Sibling rivalry paves way to gold medals

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Like most brothers, Dana Laframboise used to fight with his little brother when they were younger

Unlike most brothers, however, that sibling rivalry paved the way to Grande Prairie and a gold medal for Saskatchewan in the Canada Games' 46-kilogram boxing final. Laframboise defeated Alberta's Kristopher Andrews 19-12 on points in the final.

"When they were about six, seven or eight, they were always into competing and scrapping with one another," recounted Team Saskatchewan coach Les Laframboise, who got both his boys involved in the sport.

"So I went out and bought a set of boxing gloves and every time they argued or pushed one another I took them downstairs in the basement and put the gloves on them and let them go."

And out of those basement sessions in their Regina home arose a couple of champions. In addition to a gold medal at the 1994 Canadian championships, Dana, 14, has taken home gold from provincial championships as well as the North American Indigenous Games. His brother, Jesse, 13, has also been a champion at the provincial level of Saskatchewan.

"I'm kind of surprised at the success they have had," revealed Les, who never competed in the sport but has since become a certified level-two coach. "But Dana does have 56 bouts now."

Once the neighborhood kids caught wind of what was happening downstairs in the Laframboise basement, the elder Laframboise ended up with a lot more than he originally intended.

"It turned out to start a club," he laughed. "Other kids started to come by and started watching and started working out."

And before he knew it, the Riel Boxing Club was formed.

What started in the Laframboise basement has since come full circle, though, as the club has once again found its way back to the house. Three buildings and three new owners later, the club was forced to relocate Dec. 1 because of an increase in rent. With up to 33 Metis, Indian, white and black boxers, the basement has become confining and has limited what the athletes can do.

"We don't do that much sparring," noted Les, who lamented the club's upheaval as they were in the midst of preparations for the Games.

"We do a lot of technical work. Our ring, I just draw a circle on the floor and they have to keep their left foot in there and we go around and do technical stuff. We also have a couple of bags in there."

All of this has had little effect on the club's boxers competing at the Games, though. In addition to Dana, clubmates Josh Hamilton and Gary Kopas also won gold medals.

"I am very surprised at how they have done, because this is the first national competition for most of them.:"

While Dana competed in the final, Jesse watched from the bleachers. After qualifying for the Canada Games' team, he failed to make his 43-kilogram weight class once he arrived in Grande Prairie.

"The lower end of the weight class is 41 kilograms, so I tried to feed him and feed him," Les remarks. "He only weighed 39.8 kilograms, so we were only down a pound or two."

All members of the Laframboise family have benefitted from working in such close quarters, but perhaps none more than Dana. Not only does he gain more confidence by having his dad in his corner, but it has also improved his relationship with his brother.

"We don't hit each other anymore," the soft-spoken athlete said with a grin that spread from ear to ear.

"We just yell now."