Boxers formed a bond at Olympic Training Center

By BRIAN GOMEZ
THE GAZETTE
November 5, 2007 - 8:58PM

CHICAGO -- As a bus carrying Olympic hopefuls rolled through downtown Colorado Springs, Dan Campbell shook his head in amazement.

He had listened to 15 minutes of chatter, which turned into joking, which turned into singing, which turned into dancing. By the time the bus reached the Olympic Training Center, he couldn’t take it.

“I know you guys haven’t been drinking,” Campbell told the boxers he coaches after an Oct. 15 welcoming at the Penrose House. “What the heck is going on?”

Campbell got no response, only more laughter. He didn’t speak again that night, knowing 11 individuals had become a team.

The U.S. boxers who competed in the World Boxing Championships, which ended Saturday at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion, aren’t joined at the hip. They are a lot closer than they were in September when they began training at the OTC.

A lack of communication, unfamiliarity with each other and the awkwardness of a new environment initially hampered a young group brought to Colorado Springs in the OTC’s first resident boxing program in more than a decade.

Most boxers hadn’t talked outside of national tournaments, where they sometimes were opponents. None was living in dorms, eating in cafeterias and training alongside Olympians.
They came from nine states, leaving their friends and families, coaches and trainers, and jobs and schools for a chance to make the 2008 Games.

“Colorado Springs is like my second home,” said Rau’shee Warren, one of five Americans who qualified for Beijing. “The coaches in Colorado Springs are like my family. They’re going to push me just like my mama did.”

Like his teammates, Warren receives free room and board and a $1,500 monthly stipend from the U.S. Olympic Committee. In January, the stipend will grow to $2,000 — a bonus for being in the Olympic year.

The money doesn’t come easy, though.

Campbell puts the team through as many as three workouts a day. There’s a strength and conditioning session in the morning and an afternoon gym session. Boxers sometimes have nutrition and psychology classes in the afternoon and a sparring session at night.

Three boxers — Sadam Ali, Javier Molina and Luis Yanez — are attending Palmer High School, meaning they must also go to classes, do homework and study.

“I don’t think there’s really much to do in Colorado Springs,” said Yanez, who left his job as a waiter at a Dallas restaurant. “It keeps us focused. It’s good.”

“If you’ve been in Colorado Springs for about two weeks to a month, you’re going to have done everything there is to do,” said Gary Russell Jr., previously coached by his father in Capitol Heights, Md.

During the first few weeks of training camp, boxers typically kept to themselves and stayed at the OTC during downtime.

In the weeks preceding the world championships, they were almost always together before their 10p.m. curfew, hanging out at bowling alleys or pool halls.

“If you know what being on a team is like, it’s about respecting one another’s space,” said Christopher Downs, a member of the World Class Athlete Program at Fort Carson. “We got to know a lot more about one another. Once we figured out how everybody ticked, it made it a more cohesive team.”

Said Yanez: “At first, a lot of people didn’t talk to each other. Me and Rau’shee Warren, we didn’t talk. Now, we’re good friends. ... The team is a lot stronger.”
Campbell said he no longer questions his boxers.

“It has worked beautifully,” Campbell said of the resident program. “It has been a thing of perfection to watch how they have bonded.”