Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 9, 1 September 2007 — OHA 's world champ [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA 's world champ

A strict regimen of training and diet paid off for 13-year-old Alyssa-Lende Kane of the Malu'ohai Hawaiian Honrestead in Kapolei, who enrerged as a division vietor at the 2007 Ringside World Boxing Championship held in Kansas City, Missouri, during the week of Iuly 31 - Aug. 4. In a bout of less than a minute, Kane stopped fornrer world ehamp Shelby "The Lionheart" Bialkowski of Canada in the first round. "I eame out firing, and she got frustrated," said Kane about the deeisive moves that nrade her the new world ehamp in the girl's internrediate 114-pound weight division of the event, considered to be the largest in anrateur boxing, welconring over 1,000 eompehtors. The referee stopped the fight after Kane scored several punishing conrbinations to the body, putting Bialkowski against the ropes in too mueh pain to eonhnue. Kane, an eighth-grader at Myron B. Thonrpson Acadenry who also volunteers in OHA's grants division, follows a rigorous workout progranr that includes two-nrile sprints every nrorning and intensive weekly sparring sessions at the Kawano Boxing Club

in Kalihi. She also pays careful attention to what she eats, avoiding all junk food, often nraking her an exception arrrong her fast-food-craving peers. "It's okay to be different in everything you do," said Kane. "To be a ehampion you need to set the exanrple for others." Kane first becanre interested in boxing after watching the Acadenry-Award-winning nrovie Million Dollar Baby that featured Hillary Swank as a boxing hopeful with steely resolve. Mueh like the on-screen heroine, Kane went down at the hands of an older sparring partner early in her career, but was not discouraged. She credits both her coaches and her nrany sparring partners for always ehallenging her to do better. In 2007, Kane also becanre Hawai'i's 2007 Iunior 01ynrpic Chanrpion in the 13-14 girl's 114-pound weight division. "If I'm dead tired and nry body feels like giving up, I push nry nrind to keep going and nry body follows," she said.

NŪ HOU • NEWSBRIEFS

Thirteen-year old Alyssa-Lende Kane of Kapolei eame home a divison ehamp from fhe Ringside World Boxing Championship in Kansas City last month. Kane, who volunteers at OHA, took down the previous ehamp in less than a minute. -Photo: courtesy of the Kane family.