'I took the digs...but I gave them back' - Team NI boxer Kaci Rock builds Commonwealth Games focus off early ring test
Boxer Kaci Rock had a baptism of fire the first time she put the gloves on and entered the ring – all because dad Jim never wanted his daughter to follow in his footsteps.
Her father, Jim, stands as the only fighter to hold Irish titles in four different weight divisions of light-middleweight, middleweight, super-middleweight and light-heavyweight.
Born in Dublin, Jim fought out of Belfast, held Inter-Continental European titles and lost a WBU world title shot against Mehrdud ‘Takaloo’ Takalobigashi in the ninth round.
“My dad...obviously, that's where I picked up boxing from,” said Rock. “He trained in Breen's Gym in Belfast, so I'm always watching him growing up.
“I suppose everyone wants to be like their mum and dad...first idols growing up, but I can still say my dad is still my idol going forward now.
“He never wanted me to box, but then I think when your mum and dad tell you not to do something you want to do it a little bit more.
"So I went down to the club and I haven't looked back since.”
Rocks first experience in the ring came at Peter Taylor’s (father of Katie) gym.
“I was adamant that I wanted to go down to the boxing club and dad said ‘right, OK’...after a long persuasion time he brought me down anyways and went in, put me in against two boys that had been there a long, long time.
"And just said ‘listen, hit her a few digs here and she won't come back’.
"‘She's into dolls and prams and princesses and that's it, she won't come back’.
“I took the digs, I definitely took a load of them that day, but I gave them back.
"I don't know if it was the best thing he ever did or the worst thing he ever did, but I'm still here now.”
Instead of being discouraged Rock ultimately rose to the challenge.
“I think I had that kind of tough streak in me, kind of saying ‘jeez, they're after hitting me, so I'm going to hit them back’.
"But I think they knew on that day that I had it in me.
“I wasn't afraid to take the punches, and I could certainly give them back as well, so it was just a building block from there.
“It's hard to even believe now that the Games are coming up, I did it for fun when I was younger and then it was kind of when I was getting older I had to drop a couple of sports to focus in on the one sport.
"And it always kind of kept it quiet enough, it was just like ‘oh yeah, she's the boxer, whatever’.
“Then when I hit 19, I won the Elites and joined the Irish High Performance and it's just been going strength to strength from there...so now I'm here now.”
Rock is looking forward to her first Commonwealth Games.
“Honestly, it's a dream come true, it's such a big milestone and I'm just so happy to be here with a great bunch of people as well,” she said. “You see those who have gone in recent years.
"How well they’ve done and where they got to and I’m just thinking that I've had the opportunity to do that too.”
“I’m just going to take it fight by fight, just soak it all in, enjoy the experience and, you know, I'm hoping that the good rewards will come then.
"Aiming for the top, but we'll take it step by step.”