Running

Every morning since the summer, Hector Galvan’s (11) alarm goes off at 6:30 a.m. announcing that it’s time to run. His morning runs are part of the training for his dream of becoming a professional boxer. 

Every morning starts the same: Galvan’s alarm goes off, then he awakens to the sight of the strip light pinned above his bed immersing the room in a somber dark blue hue. And, once the alarm stops, to the sound of quiet, according to Galvan, not an eerie quiet, not a peaceful quiet, just quiet, he sits up.

After a few moments, Galvan lurches up, walks to his dresser, and puts on his monochromatic outfit of Champion hoodie, Spider brand sweatpants, and a beanie. To keep his hands warm, Galvan adorns yellow boxing wraps .

Galvan said how the way he feels each morning mirrors the feelings conveyed by the initial gray early-morning running scene in the first Rocky movie.

“[Rocky Balboa] doesn’t complain [on his morning run]; there’s no one to complain about to, there’s no one to talk to about it,” Galvan said. “[When I run in the mornings,] I’m just there and the only one stopping me from doing what I want to do is myself.”

Childhood

Growing up with a father who serves as an officer in the Navy, Galvan’s family moved around a lot—all over Japan, California, and the Philippines. He said all the uprooting made him angry and resentful.

“Every time I moved it always felt like I didn’t know anyone and it was hard,” Galvan said. “It made it a lot easier just to yell at the person or argue with them and just be angry. I wanted to do something [about my feelings]. I wanted to yell at them. I wanted to fight them.”

Galvan was always told that if someone were to attack you in some way, you should fight back and defend yourself.

“When I was younger, if someone tried to fight me or get mad at me, I was not one to back up,” Galvan said. “If they were going to escalate it, I would escalate with them. I would not try to calm down. If they tried to do something to me, I would deal it right back. No matter who they were or their status.”

Moving around Japan, Galvan would run into others in the many schools he attended who would be more fortunate than him, whether it be their wealth or their stationary childhood home. When some of these students picked on him, this would make him upset.

“I couldn’t talk to anyone about my feelings about this because my dad, being in the Navy, was always deployed somewhere or going somewhere and my mom was always working to help keep us afloat,” Galvan said. “I didn’t grow up rich. These fights would help me feel stronger than them. It was an excuse in my mind that I was better than them somehow. Even if they were more fortunate than me, more popular, or wealthy, if I could fight them when they were mean to me, I could feel like I was better than them.”

Growing up 

Eventually, Galvan realized that this mentality was flawed and that not every bully needed to be fought. 

Galvan learned this lesson after a particular fight at one of the schools he attended.

“When I was playing soccer with someone, they got upset because they lost and we started fighting over it,” he said. “I thought to myself ‘What am I doing?’ I got in so much trouble for something really small when I could have just ignored it and kept on going.”

“After you get in a lot of fights, it becomes emotionally draining,” Galvan said. “With the small things, I just let it slide. If someone shuts me out, I can more easily accept it now, after a while you realize some things aren’t worth fighting other people over.”

Galvan also came to realize that it was unwise to fight others based on whether they had more or less wealth than him.

“We were doing the exact same thing. I wanted to cancel this and break the cycle,” Galvan said.

Boxing

As a child, Galvan watched the Rocky movies with his mom. Galvan’s mom grew up in the Philippines with a TV set and a few select DVDs, including Rocky I, which came out when she was 10 years old, so the movies were very close to her heart. After watching the movies himself, Galvan would play fight and practice boxing with his sister, who was 11 years older than him, and his father.

 Galvan learned to channel the emotions of his past into focused anger that he put into boxing.

“I like boxing because it lets you fight, lets you let out frustrations, but in a way where it’s calm, pointed,” Galvan said. 

Galvan uses this focused anger to motivate his heavy training regiment.

Every day, along with his morning runs, he goes to the YMCA after school at 4 p.m., until the facility closes at 8 p.m.

He starts with 15 minutes of jump roping followed by 20 minutes on the speed bag where he does short-range, fast-moving, cyclical punches,  and 20 minutes on the heavy bag.

Then, he does 12 three-minute rounds of repeated three-punch combinations with a one-minute break in between before going back to the speed bag for 20 minutes. Followed  by four sets of 20 weighted decline sit-ups holding 30 pounds in each hand, into incline sit-ups on a bench till he can’t do anymore. He repeats this process until the gym closes.

To get through this arduous workout routine, Galvan utilizes a mindset of pushing through the moment of pain he is in to achieve long-term success.

“I always think ‘if I can’t be great right now, doing what I’m doing, doing this simple task, how am I going to be greater later,” Galvan said. “I just need to get through this single moment in time, just focus on right now. I feel the best way to be great in life is to be great at the moment. If you feel unmotivated in a simple exercise, how are you going to feel motivated [in a boxing match] when you’re on the floor, and everyone’s cheering against you?”

Out of high school Galvan hopes to join the Navy as an officer or as part of a special operations team where there is a large recreational boxing program where many boxers become scouted. Currently, he has participated in three professional sparring matches at his boxing gym,  he has won two and tied one. He hopes one day,out of the military to become scouted, and  compete as a professional boxer in the World Boxing Association or the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

While some may say that Galvan’s dreams are far-fetched, he said he believes that if he works towards them, he will be able to achieve them, and others can do the same if they believe in themselves.

“Don’t let yourself be the reason why you don’t do something,” Galvan said. “If you want something, do it and go for it. It’s sad to see someone give up on something they once wanted very badly just because they didn’t believe enough in themselves.  Believe in yourself, even if everyone and everything tells you that you can’t do it. Why not be the one voice that tells you you can do it?”