Damon “Lionheart” Fabrizi
Programs Administrator
Damon ‘Lionheart’ Fabrizi, is a long time MJKO athlete who just happens to have Asperger syndrome (AS). He is one of the coaches helping to run programs for students with different learning levels at the Champion Centre. He is a level 1 Boxing Ontario Coach with the National Coaching Certification Program and he has a valid CPR C and First Aid Certificate. When he is not coaching, “Lionheart” can be found helping with data entry, snack preparation and anything else needed to make MJKO great.
Here is what he had to say: “Over the last 6 months of volunteering at MJKO, I have started to help coach the St. Mary’s special needs class. At this point, I mostly help with certain parts of the class, such as shadow boxing, holding pads and the warm up. Being in the position of assistant coach is still somewhat uncomfortable for me though, and I do not know if I ever will be able to lead a class. Although I still am not entirely comfortable with this, I am at least trying. Thankfully the class is small, which makes it an easier starting point. Though I want to be able to help out more, I also realize that change is very difficult for me. I am getting more comfortable with some of the parts of the class that I help with. Those specific parts have started to become easier.”
Our students from the STAR Program have different learning abilities, with many pupils on the autistic spectrum, which means they bring a different level of AWESOME to the MJKO family. Every other Friday, the students of St. Mary’s STAR program come to the MJKO Champion Centre for their boxing lesson. It is great to see how these students have fallen in love with the sport of boxing and a high student retention rate has been very rewarding to MJKO Coaches.