By Ron Lane
For Cooroy’s Impact Boxing Academy it is certainly a busy season. At the recent Australian Amateur Boxing Championships, held in Melbourne, the Queensland team, consisting of 17 athletes (11men and 6 women) was under the care of Mark Evans, owner/ coach of Impact Academy.
Travelling to the titles as Queensland Team Manager and Head Coach, Evans said, “It was a good tournament well organized and with good crowds. Our team came home with a total of 3 gold and 1 silver medal in the men’s section, and 2 gold and I silver in the women’s a total of 7 medals. For a tournament with such high standard, our results were fairly good.”
Apart from the medal tally in the team of 11 there were 5 from the Impact Club, the most ever from the one club to represent. Of these Ella Boot and Taylah Robinson made the finals, with Ella Boot winning the silver medal in the 55kg division. “For Ella it was a tough fight as she was up against the current Commonwealth Games gold medalist,” said Evans, “but she went well and just lost on a close decision.”
Taylah, boxing in the 51kg division, won the gold medal in a convincing fashion. Add to this at the completion of the tournament Taylah received the very prestigious Best Elite Female Boxer of the Tournament. “To win both the Australian Championship and the Best Elite Female Award is truly an outstanding effort,” said Coach Evans.
At 19 years of age Taylah is definitely an athlete to watch. To date she has won five Australian championships, a bronze at the recent Commonwealth Games and the gold at the Spanish International Tournament in Europe, where she boxed as a member of the Australian team.
Her next international will be (again as a member of the Australian team) the World Amateur Championships to be held in October this year in Ulan-Ude, Russia: on present form a medal at the Tokyo Olympics would not be beyond her capabilities.
The next major tournament for the Impact team will be in Auckland New Zealand July 6. Our team (7 male 3 female) will box against a team of select Kiwis. Amongst our girls is 14 year old Paige Robinson, who has a record of 17 fights for 14 wins. Despite her youth this will be her third International Tournament. We wish them well.
If anyone should stand up and take a bow in our local sporting community it would have to be the Dolphins Rugby Union Club. On July 10 during school holidays at Dolphin Oval, from 9am till 2pm, they will be running a Rookies 2 Reds rugby clinic, ‘’tailored towards the U7-U12 age group.’’ In a club document it states that the basic skills of passing, running and tackling will be covered with particular emphasis on tackling.
When watching the body contact codes it is quite apparent that (in some clubs) very little emphases is placed on teaching, ‘the art of the tackle,’ so to see it not only mentioned but also emphasised by the Dolphins is a step in the right direction. The health of players is of the utmost concern
At sign on they will receive a Reds pack (hat, ball, air pump) plus a family pass to watch the Reds in 2019-all for just $6o. Sign up online at www.rookies2reds.com.au
This Saturday at the Dolphin Oval will be a true festivity for the club. Not only will the Dolphins be playing Nudgee College and Caloundra, but they will also host a reunion of two of their great teams, the premiers of 1989 and 1999. Definitely an occasion to attend.
