A champion is described as a fighter or warrior, and that is one way of describing Derek Jolivette.
At the age of 19 Jolivette was introduced to the sport that would soon change his life forever.
“A coworker invited me to go to one of his classes, and he was pretty high ranking, and I loved it,” Jolivette, raised in Westlock, said.
Muay Thai Kickboxing is a martial art that was developed in Thailand, and is a sport that Jolivette has described as requiring knees, elbows, and shins.
After getting involved with the sport in 2005, Jolivette said it wasn’t only his love for the sport that kept him so involved.
“It’s one of those things that you can’t ever beat,” Jolivette said. “You can never really attain perfect in martial arts. It is one of those things you are constantly chasing.”
In the fall of 2007 Jolivette faced an obstacle he never would have expected to have before him.
During training for one of his first amateur fights, Jolivette was hospitalized for internal bleeding and compartment syndrome. This condition has the ability to irreversibly damage muscle tissue.
After being told by doctors that he may never be able to step into the ring again, Jolivette only saw one thing.
“It was another challenge in my mind,” Jolivette said. “It was a little scary and it did take a long time to come back, because this sport is a contact sport… just because you can move and you can do the techniques and hit something, doesn’t mean you can get hit back.”
“That is what the issue was. The muscle was missing in my left leg, and that leg is my front leg,” Jolivette said, adding that is the leg that takes most of the hits during a fight.
When it came to recovery, Jolivette took his time.
“It took two years of rebuilding,” he said. “I spent most of my time at the gym. I studied myself to try to get my muscle back… After that my leg was rebuilt.”
According to Jolivette, during his time away from the ring due to his injury, he worked with Ryan Timofee in opening his gym.
“He is the one that actually kicked me before he knew me, that is what made the injury happen,” Jolivette said. “He was building a dojo, and he asked me if I wanted to help out… I came in and helped him.”
According to Jolivette, Timofee made a vow to himself that day.
“He didn’t end up telling me until after I became a world champion,” he said, adding that the vow was to turn Jolivette into that champion.
“He is really the only man who trained me,” Jolivette said. “He can cross that one off the list.”
When it comes to stepping into the ring, Jolivette described the feeling.
“There is no fear, it’s just excitement, and intensity,” he said.
“It’s exciting. You are not really nervous. It’s one of those things where you look across the ring and you know the person across from you did the same stuff as you to get there,” Jolivette said, adding that many times it is someone he knows.
“We are usually friends because it is a really small community,” Jolivette said. “There is no fear really, because you are not trying to hurt the other person you are just trying to win.”
“You have to do what you have to do to win,” Jolivette said.
According to Jolivette winning the titles becomes easier as time goes on.
“It seems easier to me then it does to a lot of other people,” he said. “It feels great but it is just the start to me.”
Jolivette does everything he can in order to participate in the sport; this includes boot camp, kid’s classes, and much more.
“I teach the Robin Hood Association,” Jolivette said, which is a weekly class for individuals with disabilities.
“They are disabled, some physical, some mental,” he said. “I do lots of stuff.”
“I do everything that I can do with this sport,” Jolivette said. “I don’t ever turn down a positive opportunity.”
When it comes to teaching the sport of Muay Thai, Jolivette said that it is the changes he sees in his students that he enjoys the most.
“The positive changes in their life, because what I teach them is extremely hard,” Jolivette said.
Some of the changes Jolivette sees in his students vary from quitting smoking, to changing their eating habits.
“They change their diets, they change their life, they get more sleep, they quit smoking, because what I am doing is so hard, they are doing whatever they can to make it easier because they love it so much,” Jolivette said. “It changes them, but really all I am teaching them is what I know.”
Jolivette also enjoys the moments when he witnesses his students finally learn something he has been teaching.
“I like to see when people realize something… like an epiphany in their faces, when something comes to life, and when they finally get something I have been showing them for a year,” he said.
