By RON LANE
TO say that the last three weeks for our local boxing fraternity have been busy would be right on. It all started with a visit to Brisbane where fighters took part in an amateur boxing tournament at Griffith University. Both our local clubs Noosa Box Office (N.B.O.) and Impact Boxing Academy Cooroy were represented. For N.B.O it was a case of five fights for four wins and for Impact it was four for four wins.
Back training in their respective gyms the following Tuesday night it was training as usual. For N.B.O coach and owner Israel Kani, Tuesday night is always busy with plenty of heavy sparring. With two rings working at one time and a huge floor mat where up to six sparing sessions are underway, it’s full on.
“It’s busy tonight,” said Israel, “but this is not all. A couple of my team have gone up to Cooroy to have some good sparing sessions at the Impact Academy. Mark Evans coach at Impact and I are good friends, so the interchange of fighters for training sessions is a common occurrence. It is great for both our squads-a win win situation.”
When things get busy at N.B.O. Israel’s mate and off sider, 75-year “young” retired ex pug from East London Bobby Exir, will step in to help whereever.
“I had heart surgery some time ago, but now I am raring to go.” As we walked around the gym he points to different lads and gives a good run down on their capabilities. “This one is hot,” he said pointing to Jackson King, “he is just about ready to turn pro.”
Up on the edge of the ring leaning over the top rope, Israel calls advice to a couple of young hopefuls. Up two flights of stairs, one on either side of the gym that lead to an internal balcony, fighters are running during a break between bag work.
The magnificent work of Israel and his team to set up this gym, has given Noosa what must be one of the best training facilities in the state.
At Cooroys Impact Boxing Academy coach/owner Mark Evans is catching up with his support team to check on the situation.
“I have just returned from a five-day high performance training camp at the A.I.S in Canberra,” he said
“While I was away our team fought in the Queensland Novice Titles and the results were good. These results have given our new fighters a lot of self-confidence and this is vital as they learn to believe in themselves.”
The National Youth Development Camp Canberra, was for the purpose of providing all aspects of advanced training for members of the Australian National Youth Team. The aim is to represent their country at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018, then the next step, the biggest goal of all, the Olympic Games- Tokyo 2020.
The selection for this elite group was based on results at the BAL (Boxing Australia) National Titles and /or recommendations of the BAL selection panel.
The camp catered for a team of 16 fighters, six of whom came from Qld and of those, three, Sam Cameron-Hands, Bailey Seabourne and Tyler Blizzard were from the Impact Boxing Academy Cooroy.
While in camp the team worked under the supervision of four coaches, two from NSW, one each from Vic and Qld; with the Qld coach being Impacts Mark Evans.
Add to this our Tyler Blizzard was appointed team captain and as such he was responsible for team organisation. He did an outstanding job.
“The training was full on,” said Mark, “three sessions a day and these were followed by power presentations. The power presentations revolve around all aspects of the sport; things of which in the bygone era were never discussed.”
Among the topics discussed were proper nutrition for athletes pre and post competition; education on the proper fuel for the body during training and recovery. Also an anti-doping education session as well as coach/athlete relationships were addressed. Perhaps, one of the most important of all topics sport psychology, the mental attitude to lead up and the after effects following a major tournament, was also discussed.”
In the words of head coach for Boxing Australia, Anthony Redward, who presided over the camp, “These presentations are a vital part of athletic education and form the basis for elite athletes learning about what is expected of them. It was very encouraging to have very experienced sports people delivering on both an executive and coaching level.”
With state-of-the-art training camps, plus two modern gymnasiums and two such competent coaches as Israel Kani and Mark Evans, the outstanding successes achieved so far by local fighters at State, National and International level are sure to continue.
