The Girl Who Would Fight a Dragon If You Asked Her To

BY PAUL SEIPLE

PHOTOS BY LAURA MAE PHOTOGRAPHY

Brit Hart is “the girl who would fight a dragon if you asked her to.” She developed a love for sports early in life. “I started playing soccer, competitively, at age five.” The passion seeped into Hart’s education, helping her to earn a master’s degree in sports management.

Even though her career path was trending up, not all was a positive in Hart’s life. She added, “I was in a physically abusive marriage and after being taken by ambulance to the hospital, I found myself in a downfall from several serious consequences of domestic violence.”

Hart began looking for an escape from reality. She found it at a boxing gym. “I wanted to forget the nightmare I was living for just one moment—and it worked. More importantly, I was good at it,” Hart added.

Preparing for fights is something Hart doesn’t take lightly. “I make sure in camp I train 3 times a day. Cardio, weights, and something fun or skillful,” she said. But she also knows that keeping the passion for what you do is essential both physically and mentally. She

Continued to Page 13 finds one song that becomes her theme for whatever she’s going through, listening to it on repeat, and living in that emotion. “It’s always really had the power to motivate and move me to know that I am fighting for something greater than myself.”

Pressure is something that comes along with any sport. Hart continued, “I was thrown to the wolves early in my career. I main evented my third pro boxing fight, and I was the main event for my first bare knuckle fight. So, I’m used to it.” Even with that experience, pressure still exists, but Hart tells herself, “I asked to be here. This is what I do.”

Fighters face many obstacles when they step into the ring. Hart says her biggest challenge is within. It’s heart. “But it’s probably my biggest strength, too. I care a lot about people and relationships, but also what they say or think.” Learning not to let that affect her is a process all its own.

Hart describes herself as “one of a kind and different from other fighters.” She elaborated, “I do the things fighters should do, not what sounds or looks good. I’ve put myself in scary, uncharted waters. I fight with my back on ropes constantly, but always find a way to win.” She attributed her diversified skills as a key to her success in the ring.

Balancing training and competing with other aspects of her life, such as work or family, is difficult. “But I have my education to thank. I tell everyone, school is so important even if you don’t use your degree because it teaches you to juggle lots of things and meet deadlines.” Hart approaches training as if it were classes. “Instead of 3 classes a day. Typically, 1-2 hours, it’s training. It gets done, and then I move on to family, work, and friends. I’m a huge ‘write it down in a planner’ person. Just as I was in school. So, I stay on point.”

Hart isn’t slowing down soon. “My goals are to be a 4-time champ in the 115-weight class (strawweight) and then climb to 125 to make a claim at the belt. After that, I have nothing else to prove to anyone and want to change my focus into motivational speaking and teaching clinics.” She aspires to help shape the futures of others.

To Hart, Danville, Virginia is her fighting home. “I remember having no place to really call home at one time. Everywhere I went; it didn’t matter how hard I tried; people had already formulated an opinion about me—until I came to Danville.” She always felt like she belonged and was loved there. Hart also found a lifelong friend in coach Marcus Luck who trained her when no one else would. “Coach Marcus also showed me the deeper meaning of why we box. He might not admit it, but seeing the goodness in everything was the true gift he shared with me.”

Hart has always been content by just being herself. “With that power, I changed history by believing in a fairy tale and turning it into reality. From my home being on the streets to now, the world is my backyard.”

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