GREENFIELD — Vanessa Chakour didn’t always want to be a boxer. If you asked the Amherst native what she wanted to be when she was a kid, she might say she wanted to be a National Geographic photographer, writer or illustrator, but she never considered a career as a professional boxer.

After suffering a broken back and neck following a car accident at the age of 16, Chakour made it her mission to get stronger and rehabilitate her body and mind. Her injuries were her main focus and getting stronger was her full-time job as she dropped out of high school to heal her body. This journey started in the gym with weight lifting.

“It was one of those experiences that was a huge awakening and a turning point for me,” Chakour said of the accident. “I had really become disconnected from my body, I had bad asthma as a child and I had this story in my head where I wanted to be an athlete more than anything but I felt like I couldn’t because of my asthma. I felt physically inadequate.”

When the accident happened, Chakour began to question the stories she had always known to be true. While strengthening her body at the gym, she soon realized she could leave the stories about her deficiencies behind. What began as a way to make amends for her injury became an obsession with all things healing, and Chakour studied every nook and cranny of her body and ways to restore her health. She said she never wanted to feel the way she did after her car accident – weak.

“The training really changed me,” Chakour said of the time she spent working on herself.

Chakour attended the nearby University of Massachusetts and studied exercise science and environmental science. While in college, she was drawn to the rowing team. After putting so much emphasis on her body for so long, she had become very strong and the rowing team seemed like a perfect fit for her.

“(The rowing team) changed my perception of my body, from how I look to what I can do,” she said. “As a woman, it’s all about how you look and how you shrink, rather than being strong.”

In 1996, Chakour moved to New York City, discovered boxing and fell in love with professional fighting.

After years of strength training and rowing, becoming a personal trainer was a natural choice for her. She met a professional fighter and decided to pursue her next goal: learning to fight.

“I was looking for something that had the same intensity as rowing,” Chakour said. “I thought, ‘I want to learn this.’ I don’t know how to punch properly, so I asked him to train me. When I threw my first punch, I was shocked at how much power I had.”

Starting at 4:30 a.m., Chakour took the subway to the gym so she could work out before meeting her clients. She worked out every day she had time.

When another boxer’s sparring partner didn’t show up, Chakour was asked to throw punches in the ring so he could work on his defense. This experience as an attacker opened a door for her and showed her a new side of herself and her abilities.

“I never knew that part of myself. I grew up in a family of artists, and to have the opportunity to fight and be the aggressor was like ‘wow,'” Chakour said. “I had never met this intense aggressive animal before, it was a new side of me that I had never tapped into.”

From there, she found a trainer and told him she wanted to fight.

Chakour trained at Gleason’s Gym, one of the oldest and most popular boxing facilities in the country. Founded in 1937, Gleason’s Gym was home to some of the best boxers in the world and hosted some of the best competitions.

“Boxing teaches so many life lessons,” Chakour said. “It’s a moving meditation, so you have to be 100 percent present because there’s someone coming at you. You can’t dwell on past mistakes, you can’t think too much, you have to keep moving and let things go.”

Despite her professional training and boxing experience, Chakour rarely found herself in the ring. When fights were scheduled, many never took place due to a lack of women in a male-dominated field. While Chakour was a professional fighter, it was difficult to find many fights.

“I always say that I trained as a professional fighter because most of my fights fell through because there weren’t many women in boxing at the time,” Chakour said. “My coach was very concerned about integrity and didn’t want to put me in a compromising situation, so a lot of my fights fell through, which is super frustrating.”

After COVID-19 struck in 2020, Chakour packed her bags and moved back to Western Massachusetts. After spending her youth in Amherst, she was drawn back to the area to finish her first book, Awakening Artemis: Deepening Intimacy with the Living Earth and Reclaiming Our Wild Nature. After 20 years in Brooklyn, a change was needed.

“I got to the point where I couldn’t stand the city anymore,” Chakour said. “I finished my book in 2021 and ended up staying.”

After her return, she allowed boxing back into her life and attended the YMCA of Franklin County in Greenfield.

“When my partner and I came to check it out and I saw there was a boxing room, I was so excited,” Chakour said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I’ve been thinking about teaching boxing again for a while and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.”

Chakour approached the YMCA about teaching women’s boxing classes. The club welcomed her with open arms and Chakour began teaching boxing classes.

“It provides a service to the community that hasn’t been utilized in a long time,” said Jayne Trosin, fitness and social responsibility director for the YMCA of Franklin County. “It’s a growing sport and we’re glad we can offer it here at the YMCA.”

Classes take place weekly, with participants divided into groups of five. By restricting classes to female participants, Chakour wants to create a safe environment. Over a period of four weeks, basic skills are taught and deepened so that aspiring boxers can improve their fighting skills. In rounds of three minutes of training and one minute of rest, participants learn to defend themselves, trust their bodies and stay present.

“She empowers women through boxing,” Trosin said. “We are happy to have her in our community.”

For more information about Chakour’s sessions, visit the YMCA website (your-y.org).