N-FLUX Colleen Daly is a co-owner of N-Flux, a fitness studio in D.C. specializing in martial arts and boxing, and the founder of Guerrera, a feminist fight club dedicated to promoting confidence and teaching self-defense to women and femmes. Daly began kickboxing as a way to destress, but quickly took to the sport. âWhen I first moved to D.C., I was working in sexual violence prevention response, which, as you can imagine, is a really stressful job,â Daly begins. âI needed an outlet to feel confident, strong and safe in my body and just let off steam. I started taking a fitness kickboxing class with Chris Torres [N-Flux co-owner] at the Y[MCA]. I just fell in love with it and thought it was so cool.â Daly was so into her sport, in fact, that she asked Torres to train her for an amateur match. Torres required that Daly take all of the classes he offered at the Y for a year before he trained her, and to his surprise, she did just that. Once it was clear Daly was determined to fight, she and Torres began their training in earnest. Daly explains this was a grueling process, but well worth the work. âItâs so hard. Youâre training four to six hours a day. But what I tell folks is the day of my first fight was the best day of my life, because youâre surrounded by this community [who] loves and supports you. You just feel so powerful in your body. Itâs the smallest, most perfect expression of exactly who you are. Thereâs nothing that brings out who you are better than stepping in a ring. I loved every minute of it.â That first experience in the ring has changed the course of Dalyâs life. She became a co-owner with Torres at N-Flux, and shortly thereafter, started Guerrera. The project allows women and femmes who are interested in learning boxing or martial arts at N-Flux to have a safe space in a male-dominated industry. Daly says when she travels and trains at other clubs, the athletes
are almost all men. It can be intimidating enough to join such an intense sport, and being the minority in said sport only adds to that intimidation. By allowing N-flux members to start off in a class of their peers, they can build their confidence and skills. âI think the most important thing is to know you deserve a space on the mat. Whether youâve been there for five minutes or five years, you deserve a space and to have the instructor give you attention, time, effort and energy. Just understanding that you deserve to be there and deserve support is really important. Youâre going to get that at N-Flux because our instructors really care.â Once youâve gotten comfortable with your boxing community, itâs time to get comfortable with your boxing abilities. Daly, echoing Snider, stresses this is not a sport one can simply pick up and be good at. You must keep on going back to the mat and persevering to make any progress. If you donât see immediate improvement, donât give up on the sport as a whole. Beginner boxers should expect to be just that: beginners. âJust be comfortable being a beginner and being comfortable not being good,â Daly explains. âYouâre not going to be good for a long time. You may not even be good for a very long time. I think especially in D.C., people are such perfectionists. Theyâre very smart and theyâve lived their whole lives getting things very quickly. That doesnât happen in martial arts very often. You just have to be comfortable not getting things right away.â To learn more about the classes offered at N-Flux, visit www.staynflux.com or follow them on Instagram @staynflux. Guerrera is always open to new members. If you would like to join but need financial assistance, fill out the Guerrera scholarship application. To sponsor a Guerrera member, email cdaly@staynflux.com. N-Flux: 1722 I St. NW, DC; www.guerrera.fit.
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