Lola Villa: “For two hours, I don’t think about anything but my boxing goals!”
Lola Villa is a student in the Meef master’s program at the School of Education. In February and then in March 2024, she became the university champion in kickboxing and savate.
It was in Reims on February 3 that Lola Villa claimed the title of French collegiate kickboxing champion in the under-65-kg weight class. That first victory was just a prelude to her second, achieved in Mèze on March 13 and 14: a gold medal at the collegiate French savate boxing championships, her favorite discipline. This double victory was no fluke:“I can’t say I expected to win the title, but I can say I trained for it! I couldn’t have done any more,” says the young fighter, who also won the French Open in 2023 with her club at the time, the MUC Savate Boxe Française de Montpellier.
Family Boxing
A well-deserved recognition for someone who learned to box just as others learn to walk.“I started when I was very young at my father’s boxing club in Bagnols-sur-Cèze.” A childhood passion she set aside as a teenager before picking it back up a few years ago.“When I started college, I realized that sports—and boxing in particular—really helped me manage the stress of my studies. I go to boxing, and for two hours I don’t think about anything but my boxing goals!” And to achieve them, Lola Villa has committed to two two-hour training sessions, four days a week—a totalofsixteen hours of boxing per week.
She decided to take her passion a step further last year by adding kickboxing to her routine.“I wanted to explore other forms of boxing, and the kickboxing class was right after my workout. The instructor suggested I give it a try, and my dad—who also used to practice kickboxing—encouraged me to go.” While the two disciplines are very similar, kickboxing offers greater freedom in terms of rules.“In kickboxing, you can use your shins, so the distance from your opponent isn’t the same. You can also throw swinging punches, which isn’t allowed in boxing, where all punches must be straight,” explains the champion.
Competition Goal
In the coming months, Lola Villa is focusing on new challenges: successfully completing her Meef master’s degree and passing the competitive exam to become an elementary school teacher. Here, too, the young student is willing to make sacrifices to give herself the best possible chance of success:“I won’t be competing this year; I’ll go to practice or box at my dad’s place, but only for my own enjoyment. I also run, and I’m going to sign up for a few cross-country races in January, but I’m not doing it to break any records.” This sense of priorities and maturity should, once again, help her achieve her goals!