Fit to fight in, out of ring

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Christine Griffiths
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  A boxing team was established May 2013 by two Team Mildenhall Airmen.

Tech. Sgt. Duane Vandross, 100th Communications Squadron installation spectrum manager from Bronx, New York, and Capt. Sean Mitchell, 100th Operations Support Squadron chief of wing scheduling, from Montgomery, Alabama, established the club to help keep Airmen here "fit to fight".

The Airmen are experienced boxers. Mitchell was on the Air Force Academy Boxing Team and Vandross made it to the 2008 Olympic trials. The two individuals wanted to share their experience and their love of the sport with others.

"Everything about boxing excites me, every single thing - I love it dearly," Vandross exclaimed. "I love to teach; I have a natural ability. Coaching is like building your own masterpiece, it feels good to see things 'click' and boxers execute, that's when the science unfolds."

This is not the first time Mitchell and Vandross have coached. Both were stationed together in Korea from January 2011 to April 2012.  Knowing that they would be stationed together again at RAF Mildenhall, they decided to create another boxing team.

The coaches teach the boxers basic and advanced boxing skills during training sessions. Additionally, they're taught how to establish discipline, determination and dedication; helping them stay mentally, physical and spiritually fit for their matches and in their everyday lives.

Senior Airman Oscar Campos-Ortiz, 100th Communications Squadron postal clerk from Dallas, was the team's very first boxer here.

"Every day you face new obstacles," said Campos-Ortiz. "In my case, I started with no experience and I've boxed (with) people with no experience to people like big hopefuls or national champions. Every day you get a new obstacle, a new challenge and you take a beating whether it's from an amateur or someone with a lot of experience. Although it hurts at first, you learn from it. It keeps me mentally strong (to know that) no matter what I can prevail through it. Boxing shows me what I can do in life."

The main thing imposed during training and fighting is to never give up.

"I teach my fighters that life is a fight. You can't just lay down and say 'I'm not going to go in today. I quit.'" Vandross said. "That's what we do in here, we fight. We train to stay ready. We stay fit to fight."