A journey of tackling professional and other challenges to the top of the world in Thai boxing • Nili Black in a special column for Women's Day

• Black (blue). "I stuck to mine no matter what the environment said"

  Photo:

  Eilat Association

I immigrated to Israel from the US when I was two years old. I loved sports and participated in many industries. In second grade I danced ballet, in high school I played basketball on the Met Yehuda team, played national team football, played baseball, rode road bikes, and of course Thai boxing. , I would take my older brother to his basketball shoes and sportswear and go out to work.

I think the love of sports in my case was genetic. For Thai boxing, my mom pushed me, after she started training herself to control self-defense. I would come with her for training when I was 10, and we would travel by bus from Beit Shemesh to the Hebrew Gymnasium in Jerusalem, to practice in the basement of the Kogan children, who lived there during those days. Did I love boxing the first second I started and dreamed of becoming a world champion in the field? In fairness, I can't say that, because training was a haven for me especially during my parents' divorce.

As the years went by, I had a lot of challenges in sports and at home. I had to make some difficult decisions to move forward. After all, my ultimate dream was to be an athlete, but I had a hard time sticking to one industry. At the age of 17, before I was drafted into the IDF, I had to make choices and take them for granted.

As someone who always knew what she wanted, I stuck to mine no matter what the environment, family and friends said. At the age of 18, I started competing in international tournaments, and for those who don't know - I won six world championships, four European championships and a bronze medal at the World Games (corresponding to the Olympic non-Olympic Olympics) in Thai boxing, and once at the World Cup in the kickbox industry.

Also, starting in 2015 and continuously for the past five years, I was selected for the Athlete of the Year category in the non-Olympic sports industry category by the Ministry of Culture and Sports. Recently, I was also elected Ambassador of the National Center for the Advancement of Women in Sports in Israel "Athena", and I am among a group of leading and present athletes who inspire lectures from various audiences across the country, with the aim of being a role model for girls and girls and encouraging social discourse on women's sports.

My main message to them is that it is precisely the various difficulties that we encounter along the way can grow and grow. This principle has guided and continues to guide me throughout my career.

Nili Black serves as Ambassador of the Athena Women's National Sports Center