Club News

 

Welcome to the first newsletter of the 24/25 season! Here’s what we’ve been up to both during the summer break and into the new boxing season.

 

We had plenty going on in the off season:

 

RABC moved to, and are now established in, their new home at Bermondsey Boxing Club. Whilst the club is still hopeful of a new permanent residence, they are enjoying their time there with the training sessions continuing on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Coaches Rachel and Kate, who are both mentors on the England Boxing Women’s Coach Development Programme, took RABC boxer Matt Jones up to the English Institute of Sport in

Sheffield which meant that Matt got lots of rounds on the pads and the Coaches got lots of experience padding a super - heavyweight boxer!

 

In August we took several members of the team to Go Ape at Alexandra Palace

thanks to Young Camden Foundation. This experience was all part of helping our boxers build confidence outside the ring and provided an opportunity to build team spirit and get outdoors.

 

In September we held our first Female Sparring session of the new season and were joined by over 40 female amateur Boxers from across London for an afternoon of very competitive sparring. We love putting these sparring sessions on because we know how much the female boxers enjoy them and we hope they find them useful for their development.

 

 

In the Summer, RABC had a sole representative in the Riveria Cup and our Frankie went all the way down to Torquay with her family and came back with a Winners Gold Medal!! Frankie boxed against an opponent whom she had previously lost to, so the victory was especially sweet! Well Done Frankie!!

 

HABC’s Chrisgen Enado entered the London Development Championships but came up short in his opening bout. Gen is a skilful boxer who we are sure will go far this season and we look forward to him being busy out on the circuit.

 

Our first Home Show of the new season saw us host 10 bouts, with 8 of our boxers competing against boxers from other clubs in and around London. Making their debuts for HABC Juniors were Nyla Jones and Leonisdas Downes who showed us everything they had been working on in training for the last few months, in two really good skills bouts. Danny Key from the Juniors boxed in his first competitive bout but, sadly, he had to retire due to a shoulder injury so we all wish him a speedy recovery. Representing the HABC Senior team we had Islam and Adam who were involved in very close bouts but just came out on the wrong side of the Judge’s decisions. RABC had Frankie and Nathanael representing along with Jordan, who was making his debut. Frankie and Nathanael didn’t get their hands raised but we know what we need to continue to work hard on in the gym. Jordan not only won his bout but was also voted RABC Boxer of the night by Derek Williams, former Commonwealth and European Champion. Nyla picked up the award of best HABC boxer.

 

Claudie from HABC was disappointed as her opponent for the home show pulled out but she took a last minute bout last week and showed an improved performance.

 

Next month see’s four boxers from both clubs head out to Sweden with coaches Roy and Don to compete in The King of The Ring tournament.

 

 

During the Summer some of our Coaches took the opportunity to attend a seminar

with Frank Gilfeather, an ex-amateur champion from Scotland, who now works with Coaches and Boxers alike in order to help them grow and develop their skills.

Frank shared some of his years of experience and knowledge with the coaches who can now pass this on to our Boxers.

 

At the start of the season we have had a few coaching changes -

Coach Jon has stepped down from his role at HABC to spend more time with his young family. Jon has been coaching with us for a number of years and committed many, many hours, so he leaves with many thanks and much appreciation for his time and energy. Coach Roy has transferred to HABC to  lead the coaching team and develop our new coaches. We welcome ‘Big Steve’ who has recently qualified as a Level 1 coach but brings years of high level Amateur and Professional experience and Zaki who aspires to become a coach and is learning the ropes with us at Camden.

 

We thank all our Coaches at both clubs for giving up their time week in, week out to work with our Boxers in training and taking them out to sparring and shows. The Coaches love working with our Boxers and thank them for their time and energy.

 

 

HABC continues it’s outreach work with In Your Corner as ‘Fight Connect’ has returned to with two cohorts of young people.  In your Corner’s  12 week programme provides non-contact boxing and evidence-based psychology with a view to developing young people and giving them an opportunity to ultimately join our Junior squad.

Our Parkinson’s sessions have gone from strength to strength and we have added an extra session to our timetable and we are  opening our doors to non-members in our Wednesday Junior sessions until Christmas.

We also continue to work with Camden Giving and building on the success of our previous projects some of our participants have received personal hygiene, sanitary, laundry and cleaning products. Our Junior members have been learning about eating healthily on a budget and look forward to an interactive nutrition workshop later this month.

 

(Penned by Coach Roy)