Jude Bowler

Hi, I’m Jude Bowler, performer, writer.

Almost 2 years ago I accidentally took up boxing.  I had some physical theatre shows to prepare for and, being recently separated from a 7+ year relationship, well, you could say I’d been lacking motivation.  In totally unrelated circumstances I met Eleanor.  She offered to help, "Come down to the gym, couple of sessions might be the kickstart you need. You tried boxing for fitness?"  Nope, never, but I'll have a go.  As it turned out the gym was Elouera-Tony Mundine's Redfern Gym, Eleanor's a champion boxer and contender for the Commonwealth Games team, and I seemed to have a bit of natural ability.

I was enjoying this new experience, feeling physically great, and decided to keep going.  Some months passed when Alex Tui, Australia’s first ever World Champion kickboxer, now coach and gym manager, went with one of his boxers, Mal Baker, to Ringside - the world's largest amateur boxing tournament, in Kansas USA.  They won the 'World Champ' big brass belt, hung around, watched the girls, came home to Sydney and mentioned to Eleanor I could be a chance over there.  Eleanor mentioned it to me.  Of course, I thought she was joking – her wry sense of humour.  She wasn't.  I thought about it for less than a day, and we started training the next morning.

Next month is the tournament, 28 July - 2 August.  I'll be competing in the Women's Lightweight (57-60kg) Masters (Over 40) division.  I’ll be Eleanor’s first boxer to go to an international tournament.  Our mentor throughout, Alex Tui will also be in my corner in Kansas.  (There’ll be a team representing the legendary Redfern Gym - Alex and Mal are returning to defend the title won last year.)

“PUNCH’N JUDY” is also the name of the documentary Ben Thatcher is making about it.  Ben's a cracking filmmaker, musician and very funny guy.  We've been friends for 15 years and he thinks this yarn is too good not to put down.  (* We can't say yet exactly when the film will be finished, but all supporters will receive an invitation to a screening.)

I’m thinking I’ll call the stage show “FROM PAT TO PUNCH”, and perhaps let my character, Pat Flick, say a few words on the subject.

WHY WE’RE WORTH SUPPORTING

No fight, no story, no story, no glory - and it’s a GREAT story! Everybody loves a boxing story, even if they say they don’t like boxing. This one, ups the ante ...  

It's intergenerational, intercultural, international.  It's positive.  It’s two girls in, what remains predominantly, a guy's world.

One, you could say with a fairly interesting life, who, at 45, was not expecting it to get this much more interesting.

The other, younger, is a new leader, role model, and, I think, legend in the making, who at 23, spoke in parliament to advocate for the legalisation of women’s boxing in NSW.

One’s an artist, the other an athlete.

One’s gay, the other straight.

One’s white, the other black.

One lives in the country, the other in the city.

Both believe in community, having the courage of your convictions, and that the good guys/gals will get up in the end - even though the odds are evidently stacked against them.



"Hindsight can give you insights about what went wrong.  But only FAITH, REASON and BRAVERY can propel you forward."
Julia Gillard 2013



(*Photo(s) of Eleanor at The Block, Redfern Gym, by Jenny Evans © - First Prize winner, Sydney Art & About 2013.)

Jude at the gym



Jude as PAT FLICK ...



Eleanor (by Jenny Evans © Copyright)



Jude as Marlene Dietrich (by Diana Popovska) ...



Eleanor (by Jenny Evans © Copyright)



Jude as OPAL (by Tania Salitra) ...



Eleanor (by Jenny Evans © Copyright)

Our most basic goal is to get us to Kansas - flights and accommodation:
Flights $4000 (2 x return economy)
Accom $1000 (1 week, shared room)
TOTAL $5000

That’s the bare minimum we need to get there for the fight.  No fight, no story.  Beyond that, there’s a lot of other expenses which apply to various stages of the project:

$500 Tournament registration, insurances etc
$300 Equipment (boxing shoes, competition shorts etc)
$800 Meals, incidentals
$250 Other travel (airport transfers, local travel etc)

$1500 Missed wages - Eleanor and I are both sole traders, no work = no pay, and we each have rent/mortgage/bills to take care of while we’re away.

$1000 Training & gym fees - I train with Eleanor at the gym 4-5 times a week.  Since committing to this goal 11 months ago, Eleanor has trained me for a fee equivalent to 30% of her usual rate.  Redfern Gym, a not-for-profit community facility, has allowed me to attend additional conditioning classes for free.  A donation towards that support would be fair.

$5000 "Punch'n Judy" doco post-production - Ben Thatcher is putting together this project out of love and his own pocket.  We could easily spend $20,000+ putting a film together, but if we can go some small way towards it and get a decent editor/edit suite, that's a great start. (* We can't say yet exactly when the film will be finished, but all supporters will receive an invitation to a screening.)

$5000+ "From Pat to Punch" - I've mostly self-produced (that usually means self-funded).  $5000 would barely cover a decent publicist for a short season in an average theatre festival, let alone the weeks of writing, rehearsing and pre-production costs that go into making the show before it even needs publicity.  It'd be nice to have a kickstart.

$25000+ Eleanor has a goal to open her own studio gym for Little E Fitness.  
That takes capital investment.  Just saying.

No fight, no story.  No story, no glory.  Simple as that.

Money and injury are the potential challenges.  We can manage small scale problems in either of those two areas - but big ones and bad timing, so close to the tournament, would be the breaker.

Boxing is an individual sport, but it's a team that gets the fighter to the ring. We're two. We'd be more with you.