By Ron Lane
This Saturday evening, 18 November, at the Noosa Leisure Centre on Wallace Drive the bell will ring at 6.30pm to start yet another night of charity boxing – the Contender of the Codes.
Athletes from the various football clubs will climb into the ring to show their ability.
All bouts will be fought under amateur rules and will be controlled by referee Israel Kani. Kani a former professional National champion and now owner/coach of the NBO Gymnasium has performed these duties for several years.
Apart from his duties as referee, he has also taken the time to give coaching hints to these young boxers/footballers, thus enabling them – in the words of promoter Butch Smith – “to experience what it is like to box in a controlled environment.”
This event – which came into being in 2010 – is for the purpose of raising funds for the various football codes. The code whose fighters come out on top will be the recipient of the Mick Hamilton Sporting Community Shield and the fighter of the night will receive the Brad McLean Medal.
Tickets will be available at the door.
Events such as these succeed because of the outstanding contribution of sponsors (Noosa Today) and volunteer workers.
Two of the major workers are without a doubt the promoter Butch Smith and referee/coach Israel Kani. Both men should be applauded.
For Butch it is threefold; for many years it has not just been charity boxing but also his work as an age manager in the Noosa Nippers, plus junior coaching and administrator with the Noosa Tigers AFL.
For Israel his boxing coaching for males and females plus fitness classes have been a great input into the sporting fraternity of our community.
Proud to say they are our people.
When the seven members of the Australian Youth Female Amateur Boxing team board this Thursday’s flight to India, their mission will be to represent their country at the world championships.
Of the seven member team, three are from Queensland and of these two will be from the little tin shed nestled amongst the trees out the back of Cooroy known as the Impact Boxing Academy.
The two young girls Ella Boot and Indianna Heibloem won’t be the only Impact club members on that flight.
Sitting next to them will be coach/owner Mark Evans who on this occasion is there as the official Assistant Coach of the Australian Boxing squad.
For all team members – including the assistant coach – this will be their first trip to India and as the tournament is the world championships they know it is going to be very tough.
“The standard of amateur boxing in India is high, very high,” Evans said, “add to this the fact that fighters from all other countries are national champions and you will understand that this will definitely be the world championship. If members of our team can come home with medals it will be a fantastic effort.’’
The recent Bahamas Youth Commonwealth Games saw both girls represent their country, with Boot fighting through to win the gold medal. This performance – plus other wins on the European circuit earlier in the year – are an indication that she could be in medal contention. But like I said this is the big one – so who knows.”
The other good news for the Impact club is that Taylah Robertson’s win in the Australian titles has not only earned her selection for the Commonwealth Games, but also earned her a place in the national team for the Elite Women’s World Championships to be held in 2018.
This has certainly capped off a great year for all involved in Cooroy’s Impact Boxing Academy.
