Taking punches is part of the deal at Minnesota Top Team.<\/p>\n
For Lauren Rognerud, what began as a way to stay active during college has turned into something much bigger: a national championship boxing career and aspirations of one day competing in the Olympics.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I was meant to keep boxing,\u201d Rognerud said. \u201cI knew I wanted to keep boxing. Once I moved back here, I was like, I got to get back in the gym.\u201d<\/p>\n
That decision has paid off.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the unranked Rognerud captured a National Golden Gloves title, becoming the first woman from the Upper Midwest to win the prestigious amateur boxing championship.<\/p>\n
***Click the video box above to watch our feature story on Rognerud***<\/p>\n
The victory marked a breakthrough moment for Rognerud, whose countless hours of training and thousands of punches thrown in the gym culminated in a historic achievement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels good to prove somebody wrong a little bit if they didn\u2019t think I could do it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Rognerud\u2019s experience in the ring continues to grow. She has compiled 20 amateur bouts and is now setting her sights on an even bigger goal: earning a chance to compete in the Olympics.<\/p>\n
While that dream may still be years away, her coach, Roy Dunlap, believes her left-handed style gives her an advantage against opponents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world loves a lefty. I\u2019m training a lefty,\u201d Dunlap said. \u201cLefties are frustrating. Lefties that know how to be lefties, they\u2019re difficult to fight. I don\u2019t care who you are. She\u2019s got that.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Rognerud, success is measured by more than championships and medals.<\/p>\n
She says boxing has strengthened her confidence and helped her overcome challenges both inside and outside the ring.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust knowing that if I can face those challenges there in the ring, nothing else in other aspects of my life are ever going to be as stressful,\u201d Rognerud said. \u201cIt\u2019s reassuring that I can do hard things.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Olympic dream remains a work in progress, but Rognerud has already proven she belongs among the nation\u2019s top amateur boxers. And with a national title on her r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and an experienced coach in her corner, she hopes her biggest accomplishments are still ahead.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFor Related Stories:\u00a0Boxing<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Lauren Rognerud<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Sports Features<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taking punches is part of the deal at Minnesota Top Team. For Lauren Rognerud, what began as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,285935,82,188340],"class_list":["post-815341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-lauren-rognerud","tag-sports","tag-sports-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}