HISD Police Officer and boxing coach Rudy Silva at Olympic Village
Editor’s note: This is a guest blog entry from HISD Police Officer Rudy Silva, who coaches U.S. Olympic boxer Marlen Esparza. On Monday, Esparza won her quarterfinal match. She is guaranteed to win at least a bronze medal. Her next match is on Wednesday.
Marlen and I have been doing this for 11 years. Today, I was about to catch the train and we were about to be in our first Olympic fight. I was thinking hard work really pays off. You always hear people say that, but today it really hit me. We have come a long way. There were times when I know Marlen wanted to stop because people weren’t giving women enough recognition. I told her, “Just keep winning and people will notice.”