Diego Ochoa posing for a picture before his boxing match the next day. Photo provided by Diego Ochoa.

By Maya Stone
Freelance Writer

ROCHESTER — Diego Ochoa was born and raised in Rochester, a small lake town where everyone knows everyone. He soon learned to find his own passions and ran with them.

In high school he participated in cross country with one of his close friends who became a big part of his life on and off the track. Eli Seward was a huge nature person and would invite Ochoa camping with him and his family all the time.

This sparked an interest in Ochoa’s life; he grew to love being out in the woods, submerged under all the trees. He recently got into bushcrafting, where he goes off-grid camping and uses resources from nature to camp out.

This summer he made time to go camping at least once a week and fell more in love with this hobby as he continued to do more campouts, discovering all the beauty nature has to offer. In the future Ochoa hopes to one day achieve the New England Trail Hike. This is a hike 2,890 miles long and would take approximately three to four months of camping to complete. Although it is a difficult task, Ochoa is determined to one day cross this off his bucket list.

A bushcrafting fire that Diego Ochoa made. Photo provided by Diego Ochoa.

In 2020 when the coronavirus hit America, Ochoa picked up a new hobby because there was not much else to do. Wanting to try something new, he decided to learn a self-defense mechanism.

He began training at Dynamite Jujitsu and Brazilian Kickboxing, learning how to box. Ochoa loves that he’s been able to learn something new about the sport he’s been wanting to learn for some time and understanding how to apply it.

He has recently added it to his workout routine he does daily and has been able to teach others how to box. Although there are so many memories Ochoa cherishes, his favorite by far is when he first came to the studio.

He was so welcomed into the community and immediately felt like he had found a family in the people he boxed with. This sort of bonding helped him choose his career path later in life.

Ochoa has always had a passion for protecting his community, and learning new techniques for how to do this just pushed him further into his law enforcement journey. Ochoa plans on becoming a police officer and potentially joining SWAT at some point in his future. Boxing plays a role in keeping him physically fit for this position.

With big dreams ahead of him, Ochoa can’t wait to continue his path and achieve all he sets his mind to.