The first opponent Lola Brouillette needed to defeat was her own self doubt. Once that was done, winning her first national title was no problem at all.
Brouillette defeated Daphnee Jutras of Quebec by unanimous decision at the Canadian National Elite and Under-23 Championships on Saturday in Sarnia, Ont. She won gold by using an effective check hook combo and relentless pressure to control the ring.
“Whenever I pushed forward instead of going back, because in many of my past fights I would usually just go backwards and just kind of give up mentally. And you could see it in the ring," she said.
"But I found this fight I was always dialed in and just flowing. So I was working to what I can do, and I still believe there's still a lot more potential I can do in the ring.”
The win in the U23 division makes Brouillette only the second Nelson boxer ever to win a national title. The first was Milane D’Aurelie, who in March captured gold at the Junior and Youth Canadian Boxing Championships.
Brouillette said she struggled over the last year with inconsistent performances, but had a breakthrough after working with a mental coach ahead of the trip to nationals.
“It actually helped me a lot for this one. I just felt very strong minded and clear for this fight, which was super nice so I didn't have any self doubt, which I usually get a lot.”
Nelson Boxing Club coach Jesse Pineiro, who also coached Brouillette at nationals with Team B.C., said he was thrilled with her performance following a year of hard work.
“It’s nine minutes you train for and you have to put it all together, and then you got somebody else who's not co-operating, right?" he said.
"So she did great. She won every round. She moved well. She was explosive, she was powerful, her defence was great. She just put it all together and it feels pretty good, because it's been such a process for her, but it's inspirational for our club too.”
Brouillette, 18, is Nelson's current sports ambassador and has aspirations of competing for Canada at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Pineiro said her next step will be to move up to the elite division and take advantage of more training opportunities with Team Canada's under-23 roster.
“Hopefully this performance is just the beginning of something instead of the result.”
Brouillette said the championship has emboldened her to stick with boxing.
“I was kind of feeling down, but then after winning nationals it really lifted me up a lot. I'm taking it as a sign just to keep going and not to give up.”
Nelson's Riel Martinez also competed at nationals and earned a bronze in the elite men's 65 kg division.
Martinez, who in October won his second consecutive provincial title while also being named the best boxer in B.C., first beat Cole Ahenakew of Saskatchewan on Nov. 21 before losing to Mohamed Milad of Nova Scotia the following day.
