It’s been nearly 12 months since the last time we saw Alvin “Goozie” Hines in the cage. However, that year away could not have been more productive. Not only has Hines been working on his fight game, but he’s been working on himself outside of the cage as well.
Starting with a chance encounter at one of his former schools, he found something that would become a huge part of his life.
“I went to a school that I attended when I was younger and it was an [Emotional and Behavioral Disorder] room – the same room that I was in – and I shared my story. But I didn’t know really how to yet. Through all the mumbling and the stuttering I said something just right to this young man where he believed in himself again,” Hines recalled. “He sat there talking for like 15 minutes when the teachers came and took him away and he had to go to his next class, the teacher comes up to me and says, that kid hasn’t said a word in two months. That hit me hard.”
It didn’t stop there for ‘Goozie’. He chased that feeling with another of his former stomping grounds and found that this was something important – and not just for him.
“That same week I went down to the county jail, another place that I attended when I was younger and I was talking to full grown men. Again, I was trying to share my story, but I didn’t know how to put it into words – I didn’t know how to put it to make sense,” he said “But I said just enough to where I saw that same look, but in a full grown man’s eyes and then that’s when I knew that my story mattered, my message mattered, my message could help people.”
And it was then the Hines knew he had to act. He signed up for public speaking courses and began to work on his craft.
“I made the move and went to a public speaking seminar where I met my speaking coach, where I met many other amazing people that have changed my life,” Hines said. “Everybody has a story that they can share, that can help somebody.”
While public speaking has been huge for him on a personal level, it’s also helped him in terms of his fight game. Having something outside of the cage, he said, allows him to focus on the things that really matter when he’s in there. And that has made him a dangerous fighter.
“I meet a lot of these guys that are so focused on winning, not for winning or not for bettering themselves, but to pay bills or to fix other problems in life. When you find yourself outside of the cage, when you find what really makes you happy, like public speaking, bro, that if I’m not fighting, I want to be public speaking. And that is me,” he explained. “But it creates so many other opportunities as well. Just learning who you are beyond what you do is so big. It gives me the confidence to where I when I’m in training camp now, I focus on getting better, exactly what I need to do.”
You can see the new and improved version this Saturday at UFC Oklahoma City. Hines fights RJ Harris on the prelim portion of the card, which begins at 5pm EST.
