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<\/p>\nDespite having the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge behind her, the gleaming white Opera House to one side, and excited media clamouring for interviews, Emma-Sue Greentree\u2019s eyes remained firmly fixed on the gold garment she cradled \u2013 on this special occasion \u2013 in unbandaged hands.<\/p>\n
Greentree, the world\u2019s No.3 ranked female boxer in the 75 kilo division, admitted to feeling overwhelmed to finally have an Australian Commonwealth Games team shirt, describing it as the fulfilment of a long held dream which started as a young runner before becoming a high jumper who won the NSW state under-14 title following a dramatic \u2018jump off,\u2019 then women\u2019s rugby player, and, at 17, a heptathlon athlete.<\/p>\n
However, when the now 27 year old realised a decade ago that she wasn\u2019t making the same progress as her opponents, she found something special inside the boxing ring after entering it for her first fight after a few short weeks of training.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas I a natural? Well, I think the competitiveness you need to box came naturally, along with the coordination,\u201d said Greentree, one of the stars of the NSWIS Lights Up Glasgow series featuring five of the Institute\u2019s athletes who\u2019ll compete at the Commonwealth Games, of her foray into the fight game.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I did have a background in sport, and I think it was the right fit for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pushing her as she throws thousands upon thousands of punches under the tutelage of Central Coast-based boxing trainer Dean Robinson is the desire to emulate . . . well, these days it\u2019s to better . . . her sister Belinda\u2019s feat of winning a bronze medal with the Australian women\u2019s softball team at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.<\/p>\n
Greentree \u2013 one of 10 children \u2013 now smiles at the memory of being a teenager who regularly scrawled on scraps of paper: \u2018I want to be an Olympian\u2019 as a means to reaffirm her lofty goal. She just didn\u2019t know what sport it would be in.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s why being named in the Glasgow-bound Aussie boxing team \u2013 and modelling the team\u2019s apparel produced by NSWIS partner, Valour \u2013 was so important to her. It represented yet another step towards her becoming an Olympian.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s surreal,\u201d said Greentree, who will compete in Glasgow ranked the No.1 contender, at the Valour launch. \u201cWearing the green and gold is something I\u2019ve dream of since a little girl, and to be actually wearing it is . . . amazing.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be finally named in the team is just a surreal feeling.<\/p>\n
A Who\u2019s Who of Australian boxing have used the Commonwealth Games as their launching pad for even bigger things. Former professional world champions Daniel Geale, Robbie Peden and Skye Nicholson were \u2018\u00c7omm\u2019 Games gold medallists; Tony Madigan, Australia\u2019s most successful Commonwealth Games boxer fought Cassius Clay aka Muhammad Ali at the 1960 Rome Olympics, finishing with a bronze medal, Graham \u2018Spike\u2019 Cheney converted his bronze into Olympic silver, Harry Garside\u2019s gold Commonwealth Games medal rests alongside his Tokyo Olympic bronze, Jeff \u2018Hitman\u2019 Harding won a Commonwealth Games silver before becoming world champion while Lenny Zapavigna upgraded his prized bronze to a world title belt.<\/p>\n
Greentree made it clear she plans to join them on Australia\u2019s list of Commonwealth Games gold medallists, but her ultimate goal is to become the first Australian \u2013 male or female\u00a0 \u2013 to win the Olympic gold medal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I win gold medal\u00a0 . . . \u00a0when\u00a0I get a gold medal at the Comm Games . . . it\u2019s going to tell me I deserve to \u00a0be here,\u201d Greentree replied after being asked what success in Glasgow would mean. \u201cI\u2019ve done the work, my team has done it, and we can definitely get the gold medal at the Olympics, too!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m currently ranked No.3 in the world for amateurs in the 75 kilo division. So, [LA] is two years away and you can do a lot in two years. To become Australia\u2019s first [Olympic] gold medallist in boxing, that would be unreal\u00a0 . . . crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, Greentree, who is employed as a Special and Inclusive Education Teacher\u2019s Aide for the NSW Department of Education, must fight an insidious opponent every day of her life \u2013 Type 1 Diabetes. It can make, for instance, such things as the fighter\u2019s curse \u2013 cutting weight \u2013 a minefield.<\/p>\n
One of her key messages for anyone with diabetes is to not allow it to stop them from following their dreams. Greentree, who manages her condition using a continuous glucose monitor that tracks her blood sugar levels and sends data to her phone, remembers the moment she decided it would never define who she is.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing my mum cry for the first time,\u201d was Greentree\u2019s recollection of being diagnosed as a nine year old who wouldn\u2019t let diabetes stop her. \u201cShe\u2019s a pretty tough egg, so I didn\u2019t expect her to cry. I looked at her and I just said, \u2018don\u2019t worry about it mum, we\u2019ve got this\u2019. That showed I wasn\u2019t going to let it affect me and she had nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t need to stop and like Australian sprinter Lachlan Kennedy [World Indoor 60m silver medallist, and winner of last April\u2019s National men\u2019s 100m title in a time of 9.96 seconds], seeing him achieve massive things as a Type 1 Diabetic, that inspires me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach Robinson said Greentree\u2019s dedication to the sport, and progress despite her medical condition, spoke volumes for her grit \u2018n grace.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a Type 1 Diabetic . . . to battle that and be a High Performance athlete is pretty remarkable, \u201csaid Robinson who also trained professional world title contender and 2004 Athens Olympian, Jamie Pittman.<\/p>\n
\u201c[As for her boxing] we get better every time we go out, \u00a0and that\u2019s very impressive \u2013 she\u2019s a very, very good style of an athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greentree, who will be joined in Scotland by fellow NSWIS scholarship athlete Lachlan Lawson (Men\u2019s 90 kilos) in Australia\u2019s eight-athlete strong squad, enters the tournament with rich credentials including two world championship bronze medals and the gold medal from last year\u2019s World Boxing Cup Finals held in India. She also has the tools of a tough old trade to make life tough for each of her opponents in the so-called \u2018Friendly Games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to be aggressive,\u201d she has previously said of her strengths. \u201cI\u2019m strong. I like to overwhelm my opponent. I can box from off the back foot if needed, but I want to be pushing forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like my jab, it\u2019s a good, stiff jab that stops them . . . kind of freezes them [from putting their punches together] . . . but my coach wants me to ensure I mix it up between the head and body and put my right hand behind it. I\u2019m always learning, and there\u2019s always things to add on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel Lane, NSWIS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite having the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge behind her, the gleaming white Opera House to one side, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-785950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}