Anna Prest can picture the scene as if it unfolded yesterday. But it was more than three years ago that then freshman Prest from Chesapeake in the southeast part of Virginia, took in her first view of Baraka Bouts. With music blaring, young women eager to hone their boxing craft packed onto the lawn of Jordan Hall of Science. Unsure of what to expect, Prest decided to join them and stick around.
“I was just kind of like, ‘Alright. Well, this seems to be a good workout, and this seems to be a lot of fun,’” Prest recalled.
Three years later, she’s at the head of the club once so new to her. As a sophomore, Baraka leadership tapped Prest and classmate Olivia Mancuso to serve as junior captains for the 2023 bouts. Among a leadership group dominated by seniors, Prest spent her junior season observing and learning from those older than her, including former president Nicole Lies.
“She's a fantastic role model for me as far as ... she’s very task-oriented, very driven, incredibly self-motivated,” Prest said of Lies. “And her time management was also something that was very inspiring to me.”
After the season wrapped up, Lies called Prest with a simple offer: the Baraka Bouts presidency. Having never considered the position an explicit goal, Prest found herself a bit shocked by the opportunity. And as a political science and Japanese double-major, a fourth-year Navy ROTC member and a new attendant for Rec Sports, she wouldn’t have the easiest time fitting the role into her schedule. Nevertheless, Prest counted on the trust of her mentor and took the offer.
“It was a pretty big adjustment,” Prest recalled. “Essentially, my job is to plan the arc of our season.”
As a junior captain, Prest could focus more deeply on mentoring and training individual boxers. The presidency, on the other hand, demands wide-ranging oversight of the club. Whether it’s informing people about the club, working with coaches or facilitating the ring’s layout in Dahnke Ballroom, Prest takes pride in handling all of the little things her position entails. She also takes plenty of pride in the women who help her keep the organization moving.
“I have this fantastic group of 10 co-captains,” Prest said. “And it’s more so like, ‘Okay, here’s the next thing on the timeline. Can you guys get started on it? Let’s talk about it. Who do we need to contact?’”
One of Prest’s favorite parts of the club, global outreach, carves out a huge part of Baraka’s identity. The organization raises funds every year for two institutions in Uganda, St. Joseph’s Hill Secondary School in Kyembogo and Lakeview Secondary School in Jinja. Its goal of $75,000 for this year’s bouts has Prest excited about the club’s service potential.
“We recently got a figure from the Holy Cross Mission Center that about a $60 donation provides one year’s dorming – essentially room and board for an entire academic year for one student,” Prest said. “So that’s pretty powerful when you think about that in terms of how much money we’re fortunate enough to be able to raise each year for the mission.
Heading into this academic year, Prest and the organization received a jolt of momentum from over 7,600 miles away. At the end of the summer, the funds raised by Baraka Bouts helped Lakeview break ground on a new women’s dormitory.
“Seeing those posts and hearing at mission Monday that’s a really good week-to-week [message of], ‘Hey, this is a reminder of this is what it’s all about. This is why we’re really here,’” Prest said. “Yes, we love being in the ring. We love boxing. But it’s always been about so much more.”
While so involved in and amazed by the club’s worldwide impact, Prest also makes the time to create strong bonds with the fighters at Notre Dame. Some might expect that a Baraka president’s role might keep her detached from and above the emotions and experiences of individual competitors. But Prest regards mentorship much too highly to fall under that categorization.
“It’s always an adrenaline-filled experience, and I think I find no greater joy [than] standing in that corner and looking at someone — whether it’s their first year or their fourth year in the club — and looking them in the eyes and being like, ‘How awesome is this? How cool is this that you have gloves on your hands, your headgear on, a mouth guard in – and you’re about to start punching someone?’”
Just like it has in Uganda, the club has seen tangible progress in the involvement among its youngest members. When Prest served as a junior captain last year, only one freshman participated in the Baraka Bouts tournament. This year, the president reports that seven first-year members will step into the competitive ring.
“It’s more than words can even describe – how I feel about it,” Prest said. “I’m just so proud of them for taking that leap of literally coming to college three months ago, starting with this club very early on and just kind of pressing the ‘I believe’ button and committing, sparring, fundraising – just absolutely buying into all of it and excelling in all those areas.”
“I just could not be prouder of the younger women in this club this year.”
Better yet, Prest, now in her fourth year with Baraka Bouts, believes that the club’s promising youth is here to stay.
“Once you’re in it, you just can’t leave,” Prest said. “It’s this community of strong, confident, funny, supportive women that’s like no other on campus.”
Despite all the obligations next to Prest’s name on a daily basis, she hasn’t lost sight of how special Baraka Bouts really is. After all, Baraka is the largest women’s boxing club in the world. With this year’s tournament right around the corner, Prest encourages all to appreciate the unique experience that the club brings to Notre Dame’s campus.
“It’s not every day that you get to see your friends and classmates step into a boxing ring and start hitting each other for charity,” Prest said. “[It’s] not just because of the sport and not just because of entertainment purposes, but the fact that this is a charity tournament and that it’s the women that you see walking on campus, that you see in your classes – they’ve been putting in incredibly large amounts of work and so many hours into bettering themselves and learning a new skill.”
The Baraka Bouts quarterfinal round kicks off at 7 p.m. on Monday at Duncan Student Center’s Dahnke Ballroom, beginning the road to the Nov. 21 finals. Ahead of the year’s first competitive jabs, hooks and uppercuts, Prest shared her message to the Notre Dame community.
“If you see [a] Notre Dame women’s club boxing tournament and you feel curious at all or you’re like, ‘What is going on with that?’ I can guarantee you that it’ll be a night that’s absolutely full of cheering — whether it’s from various dorms or organizations on campus coming to support their members — it’ll be full of laughter … If you’re curious, no words can describe it, and you’ll just have to come see for yourself the real deal.”
