Boxing kwe staying ringside in the Miss Indigenous Canada competition
By Kelly Anne Smith
AAMJIWNAANG FIRST NATION—Boxing put the young police officer on the right path, so Sereena Nahmabin is giving back to her home community managing a main event as a fundraiser as she competes in Miss Indigenous Canada.
One of 26 Indigenous women from coast to coast will be crowned Miss Indigenous Canada on July 27 in Ohsweken.
As part of the journey to be Miss Indigenous Canada, contestants are urged to give charitably. It’s a side category and not for points in the overall scoring. They must raise a minimum of $100 for We Matter, an Indigenous youth-led organization dedicated to Indigenous youth support, hope, and life promotion. Sereena asked herself, “What better way to raise money than do a boxing event?”
“I get to do it back home in my home community, giving people an opportunity to come out, check it out and actually see what it’s about if they’ve never experienced it before. It’s great for the youth to see a healthy outlet for them opposed to not having things to do.”
Sereena has been boxing for about a decade. She has also coached for youth non-profit organizations and women’s boxing classes. Asked to box in her event, she respectfully declined to fully focus on managing the July 13 boxing matches.
“I really want to make sure that event goes smoothly and that people have a really good time. I can only ensure that if I’m 100% dedicated to hosting. I’ll give other fighters an opportunity to fight on the card. I want people to actually come to the event because all the proceeds go directly to We Matter.”
Boxing has been transformative and life-changing, says Sereena.
“I think it’s so important that I share this with my community because it’s made such an impact in my life. And I truly think it’s put me on the right path in a lot of different ways: within my life, within my mindset, going through so many failures in boxing, having to work twice as hard, and using it as motivation to come up on top and win my next match. Those are all valuable skills that I have been able to translate in my life. I’m very passionate about it. It’s a part of who I am. Even if I’m not competing in boxing anymore…it’s still who I am as a person.”
“Boxing has brought a different type of confidence within myself. It basically took me five years at least to get somewhat decent so you can imagine doing something for five years and sucking at it that long and continuously showing up, showing up, showing up, and then eventually, I got better. For me, that has been so inspiring, so now I translate that to everything I do.”
Sereena looks forward to the future in her career as she applies her ‘get up and go’ philosophy to policing and fostering confidence in others.
“I’m going to be able to be the best police officer that I can be, and continue to grow in that aspect. That’s translated in my confidence; the way I’m not intimidated by other females. I want females to win. I want to empower girls to try boxing and have that same experience that I’ve had and have that confidence grow within them.”
Raised on Aamjiwnaang First Nation and in Sarnia, Sereena volunteers her time mentoring through the Big Sister program.
“She made such an impact on my life,” Sereena contemplates.
She had always wanted to be a Big Sister because she had one when she was growing up. She was matched with a Little Sister as a young woman in college without a vehicle at the time.
“We caught the bus everywhere.”
As part of Miss Indigenous Canada, Sereena will make a three-minute traditional presentation, talking about her Grandmother Carol. Sereena admires her grandmother and looks up to her.
“On her behalf, I’ll be talking about my grandma and what she does. I’ll be showing some medicine and sharing the knowledge,” she says. “My grandma has been involved with holistic medicine for a very long time now. She’s very knowledgeable. She actually collects her own medicine. She will go into the woods and she will pick certain types of roots and plants and she’ll use them as medicine. So, for example, when I was 11 at the time, I broke my arm. My grandma gave me a root to make it as a tea which expedited my recovery. She’s very cool and someone I very much admire and look up to.”
Sereena Nahmabin is a young leader who values the Miss Indigenous Canada competition.
“This experience is a win-win, regardless if I get crowned Indigenous Canada or not. The amount of experience, the connections I make with the other females, awesome networking, and then being reconnected with my culture, it’s invaluable what I’m going to be taking away from this.”
If you are interested in donating to the charity, visit We Matter.