Cagefighter challenges youth …
[attach]2143[/attach]There are two different types of fights World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight [url=https://streeter.ca/cagefighter-readies-for-his-next-bout.html]Mark Hominick[/url] finds himself in.
The first is when he steps into the cage as a top contender in the WEC and the second is his fight to help youth throughout the province overcome their various challenges.
The Thamesford resident spoke to a group at Touchstone Youth Centre in East York on Aug. 27. The centre’s main mission is to help at-risk and homeless youth in crisis make immediate and positive changes in their lives by providing a safe supportive and structured environment to meet their complex needs and help them reach their full potential.
“I am just trying to give them some of my experiences and how MMA has changed my life and some of the things I have learned through the martial arts that I can pass onto to them,” says Hominick. “Sometimes when we watch the fighters on television, you may have a preconceived notion of who they are, so I want to show them that mixed martial arts made me the man I am today.”
Hominick hopes by speaking to these youth groups he can make a difference in their lives.
“I have always been a small town guy,” he says. “I have bought a house where I grew up and will always be a small town kid. I want to show them, while I may be from a small town, none of that really matters because it is about the hard work and dedication that will help you succeed in anything you do. You have to reach out and accept any opportunity that comes your way and make it happen.”
Mariam Yousefi, Touchstone Youth Centre public relations, was responsible for helping put together the event.
Yousefi likes the fact that Hominick is able to relate to the youth.
[attach]2144[/attach]”We always enjoy hearing from these types of people that there is always a direction and always a goal for the future,” she says. “No matter what obstacles may come their way, there is always a way to overcome it. The one thing that we love about Mark is a quote that was on his website “that no matter what fight he goes into it always provides him new challenges and in order to be successful he has to find ways to overcome those.” “
When Touchstone brings in a guest to speak to the youth, Yousefi hopes the message they bring is one of hope.
“It is all about how you view things,” she says. “Some of the youth who come in here will all have different situations and then if they come to hear Mark speak, he may be able to shed some light onto their situation, where a little light goes off and by him being able to relate to some of these kids is just great because if we can help just one youth here today then we have done our jobs.”