1 The Birth of a Dream

For as long as I can remember, I don't have the standard sense of family. Father, mother... Things I wasn't privileged to. I don't blame them for anything, in fact I don't even know why they made me end up in the orphanage where I lived until I was older.

I grew up healthy like all the children, and I lived with everyone as if they were my blood brothers and sisters, but of course, the second main objective of an orphanage is to return the children to their original families or a new one. At our orphanage it was no different, children came and became one with our brotherhood, but they also left.

Like me, there were some children who were not taken to their old or new families and stayed with us waiting for one. I, especially, never cared that much... Of course! Having a new family with a father and mother would be great, but the caretakers were amazing, and they treated us as if we really were their sons and daughters. They took us to the coolest places like zoos, open-air parks, and even some aquatic ones.

Well... This is as much as I can remember of my old childhood.

When I was nine years old, I went for routine check-ups like all the children who stayed at the orphanage. I was called to a different room this time, normally I just did the basics and waited for all the other kids to finish. Well this time was different. I spent hours in alternate rooms, and was finally taken to a farther and different room.

The caregivers' faces were more bored and depressed than usual. I didn't understand anything while listening to the doctor say things to the caregivers that I can't even remember for the time. I remember exactly that even one of the caregivers left the room in a hurry with her hands on her face as if she were going to cry and didn't want to show it.

Time passed and I, like most children, grew and gained height. The days went well and everything formed. One day, even watching a television channel, I saw a professional MMA fight and I was delighted with that, the caregivers, after learning about it, were amazed at that brutality. They even made me promise that I would never even think of pursuing such a foolish career as this one. And well, in a way I fulfilled that promise.

At the age of twelve, I still had that urge to fight, I yearned for it and I couldn't let a dream pass like that. I tried to research more about the world of fighting and saw that it was something much broader than I could even imagine... And well, I was still only twelve years old, it wasn't like I was going to have a miraculous surge of knowledge.

On a given day, I got up early and had my breakfast as usual and begged one of my caregivers to take me to a nearby gym, and as expected, they denied it with all their might. I was down for a few days and pretty bad about it. There was no way I could leave without the guardianship of an orphanage caretaker and so I hatched escape plans, and even ways to disappear when we took a walk through parks or zoos. Even before I made any mistake, one of the caregivers, seeing my dream and resilience with the subject, offered me an agreement. He would take me to a gym simply to watch a training fight that would happen, and I logically, without even thinking about it, accepted.

After a few days, I got ready and went with the caregiver to the gym and, of course, I didn't say a word about our trip to the other caregivers. Arriving there was an environment that had already conquered me. Several people and several advanced equipment that I simply did not understand how it works. But something there also called my attention, it wasn't the same as what I saw on television. There were no bars surrounding the arena and the fighters who were on top of the ring weren't barefoot, but wore long boots and much bigger gloves than the ones I saw on television. And not counting the arena, which were just four rods that were joined by some horizontal ropes.

The people who were on top of the arena, after a brief signal, began to move. His movements were different from those on television, a good few seconds had passed and I didn't see a single kick, just punches. Even though it was different from television it was still exciting. Time passed and the training fight was over and I was in a frenzy, my eyes were shining and like a simple child I just smiled with emotion, a smile that went from ear to ear.

After the end, a trainer came towards us, and first greeted my caregiver, who at this point I had already forgotten was by my side.

- Good to see you again Mr. Luiz. I said woman to my caregiver and that until then he had not noticed my presence.

The two then started talking and I was getting sideways on the subject, a few minutes passed and the caregiver seemed to have forgotten about me. I then pulled his shirt and he looked at me with a wide smile and introduced me to the woman. She was the trainer on site and introduced me to the gym.

- Oh, nice to meet you little one. What is your name? Said the woman as she placed one of her hands on my head and bent down to the same height as I was standing.

- My name is Jean. I said the woman still in a frenzy tone and wide eyes.

- It's a pleasure to meet you Jean, my name is Miller. I am the representative coach of this academy. We are a boxing gym, and I even believe we are the only one in the area. The women talked about her gym with a tone of happiness that I liked a lot, I could see how much she loved what she did.

- It's different from what I've seen on television, there weren't just punches in the fights... I tried to solve my doubt as to why what I had just seen was so different.

- Little Jean, what you just saw on television was probably an MMA fight, a mix of all martial arts where the best comes out on top. But here it's different, it's a part of MMA, boxing... The woman explained to me with more and more intonation as she got up and showed me some moves.

- Low punches, high punches, straight punches, defenses... These are some of the boxing moves. There is no use of your legs to attack in boxing, only your fists! Said the woman as she showed me all these moves. I just thought it was the best thing in the world.

My eyes sparkled as I watched those movements and heard those words. When the woman would offer me the opportunity to enroll in the academy, my caregiver would interrupt her in a disapproving tone.

-The young man is still only twelve years old, he cannot leave the orphanage without a caregiver at his side. It is not appropriate for it to come hidden from everyone while everyone is preoccupied with the young person.

As I listened to those words, my face simply changed and I no longer had that smile. The glow in my eyes disappeared and I was already giving up on this whole dream I had created. Suddenly the caregiver would bend down and put his two arms on my shoulders and with a wide smile and with a tone of encouraging words he would tell me.

- Young man, don't get carried away by small obstacles. Never let your dream die because someone once said "no" to you! Cheer up. Said the caregiver in a tone of motivation and without losing his expression of joy.

- Miller, young Jean can't leave the orphanage yet without the supervision of an instructor. He will only have this authorization when he turns fourteen. Can I leave his enrollment pending until he returns?