 |
| David Nyika Training |
The disappointment of missing the Rio Olympics hasn't dampened David Nyika's love of boxing.
As well as setting his sights on winning heavyweight gold at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, he's also using boxing to help others.
Nyika hosts a class in Hamilton, Counterpunch Parkinson's, in which all the pupils have Parkinson's disease.
"A lot of evidence shows that the boxing training and the coordination and the cognitive elements of boxing relate really well to the Parkinson's disease," said Nyika.
"Boxing is giving them a good, high-intensity work out which a lot of them have never done before, and on top of that having a bit of fun."
Nyika's mother, Susie is a physiotherapist and has joined him to help out.
"The part of the brain that's damaged makes everything seem bigger than it is," said Susie"That means their writing gets smaller, their voices get softer, their movements, steps get smaller. So we're actually focusing on big and hard."
There's a very personal reason why both Susie and David decided to take this on. Susie's Dad and David's granddad Derrick Depledge suffers from Parkinson.
"I've never connected with him like I have in our counterpunch course," said Nyika.
"It's really hard to read people with Parkinson's because their expression is quite blank and you're not sure if they're understanding you or keeping up with you or not. But like I say, they come back with some cheeky comments if you let them."
As well as fighting Parkinson's, Nyika's hoping to fight at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games where he'll aim to add heavyweight gold to the light heavyweight title he won in Glasgow.
But right now the 21-year-old's focused on using his sport to give back. Not just to his community, but his family too.
"It's quite hard to see to think of your loved ones going down a path that no one should have to go down," said Nyika.
"To live with that for the rest of their lives is pretty horrible to think about, but there's a way to combat it, so here we are."
Video: Commonwealth gold medallist David Nyika's counterpunch against Parkinson's:
http://www.newshub.co.nz/sport/video-commonwealth-gold-medallist-david-nyikas-counterpunch-against-parkinsons-2016112718?ref=ves-vid1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other Video:
Published on Oct 14, 2014
David Nyika winning Gold in the men's Light Heavyweight boxing - Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
(c) New Zealand Commonwealth Games Team / New Zealand Olympic Committee
No comments:
Post a Comment