Starting at Sunlake this year, freshman Delylah Rodriguez faced a new workload and environment. Luckily, she has been working on being social and disciplined through her hobby: boxing. Delylah says, “I became interested in [boxing] probably when I was like 8 but didn’t start until I was in 7th grade.” She had always gone to the boxing gym with her dad, and she says “I would always ask him to try and finally I did and I loved it.” When she’s practicing, Delylah works with her trainer, but she says “I love working independently when in boxing just because it’s a time to focus on myself and not really anyone else.” She likes boxing because of how it helps with everything she does, such as school, social events, and more. Also, she says “boxing has helped me in other activities and sports because it makes me a stronger person and helps me with being confident in the other sports that I do,” and that it has “definitely helped me become a more outgoing person and has helped with not really caring about what others think of me.” Doing a sport while being in school can be hard to handle, but Delylah is able to work it out; she says, “I try to balance everything and make a schedule with all the times I’m free and what days I can’t go because of other school activities.” She says she has made a couple of friends through boxing, but she tries to focus on self-improvement when training. “But all the people that I have met are really nice and supportive,” she says, “my coach/trainer always tells me I need to get good grades and to always make sure I’m making the right decisions and doing the most appropriate things.”