I was never a “sports person”, and I still don’t think that I am. There was never one particular sport that I was overly invested in. But then I found Schott’s, and realized that I just hadn’t found the right sport. I started training at Schott’s Boxing about five years ago, and had no idea what I was getting myself into when I walked into the warehouse gym on a side street in Albany. But I went, and soon fell in love with everything about it. I fell in love with the sport, with learning and wanting to get better. I fell in love with the people, the trainers, and soon enough the gym was my home and the people were my family (that hasn’t changed all these years later). I was invested after my first time working out there, and my trainers Andrew Schott and Kyle Provenzano, haven’t gotten rid of me since. I’m not the only one that this has happened to, though.

A few months into my journey at Schott’s, I met someone who I’m proud to now call one of my closest friends and training partners. If you asked me five years ago if the 13-year-old boy that I worked out with a few times a week would become one of the most influential people in my boxing career, I probably would’ve laughed. But I’m sitting here typing this after watching Zach Sawyer, who grew up in that gym right alongside me all these years win yet another boxing match. It was the fifth fight in his competitive amateur career, and his fourth amazing victory. The progress I’ve watched him make over the past five years is the kind of progress that made me realize that people don’t get invested in sports, they get invested in athletes. The passion that he has for what he does is what makes me understand the drive and hype around it all.

Zach’s level of dedication is something that trainers everywhere dream of. I know because both Andy and Kyle have told me so on multiple occasions. I can see what they’re talking about, and it’s amazing to see that dedication pays off in many ways. There are people who have raw talent and ability, and there are people who are coachable and willing to learn. But then, there are the special few out there like Zach, who happen to be both.

I can only tell you what it’s like to watch him fight from the perspective of the protective best friend. The training partner of the person who has taken every step with him along the way, except for the step he took for his debut in the ring. Let me tell you, it’s the most anxiety-provoking, energy-driven and rewarding experience. There’s a level of confidence I have in him when I see him warming up for a fight. But that’s because I know he has the skills to hold his own and win. Of course that doesn’t mean I’m not sitting in my seat with shaky hands waiting for it all to be over. Watching someone learn combinations and defense on pads and on the heavy bag in a gym is cool (especially when they’re good at what they do). But it’s nothing compared to watching it be put into practice in a competitive setting.

The November 19th show in Syracuse had a total of thirteen bouts. There were boxing matches set up between kids under the age of ten, and matches set up between veterans of the sport who had more fights under their belt than you could hope to guess. Our fighter from Schott’s Boxing fell somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. Zach’s fight was the seventh bout of the day, which seemed forever away. Finally though, it was time. It was going to be Zach Sawyer from Albany, fighting against Dondre Newbill from Fort Drum. It was Sawyer’s four fights against Newbill’s six.

There’s a certain energy that fills a boxing gym once the bell rings—the fight starts and the air changes. Soon you hear coaches telling their fighters what to do, and you hear crowd members who think they’re coaches telling fighters what to do. Then you have the rest of us who know that they’re probably only listening for the voice of their coach so we just offer moral support in the form of “Get him!” and “You got this!”

There’s always a massive knot in my stomach when the first round starts. This fight of course being no different. As Zach and Dondre both made their way to the center of the ring I was on the brink of cardiac arrest. The fight got going, and both fighters were throwing and landing punches on each other. Zach worked his way to the inside by using some stiff left jabs and ending them with a strong right hand. Dondre had Zach moving around the ring to dodge his left hand. Towards the end of the round, Zach was able to get inside and start throwing body shots before having to back off because the first round ended.

The third round began, and the atmosphere of the gym is as excited as it ever was. Everyone wants to see a spectacular finish to this fight, regardless of who they’re cheering for. I was confident that Zach was going to win, but a lot can happen in two minutes so I still kept my fingers crossed. The entire crew from Schott’s was cheering for Zach, and despite there only being a small number of us there, we were one of the loudest cheering sections. That’s a title that we wear proudly.

The fighters were as ready to finish this as anyone else, so without much of a wait time after the bell they started throwing punches. It was a lot of back and forth, and once the round really got underway, the exhaustion was becoming more prevalent in both fighters. On a few separate occasions, they got locked into a clinch. A clinch isn’t really the best place to be, but when you’re tired it can offer you a few seconds of breathing time before getting back into the heat of things, unless you’re in a clinch with a fighter like Zach. I’ve seen him do it during more than one fight where he’ll angle himself just far away enough to start landing hard shots to the body, and that’s exactly what he did to Dondre in the third round. Then the bell rang. The fight ended as quickly as it had begun.

There’s the limbo period between the fight ending and the winner being announced. In reality it’s probably not that long, but it feels like an eternity. After what seemed like ages, it was finally it was time. The ref pulled both fighters into the center of the ring, and we heard the words that Zach, my coaches, my friends, and I had been wanting to hear all day. “And the winner, fighting out of the blue corner, is Zach Sawyer!” The announcer probably said the city name and gym name that we were fighting from, but I didn’t really hear it. I, along with everyone else from my gym, were too busy cheering about Zach’s victory.

There was a wave of pride and relief that washed over all of us as Zach and our coaches stepped out of the ring to come back over to us. Everyone was hugging and high-fiving and congratulating Zach on another win. There were photo-ops of course, but above all we were just excited about another victory.

I know that for someone who isn’t a sports writer, I just wrote about 1,500 words on a sporting event. The thing is: boxing isn’t just a sport to me, and Zach isn’t just some athlete. It’s become a huge part of my life and the people I’ve met because of it have changed me for the better. Everyone deserves to find something that does that for them—that makes them a better person while enjoying the process of it. So much has happened in the five years that I’ve been a part of Schott’s Boxing, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the gym, and for our fighters.