Dooley Noted: 12/14/2013
I met the great Joey Boffi nearly one year ago. Luckily for me, he approached me to get assessed.
We became friends and SFGs, as well as referral networks for one another.
As he prepared to perform in a December Muay Thai fight, he helped me understand the demands of these athletes. We worked to keep his biomechanical injury risk and pain minimized.
He approached his corrective work like he does everything in life: pure focus.
Last night was his fight.
The game had rules, so it minimized risk. I know next to nothing about fighting. But I know the anatomy of a fight.
Hit the temple just the right way with the right force, and that middle meningeal artery can assure you it’s lights out forever.
But the risk is accepted by the athlete. They are doing something they love. They are doing something that matters to them.
I’d never been to a Muay Thai fight.
Joe sent me some videos to help me understand the sport and its movement.
Hearing about it or watching it on TV is quite different then watching someone you care about willing to put everything on the line for their love.
At the event last night, I watched 12 fights. It was exciting to watch the athleticism and movement. But I felt my day – plus my week – weigh my eyelids down.
Then, there was Fight 13.
I saw my friend, the epitome of focus and determination. He is discipline personified. And it was Game Day.
So – I felt my entire being come alive, wishing him success. I wanted so much for his discipline to help him find the joy the work warranted.
In the first round, I watched a man try to defeat my friend with a kick that knocked Joe to his knees.
There was my friend – and he couldn’t breathe.
I felt myself tell him:
“Just breathe, Joe. If you’re breathing, you are fine.”
As I watched the potential of joy start to fade, he rose to his feet.
Then, I watched three rounds of Joe clinching his opponent and thrusting him to the ground. I counted four times.
It was thrilling.
Joe got such a swift blow that it knocked him off his feet. He gathered his breath. And he got back up and USED IT.
Over and over he kicked, punched, clinched.
I had never seen a friend fight like that in the ring.
It forever changed my life.
The judges called the fight a draw.
They were blind.
They don’t know Joe.
He is the winner of that fight. He inspired me deeply – not just at the fight, but with the work I saw the months leading up to it.
I’m starting this moment striving to be more like Joe. To lead by example. To live for the goal. To find the balance necessary to thrive, not simply survive.
And when I am kicked in the teeth -when my breath is threatened – to simply breathe. And go live.
His clients are lucky to know him. I’m lucky to know him.
To learn more about Joe Boffi, check out his work with Spade Lifetime Fitness
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