By RON LANE
FOR newly appointed Boxing Queensland president Mark Evans, last week was indeed a good indicator of just what lies ahead.
For Mark it all started with a quick trip on Friday night to Sandgate Bowls Club, where a team of six amateur boxers from his Impact Boxing Academy, in Cooroy, took part in a tournament.
This was followed by a quick trip back home three hours sleep, pack a bag, drive to Brisbane then board a flight for Canberra. However the mad rush was eased knowing that five of his team who had fought in Sandgate came home victorious.
The reason for the trip was to attend a two-day Members Association Forum organised and run by amateur boxing’s governing body, Boxing Australia. The purpose of the conference which was attended by all state presidents was to bring all delegates up to date on all aspects of the sport and to help create programs that will govern the future of the sport throughout the country.
It was also a great opportunity for all state presidents to meet and discuss their various ideas and problems. Several members spoke of their inability to run school boy age tournaments as they are struggling with membership in this category.
“For example, in the ACT they had a total of nine tournaments for the whole year, ” Mark said. “Whereas in Queensland we have on average four or five a month. As the conference progressed it became apparent that Queensland is indeed the leading state in the sport, and Boxing Australia was wrapt with the input from our state representatives.”
While this was underway Sam Cameron-Hands and Bailey Seabourne also from Impact Boxing Academy, were attending an AIS training camp in Canberra – side by side with the Philippines Youth National Team and members of the Elite Australian Boxing Squad.
During the conference, Mark spoke with Kevin Smith – Australia’s head coach – and was informed that both boys were being watched as potential members to represent Australia at both the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018 and the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Other members of Impact are also on the short list to represent in Poland in May and Ireland in September. Also another international tournament on the program is the World Youth Championships to be contested in St Petersburg, Russia, in October.
Closer to home the Australian Titles will be contested at Picnic Point, on the Gold Coast, starting on 11 May through to 15 May.
With the outstanding potential now being shown by our local amateur boxers to represent at international level, now is the time for sponsorship deals supporting these athletes to be sought.
The Canberra conference, training camps and attendance at international tournaments all come under the umbrella of a very positive five-year plan, aimed at bringing Australia in line with other countries.
