{"id":6629,"date":"2024-02-16T11:23:06","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T16:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6629"},"modified":"2024-02-16T11:23:09","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T16:23:09","slug":"heart-of-a-lion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6629","title":{"rendered":"Heart of a Lion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1st Place, Personality Profile <\/strong>
2022-23, Division 1, News Writing

By Aidan Oakley & Hassan Alramahy <\/strong>
The Pioneer Press
Dearborn HS

Five fights, five knockouts, and zero doubts about the man behind it all. Professional boxer Husam \u201cLionheart\u201d Almashhadi is one of Dear- born\u2019s finest fighters, yet stands out for his coura- geous and brave mentality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Husam was born in Dearborn, Michigan and was raised in Dearborn Heights, Michigan while his parents and his two older brothers were born and raised in Iraq before moving to the U.S. Being a part of an immigrant family, Husam found motivation through his circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t always have everything that we wanted,\u201d Almashhadi said. \u201cJust being a young kid, seeing all the other kids I grew up around, my community having this, having that; me not having it just made me hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Husam found a way to use this hunger when he discovered an interest for boxing at six years old while watching his brothers practicing at a local gym.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust watching them, and running around, and doing all their training and fitness, I just loved it,\u201d he said. \u201cI was always a hyper kid, so I slowly and slowly started gravitating towards it, and eventually I told my dad, \u2018I want to do this for real.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Husam earned his nickname \u201cLionheart,\u201d at the Kronk boxing gym in Westland, Michigan when he was just eight years old. Husam tells stories of older kids from other gyms that would come looking to spar kids from their gym. While the older kids backed down, Husam would step up to the challenge, sparring with fighters much older and stronger than him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know, me being a young, hungry, bad kid, I was like \u2018I\u2019ll get in the ring with them,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not afraid to spar this person, I\u2019m not afraid to spar that person.\u2019 So I\u2019d just sit there and go toe-to- toe, and just throw punch after punch, not worrying about getting hit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After deciding to seriously pursue boxing, Husam started his training with Majid Faradi, a close family friend, until Faradi moved away when Husam was 13 years old. Taking a break from boxing for a couple months, Husam later joined forces with coach Mohamed Hamood of Darkside Boxing out of Hype Athletics in Dearborn Heights, Michigan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Let me just put it this way, he’s a coach’s dream,” Hamood said. \u201cAny coach would love to have this kid, whatever you ask him to do, he\u2019ll do it to 110 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamood has coached many boxers in his career, but Husam sets himself apart from most. \u201cAt this point, yes, he is the most talented, and best fighter we got in the gym right now,\u201d Hamood said. \u201cI guess you could say I\u2019m a father figure towards him. Most of my fighters, I feel like a father or an older brother and most of these fighters I\u2019ve raised since they were eight or nine years old.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anybody can see it through the crowd roaring at his fights, it\u2019s obvious with the fans waving the Iraqi flag in support, Husam has irreversibly captured the attention and love of the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great, I love where I\u2019m from, and I\u2019ll always appreciate where I\u2019m from,\u201d Almashhadi said. \u201cMan, the support that comes from Dearborn Heights and Dearborn, you know, they all come together as one, and it\u2019s just unmatched.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Husam is confident about his future with Darkside as well, having unwavering support for his team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDarkside is taking a big step in a new direction,\u201d Husam said. \u201cIt\u2019s like we got everybody in there. Everybody\u2019s working hard. I feel like everybody is feeding off my energy, which, I love it. I love being the leader and being the guy that motivates everybody. It motivates me at the end of the day to keep pushing because I know all these guys have someone to look up to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going professional in anything can come with challenges, but Husam has been able to recenter himself with help from his unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know, there\u2019s moments during training camp, where you feel like you\u2019re just worn out, burnt out,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I have the right team behind me to help take a few steps back, to just relax and look at things differently, and I always come back harder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the success, Husam hasn\u2019t forgotten how it felt to start and understands the initial intimidation that comes with entering a combat sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHonestly, you won\u2019t really know it\u2019s for you until you give it about four to five months,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ll know after you\u2019ve had your first sparring session, and by the team you\u2019re around, so just hang in there and give it about four to five months and do everything you can. You know, do sparring, do conditioning, see how it plays outside the gym, so just give it time and patience, that\u2019s key.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baby cubs always grow up to be fierce lions, in the same way, Husam has grown up to be the king of his sport, and continues to nurture, protect, and guide his community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NW-15. Personality Profile<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The personality profile captures the life, interests, accomplishments of well-known or interesting people, based on interviews from multiple sources. The subject(s) should have experiences, thoughts and accomplishments worth reporting. Anecdotes add to the personality profile. Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUDGING CRITERIA<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Lead captures attention, arouses curiosity; reason for sketch is made clear early in story<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Emphasizes fresh angle; individualizes person<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Colorful, lively presentation; effective form\/style<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Descriptive writing demonstrates the concept of \u201cshow, don\u2019t tell\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Reflects adequate research, sound interviewing techniques from a variety of sources<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Avoids encyclopedic listing of subject\u2019s accomplishments<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Effective use of quotes<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Interesting; appeals to the emotions<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Proper diction\/grammar<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1st Place, Personality Profile 2022-23, Division 1, News Writing By Aidan Oakley & Hassan Alramahy The Pioneer Press Dearborn HS Five fights, five knockouts, and zero doubts about the man behind it all. Professional boxer Husam \u201cLionheart\u201d Almashhadi is one of Dear- born\u2019s finest fighters, yet stands out for his coura- geous and brave mentality. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,63],"tags":[206,20],"class_list":["post-6629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nw","category-personalityprofile-nw","tag-2022-23","tag-division1","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Mikayla Mazza","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=14"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1IV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6629\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}