Alexis Pritchard: high performer

Alexis (Lex) Pritchard didn’t start boxing until she was 19 – and it happened by chance.

Her sporting passion to that point had been hockey, but one Sunday afternoon she joined a class at boxing gym Boxing Central, and she never looked back.

“I fell in love with boxing the first time I tried it,” recalls Lex. “It made me feel powerful and strong.”

Despite the sport’s fierce physical reputation, Lex says she was hooked by the mental challenge that boxing offered. Few things are more confronting, she says, than being hit in the face, so it’s crucial for boxers to harness their demons, quell insecurities and summon courage to be successful.

That mental strength took her far. As did disciplined training, coaching from “one of New Zealand’s best boxing coaches” (and her former husband) Cameron Todd, and dedication. That included fundraising to compete in a sport not traditionally favoured by funders.

In 2012, when boxing became an Olympic sport for women, Lex entered the ring at the London games and became the first New Zealand woman to win an Olympic boxing bout.

Her 16-year professional career also saw her compete at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games. She won bronze at the latter before hanging up her gloves that year. 

Many strings to the bow

Through the early years of this high-level sporting career, Lex was also a student. The University of Auckland alumna graduated in 2007 with a BSc majoring in exercise science and went on to complete a Bachelor of Health Science in physiotherapy at AUT.

It’s personal experience that she’s now drawing on in her role as the University’s performance sport team lead.

One of two main aspects of her role is leading the High Performance Support Programme, which provides tailored academic, performance and personal support for students who are competing in sports at an elite level. There are 315 students in the programme, including Olympic and Commonwealth Games athletes and world champions, as well as those on a path to compete at those highest levels.

“The programme involves a lot of coordination with academic staff and the students, because the biggest thing for these athletes is having the flexibility that allows them to balance study while performing at an elite level,” explains Lex.

“When I was studying exercise science, I was competing at a world-championship level, so there were lots of overseas trips and sporting commitments, as well as holding down a part-time job.

“So, I recognise the challenges that many of our students have – and not only our student athletes but students in general. I think that lived experience is an asset. I’m not saying that my experience is their experience, but there’s a similarity and understanding.”

Lex was working as a full-time bartender when her boxing coach encouraged her to pursue an academic path.

“He said, ‘If you’re going to take sport seriously, you also need to have another part of your life that you’re taking seriously’. He was advocating for all his boxers to be multi-dimensional, because he thought it made them better humans.

“Many athletes have one focus, and that works very well for some, but if you’re having a tough time with injury, or a performance slump and your whole identity is tied to being an athlete, your self-esteem, confidence and mental health can really take a hit.

“On the other hand, if athletes have an opportunity to have more than one string to their bow – maybe as a student or serving in their community – then there’s an opportunity for them to feel a sense of achievement and joy in other areas of life. That makes them more mentally and emotionally robust.”

At the time of her own retirement, Lex had a busy life outside of professional sport, including running her own businesses. Even so, she admits she was surprised how she grieved for her ‘athlete self’.

“It made me wonder how much bigger, longer and deeper that period of transition and grief would have been had I not had those other strengths to draw on.” 

An ecosystem of excellence

The other major part of Lex’s University role is overseeing our national tertiary teams. These represent the University in badminton, basketball, 3x3 basketball, football, futsal, netball, volleyball, rowing and Ultimate (often referred to as Ultimate Frisbee). The teams compete on regional, national and sometimes international levels; last year the University’s men’s football team competed in the FISU Football World Cup in China.

“There is a lot of opportunity for us in the National Tertiary Competition programme to foster a sporting identity and pride for Waipapa Taumata Rau, which has a flow-on effect into the student community,” says Lex.

“The hope is to be able to pack stadiums and have people chanting and cheering for Waipapa Taumata Rau.

“As an Olympian, I experienced the New Zealand Olympic Committee doing an incredible job of bringing people on that kind of journey; of telling the story and reminding athletes of the legacy they are a part of by being selected onto a New Zealand team.

“That’s a kind of framework that my team and I are working on developing here.”
It’s all part of a wider aspiration Lex has to support the ongoing development of a coordinated “ecosystem of excellence” for sport at the University.

That not only includes supporting elite athletes in their studies and growing winning teams but also serving as a wider hub for sporting research, innovation and excellence.

“It’s figuring out how we connect the sporting community in a coordinated way to all the expertise in our University. We could be an entry point for national sporting organisations or professional sports teams, for example, to come to us and say, ‘We need some innovation in this area’ and we could then connect them to the right people, in exercise science or engineering or health sciences and beyond.”

Reframing movement

Movement is still a big part of Lex’s life, but she thinks about it differently since retiring from professional sport.

“I remember going on my first run after being on the sofa for six months after retiring, and I was really mean to myself in my head. I thought, if I keep on with this narrative, I’m not going to be getting off the sofa again.

“I decided in that moment to reframe movement from a place of competition to a place of kindness and joy.”

She does yoga, bouldering, weights, a bit of running and generally lives an active, outdoors-focused life with her partner, who is a high-performance paddler.

And does she still box? Visit Hiwa on Thursdays at 7.30am and the Olympian will put you through your paces in a fun, social boxing fitness class – but that’s it for now.

“Yes, I still want to push every now and again,” she says, “but that’s definitely not the reason why I’m out there.”

– Caitlin Sykes