed swap with Wonder Woman in Canada. For this reason, in the coming weeks the first boxers from Guanajuato will leave for Canadian lands.

And although Mexico received only two fighters from Wonder Woman, Laura negotiates the possibility of three Mexican boxers going to the city of Victoria.

“I received the two girls calmly at my home, and Hélène is going to receive mine at her home. We want to see the possibility of three girls leaving, three Mexicans. I already have the three candidates,” he said.

Plus, Laura has another event scheduled for November, this one pro with her most advanced boxers. The ceremony will take place in San Miguel de Allende and will be used to raise funds for his upcoming trips.

“We are in talks for another event to be held in November. This event is going to be pro boxing, one of those that carries the banner of Adelita, our big boys…”

But Adelitas Team’s flagship event will undoubtedly be the tournament they will organize in January 2023. There, Laura hopes to reunite all the bonds of friendship she has forged, and to receive fighters from Canada, the United States United, Tijuana, Cancun, and even Spain and Denmark.

For now, she says she is happy with what they have achieved on their own with boxing enthusiasts around the world. And these exchanges are the best proof of that.

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