Novice boxer entering the ring in grandmother's memory

Sunday 31 October 2021

A novice boxer is taking part in his first ever bout to raise money for a local dementia charity in memory of his grandmother.

Hoping to raise £500 for Dementia Jersey, Andrew Gouveia will be donning gloves and entering the White Collar Boxing ring in the Royal Jersey Showground in just over two weeks' time.

Speaking about how he first got into White Collar boxing, Andrew explained how he had been doing media and photography at an event years prior, and that being there every day had made him think, "You know what, I want to challenge myself to do this."

When he initially started before covid and lockdown, he knew he wanted it to be a charitable cause, saying it needed to be "something that was personal to me so that I could put all of my effort into it."

Pictured: Andrew with the original group of boxers before lockdown cancelled the event.

He settled on Dementia Jersey in honour of his grandmother.

"I hadn't seen in a long time, but I had seen her in October 2019," Andrew explained.

"I knew she had developed some form of dementia, and I was a bit afraid that when I would go and see her she that wasn't going to remember who I was...

"Luckily she did remember who I was, she was still the same sort of person, in terms of just cracking jokes, having a laugh, and it was amazing to see her."

In July of 2020, Andrew's grandmother passed away, with Andrew saying his participation is now "in her memory", with the funds now going to the now-rebranded Dementia Jersey.

Pictured: Andrew's grandmother, who had dementia, passed away in July 2020 - Andrew's last memories of her from October 2019 were "amazing" ones of her "cracking jokes, having a laugh."

"She wasn't on the island here, but the charity does still support people that have family members that suffer from dementia even if they're off-island," he said of why the charity is so close to his heart.

With the boxing having been cancelled and postponed since last year due to covid, Andrew has finally been back getting ready for the big night - now scheduled for 13 November - in an intensive 14-week training camp, involving training at a minimum of three times a week.

He described Transform Together (TT) founders Cameron Elliott and Tom Frame as "amazing", saying the training experience has been "very demanding and very fulfilling", with preparation including "working on footwork, working on conditioning, making sure we're ready for fight night from a health standpoint and fitness standpoint."

It's also meant that he's seen a change in himself, improving his fitness "a lot more than I was anticipating", crediting this to all of his fellow group members, who he said "try and help you, they just give you that little bit extra."

Pictured: Andrew said the time spent training had improved both his physical and mental health, 'flipping it upside down.'

On a personal level, he said training has completely altered his mental health, explaining that, "I wasn't in the best mental health back then, and just training has changed just that, it's flipped it upside down, I'm feeling very healthy in both the sense of the physical and mental."

He added that being in this headspace has assisted in his other hobbies, where he helps out with Jersey Bulls' media and live streaming, as well as doing the media for a Super Smash Bros. e-sports tournament, with gaming being a "passion" of his.

"It's opened up a lot of the doors for me because my mental health is in the right place," he said.

With support from friends, family and work colleagues - and even people who just heard it through the work group chat, who he chuckled now know him as "the white collar boxing guy" - Andrew has now reached over the £200 point in his journey to hit his £500 target.

Returning to the original cause that spurned all, Dementia Jersey, he said the key message he wanted to get out to "people that either suffer from dementia or any form of dementia or have family members who find it difficult is that you're not alone."

"A lot of people tend to associate dementia with isolation, just being on your own and finding things very very difficult," he continued, noting that "there is a support structure in place for people who have those sort of concerns and have those issues and mental illnesses."

The 'Gangs of New York' boxing event will be held on 13 and 14 November at the RJAHS.

CLICK HERE to donate to Andrew's fundraiser.