COLORADO SPRINGS — Amelia Moore has her sights set on earning a gold medal at 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. She credits her childhood community for giving her the confidence and support to reach for her dreams.
“I am really, really fortunate to have been raised by the Oxford Hills community,” said the 2008 Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School graduate.
This is proof that you can come from a small town and do really great things.
Amelia Moore
Born in Middletown, Connecticut, Moore moved to the Oxford Hills region when she was four. She was raised in Norway and Paris and attended local schools. Her mother, Nancy Drew, still lives in Paris.
Always one to be physically active, Moore said she played football in middle school. “There was talk about me playing in high school,” she said. “I inquired about it but ended up going to the cross-country and soccer teams.”
The transition to new sports, and the equipment needed, could have been a financial challenge but Moore said the community pulled through.
“I grew up with nothing,” she said. “We all did. The community really took care of us. I was worried about having cleats for soccer but Coach Kyle Morey told me just to show up and not worry about it.”
Everything she did not have was provided for her through the community, she said.
Morey wasn’t the only one who guided Moore through her formative years. She said former cross country coach Larry Coulombe pushed her to excel. Paul Bickford, who was then a high school guidance counselor, was also an enormous support.
“Paul deserves so much credit,” she said. “He saw in me more than I did at the time. You don’t know about love until life has beaten you down and someone picks you up.”
Amelia Moore Submitted photo
Bickford is the reason Moore joined the Navy and attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. “He saw something in me that I couldn’t see,” she said. “I ended up with a direct entry into West Point with the Naval Academy as my route to get there.”
A diagnosis of Crohn’s disease ended Moore’s military career just two years after it started.
“Even when we think we know our path, life often has different plans for us,” she said. “I am a firm believer that things work out the way they are supposed to.”
Despite a shortened military career, Moore said the academy helped her become the athlete she is today. “I really wanted to serve my country,” she said. “I had already been boxing for a couple of years. I decided boxing was where I could represent my country and my flag.”
Moore has several national and international championships under her belt. As the current second seed in the 60 kg middleweight class for the 2018 Elite National Championships, she is pre-qualified to make the Olympic USA Team.
Moore recently moved to Colorado full-time. The move allows her hands-on training at the Olympic Training Center and more personal time with her coach, Kay Koroma.
Amelia Moore Submitted photo
“In a lot of ways, Colorado is like back home,” she said. “Here, and in Maine, people have to bend to the weather and life often stops when Mother Nature says so. D.C. is such a rat race, so I can appreciate the quietness.”
The sport, she said, saved her life. “I have to live a specific lifestyle to maintain my health. Unless you struggle with autoimmune disease, you don’t know how to deal with it. I am in a unique situation to be competing at the level I do with what I have.”
Her quest for gold has her on a strict training schedule six days a week. Her day typically starts at 5:30 a.m. with three to five hours of training a day. On top of that, she works as a forensic accountant and gives tours of the training center.
Her schedule is full but she said she does what she has to in order to feed her dream.
“The American Dream is to make something out of nothing,” she said. “No one told me I was white trash but that’s what I equated my life with. I had all these angels growing up. No matter what I was going through, they didn’t let me fall. I am really fortunate to come from where I did.
“This is proof that you can come from a small town and do really great things. Your journey and your greatness is to be something much better. That next door is going to open. Just keep pushing.”
For more information about Moore’s Olympic journey, visit www.ameliamooreboxing.com.
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