By Ron Lane
It is that time of the year again for our local amateur boxing fraternity. For the ninth year in a row the Impact Amateur Boxing Academy of Cooroy will once again host the annual Young Guns Amateur Boxing Tournament.
The tournament, which will be held this Saturday at the local Noosa District State High School Cooroy, will commence at 3.30pm.
With clubs coming from as far away as Victoria, a good night of boxing is assured.
This tournament – which has for the last six years been known as the Young Guns – has been for several of our young athletes a launch pad for their careers.
Under the control of Impact Club owner and head coach Mark Evans, last year’s was rated as one of the best.
Not only have fighters such as Ella Boot gone on to bigger things, but Evans himself, President of Boxing Queensland, continues to move up the ladder of success as a coach.
This year for example, Ella boxing as a 17-year-old, represented Australia at the Youth Commonwealth Games in the Bahamas and came home with the Gold Medal.
Coaching in sport is like the priesthood, many feel the calling but very few are chosen for success.
However in the case of Evans, he will in November – after having being officially named an Australian boxing coach – be one of the officials to take a team of seven young women to India to fight in the Women’s Youth World Championships.
Not only has he been appointed to this respected position but he will also have two of his young ladies from the Impact club – Ella Boot and Indianna Heibloiem – as members of the team.
In preparation for India, Evans has recently returned from a week training camp held at the AIS in Canberra, then on arriving home immediately commenced preparation for the Young Guns Saturday tournament.
For many of the elite boxers it will be their last before travelling to Sydney to box in the National titles. These titles will be held during the first week of November and will also be the selection events for the Commonwealth Games.
Representing the Impact Academy at the Nationals will be Taylah Robinson, Luke Martin, Tyler Blizzard and Bryce Hegarty. We wish them well.
After spending some fifteen years as a coach Evans’ dedication, hard work and sacrifice has this year really paid dividends.
He has attended two World Titles and an Oceanic Selection Tournament as an official coach and has also seen his Impact Boxing Academy rated as the most successful amateur boxing club in Australia.
But perhaps two of the most pleasing aspects of this club are the good conduct of all members, be they representing their club, state or country; and the fact that Mark Evans will always acknowledge the work of parents and support group.
Without the latter things would indeed be very difficult.
