Chardythe Gipson-Bean, sophomore biomedical engineering major, is a passionate student who goes above and beyond her limits in order to reach her goals.
After class, however, she channels her vigor at the gym where she spends her time training to fight other women in the ring, most of which are much larger than herself.
Gipson-Bean is a boxer and has been competing for 10 years. Beginning at the age of 9, she started in Mixed Material Arts and later transitioned into boxing.
“I am really competitive,” Gipson-Bean said. “As soon as I started winning fights, I did not want to stop.”
Introduced to the sport by her brother and father, boxing started as a way of self-defense and later grew into a passion in which she invest the most time.
“I see boxing as an art form,” Gibson-Bean said. “It’s a lot of movement and energy that you give and take in. People see boxing as just entertaining, but I wanted to be on the other side. Not seeing it as entertaining, but as my life.”
Gipson-Bean’s coach and athletic trainer, Nick Tavilone, said some of the challenges that she faces are due to her age, size, demeanor and unique personality.
“The greatest challenge she has is for people to take her seriously,” Tavilone said. “Even though she does not appear to be, (Gibson-Bean) is a very strong young lady that does not lose.”
Whenever she gets discouraged or worn out from the strenuous training, Tavilone reminds her of how far she has come as an athlete and how far she can go in the ring.
“It is very simple to motivate her because she is a determined young lady,” Tavilone said. “I mostly remind her of her goals and her shortcoming to those goals. Once she knows she needs to improve, she will not rest until she perfects it. It is hard to get her to stop.”
Although Gipson-Bean has undergone many challenges being a female boxer, she has been able to use her experiences in boxing to apply to her everyday life.
“(Boxing) keeps me sane, it helps me see life in a different way,” Gipson-Bean said. “It helps me know that no matter your faults or what your disabilities may be, you are higher than them and you can still be able to achieve success.”
Gipson-Bean said she has used boxing as an outlet from which she has learned valuable life lessons.
