A 琉璃神社 musician is adding boxer to his personal resum茅.
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 鈥渢hree-round heroes鈥� train and fundraise to support local outreach programs and recovery homes for addicts in the community.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 about getting people to focus on their physical health as well as their mental health,鈥� Bowman said.
鈥淎ddiction 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 it鈥檚 the most insane, awesome thing I鈥檝e done in a long time.鈥�
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Put on by local boxing gym Los Gatos Locos, the 鈥渢hree-round heroes鈥� 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 Freedom鈥檚 Door. The money helps keep the doors open and allows those living in the programs to then join the boxing gym.
Bowman, who鈥檚 also a personal trainer, said boxing provides a physical distraction to the recovery home residents that take part in the boxing training.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a really good way to get people something other than the usual go-to, whether it鈥檚 drugs or alcohol. This a very real issue in 琉璃神社, and to just throw money at people, doesn鈥檛 necessarily help them,鈥� he said.
鈥淏oxing offers something else and a different focus in life.鈥�
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.
鈥淭he 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.鈥�
He鈥檚 performed live before, but when the starting bell dings in a entirely new arena, he hopes he鈥檚 ready.
鈥淎ll the stuff you learned, unless it鈥檚 really drilled into you, it will go out with the first punch,鈥� 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 鈥渢hree-round heroes鈥� were needed, he made the jump. Supporting the growing issue of addiction and mental health in 琉璃神社 while promoting physical fitness through boxing was something he felt he could help with.
鈥淚 would recommend the training to anyone, it鈥檚 wonderful. And the self learning and mental fitness is really valuable to everyone and addiction recovery is about self learning,鈥� Bowman said.
But as for the actual stepping in the ring to fight, Bowman said he鈥檒l comment on that afterwards.
More of Bowman鈥檚 story can be found .
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