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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, April 2 7 , 2 0 1 7 | 46 Kevin Nagel, Oakville Beaver Sports Editor, knagel@burlingtonpost.com Sports "Connected to your Community " Delgado at Canadians readyto take next step toward her Olympic dream By Kevin Nagel Beaver sports editor The next step in Scarlett Delgado's goal to represent Canada at the 2 0 2 0 Olympics comes this week in Quebec. The White Oaks Secondary School grad, who turns 22 in August, hopes to win a gold medal at the Canadian boxing championships currently un derway in Quebec City. A member of Oakville' s Cham pions Boxing Club, Delgado has spent thousands of hours of her childhood at the club since her fa ther, Rafael, is the head coach. S3 1 M k ' JP P -- * / I \ E v V t A l Oakville boxer Scarlett Delgado (right) is shown here on her way to a unanimous decision over Justine Hosinger in London. Delgado is now setting her sights on gaining a spot on Canada's team for the 2020 Olympic Games starting this week at the Canadian championships in Quebec City. | photo by Mark Ruddick - Special to the Beaver Supremely confident going in, Delgado figures she' s got an excellent chance at the gold no matter who is in the opposite corner of the ring. "To be honest, I'm not really wor ried about anybody," she said of the five other boxers in her weight cat egory. "As long as I bring my A game I should have no issues whatsoever." A provincial champion at the novice division when she was younger and the loser in a con troversial gold-medal bout at this year' s provincials has Scarlett itch ing for redemption at her nationals debut next week. The highlight of Delgado' s boxing career so far was her domination of Canadian champion Bianca Paquin last June during a dual meet featur ing Ontario and host Nova Scotia. "The only girl they had for me was the four-time Canadian cham p," Scarlett said. "So I said, `I'll take it.' I fought her that day and the next day as well and beat her both times." The 56-kilogram bouts -- four two-minute rounds each -- were unanimous decisions in favour of the Oakville boxer. At Canadians, where's she's in the 54-kg class, competition start ed Tuesday night after Beaver press deadline. Her father has taught Scarlett how to work inside or from afar depend ing on the opponent. However, when it came to com peting, Rafael didn't want her to partake in the rugged sport. "I told him I wanted to fight but he wouldn't let m e," she said. "So I did wrestling on m y own because I could do it through school (pro gram s)." W hen Scarlett' s skills led her to rise to as high as fourth in Canada on the wresting mat, her father fi nally relented and let her compete in boxing when she was 17. "I told him, `If you don't let me compete here, I'm going to go somewhere else, and he didn't want that," she laughed. Despite her passion for boxing, it was difficult to switch sports. "It was heartbreaking (to switch) because wrestling was something I chose. I made a name for myself," she said. "In boxing, I would walk in and I was `Rafael's daughter', but boxing is something that comes naturally to m e." The first step in the long road to Olympic participation -- gaining Canadian team status and qualify ing at Olympic trials -- has begun. Find help with your spring cleaning. Y O U TH SOCCERagSP OUTDOOR HOUSE LEAGUES AT APPLEBY COLLEGE ft ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 2003-2013 LEAGUES: $207.96 2014/15 SOCCER TO! PROGRAM: $97.35 U FOR BOYS & GIRLS BORN 2003-2015 LEAGUES AVAILABLE TUES-SAT 12 weeks of games, starts May 30 Soccer Tots program for players born 2014/2015 includes parents & kids in fun 30min sessions Teammate requests accommodated Paid, certified coaches Team uniform included Each player receives a B S C ball Team photograph included & End of Season Awards trady© Visit www.tradyo.com 952 C e n tu ry D rive , B u rlin g to n , O N L 7 L 5P 2 905-631-0000 ext. 200 or kristin@burloaksportscentre.ca