As the newly appointed Performance Director for WABA I wanted to use this blog to introduce myself to the boxing community in Wales and use it going forward to keep you all up to date with what I’m up to.
Boxing is a sport that I have always admired and love to watch, and the chance to work in Wales, where I have been living for nearly 10 years was too good to miss! I think it’s a great time for sport in Wales and amateur boxing really has the chance to make its mark at the 2012 Olympics and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. WABA already has a history of success and that is something I want to build on over the coming years.
A little bit about me; I’m originally from North Yorkshire, yes a Yorkshire-man (someone has to be!) My sporting life was all around Rugby Union, I started playing at 11 years of age and progressed reasonably well, representing Yorkshire and England at youth levels whilst playing in the premiership for Leeds Tykes until a nasty ankle injury resulted in a far shorter career than I hoped for! I then started working in top level sport. I began by running one of the largest TASS Scholarship schemes in the UK at the University of Bath, working with athletes from a number of sports including: Judo, Rugby and Bob Skeleton. I then moved into Welsh Athletics setting up various Talent Development programmes and most recently working with the Paralympic Sport, Wheelchair Rugby, to set up their performance structures for success at 2012 and 2016.
My first week in the role has been pretty hectic; I’ve been setting up the new boxing office at the Sport Wales National Centre which will be a fantastic base for WABA, especially with the Performance Centre on site. We really have a presence here now. I then travelled to Baku on Wednesday for the latter stages of the World Championships. I had the pleasure of watching some fantastic performances: Andrew Selby winning a silver medal in a bout that was too close to call and Fred Evans gaining Olympic qualification; a fantastic result for Wales and GB. Congratulations must go to the their clubs, Splott and St Josephs ABC.
The next few weeks back in Wales will be just as busy, I’m really keen to visit some of the clubs throughout Wales to gain more of an understanding of your needs and how we can improve performances at all levels. I have already booked in visits to a number of clubs including:
- Prince of Wales ABC (Cardiff)
- Premier ABC (Swansea)
- Splott Adventurer ABC (Cardiff)
- Red Dragon ABC (Holyhead)
- Deva Boxing Academy (Saltney/Chester)
The interviews for the National Coach position will take place over the next week and it will be a really important appointment for the future of the WABA. We then have a number of important competitions on the horizon:
- The Womens European Championships in Rotterdam take place between 17th – 23rd October and will provide a real test for the four selected boxers (Lyndsey Holdaway, Rebecca Price, Charlene Jones and Lauren Price)
- The GB Championships will be taking place at York Hall in London on 11th & 12th November, so please keep an eye out for the team selection announcement and get down to London to cheer on our boxers!
I will then be looking to identify the talented boxers we have in Wales that can become successful on the international stage, through a series of assessment camps, further information will be sent out soon. I will be working closely with GB Boxing to make sure our talented boxers have the opportunity to progress onto the Olympic programme as they hold a number of assessment days in November too.
I’m also keen to see how other successful performance programmes in Wales work, so I will be visiting the Welsh Cycling performance programme at the Newport Velodrome and the Swim Wales programme in Swansea. They both have excellent records of Commonwealth success and also feeding athletes into the GB programmes, so I want to see what works well, what doesn’t and what can work for boxing.
Thanks for taking the time to read, I’d love to hear from you so please do leave a comment below and I will post an update over the next couple of weeks.
James
GOOD BLOG,
SOUNDS LIKE THINGS ARE MOVING ON NICLEY WILL YOU BE VISITING ALL THE GYMS
IN WALES IF SO WE WOULD BE EXTREMLEY PLEASED TO SEE YOU IN CARDIGAN BOXING
CLUB, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
ALL THE BEST FOR THE FUTURE FROM CARDIGAN BOXING CLUB
JENNY BAKER
Hi Jenny,
thanks for leaving a reply and I am glad you like the blog. I would be delighted to come over to Cardigan, I will look at my diary and get in touch over the next few days.
Best wishes,
James
hi james
any coaching courses soon? i’m based in cardiff and used to box out of the stables abc
thanks
owain
Hi Owain, thanks for leaving a comment. I will make sure any news about new coaching courses will be published and sent out to all the regions ASAP.
Thanks,
James
Hi James
I am moving to Cardiff, and I would like to train boxing. Do you know any gym for beginners? I am 28 years old, so I won’t train to compete, only because i love this sport.
Thanks,
Antonio.
Hi Antonio, I will send you a list of all the clubs in South Wales and you can work out where is best for you to go. Thanks for getting in touch.
James
Hi liked ur blog! Was just wondering if there is any law on pro’s and amatures training in the same gym?? is there any coaching courses in the north Wales area?? Also when are you booked at holyhead?? Thanks 🙂
Hi Stacey. Great to hear from you andg glad you liked the blog. I will be visiting Red Dragon ABC on 9th November, very much looking forward to it! I will make sure all the clubs are kept informed of the plans around coach education.
Thanks, James
any news on when yhe next coaching course will be held?
Great news ,its taken some time ,but I believe this is a massive step forward for welsh boxing
Thanks Dave. It was great to visit Deva on Monday evening and thank you to all for the warm welcome received. James
Hi we really need the dates for coaching at the moment there has been no body in place for a number of months without the coaching cert im only a personal trainer and not able to teach kids sparring please lay on some courses for us in North Wales.
Hi Neil. Thanks for getting in touch. Coach Education is very important and WABA will be looking at the system it has in place. WABA’s National Coach, Colin Jones, has contacted the Divisional Secretaries asking them to collate all the coaching course requests by the end of December. So send your details to your divisional secretary and we will keep you updated. James
Hi James
When are you going to be seeing the boxers from the various clubs or more to the point where will they be training in Wales? Good site for the youth boxers
Regards
Ginny
Hi Ginny,
great to hear from you. I’ve been on the road for most of October and November visiting 8 clubs across Wales to meet coaches and boxers whilst training.
As I speak we are completing the 2nd WABA Assessment Camp for youth and juniors, with the 3rd taking place on 17th December. So hopefully you can see we are certainly getting out and about!
I am conscious I haven’t met all of the coaches, so I will be getting in touch with all of the divisional secretaries to see if the divisions would be interested in a forum during January and February to meet with me.
Best regards,
James
hi james i`m a trainer for merthyr ex – servicemens a.b.c. and have been waiting over a year to go on a coaching course, i have chased various officals from our southern region for a while but nothing seems to be moving, this realy is an issue that has to be addressed sooner rather than later. thanks gareth.
Hi Gareth.
Thanks for getting in touch. I’ve asked all the divisional secretaries to compile a list of names who are interested in completing the next stage of coaching qualifications. They are hopefully sending me those names by the end of December. I have also been tasked with reviewing the new AIBA Coaching system to come up with a new framework for Wales, so I am hoping to have more news on the timelines for having that up and running in the new year.
Best regards,
James
hello james thanks very much for your reply and will send a copy of your reply to our head coad gareth donovan who will be very pleased with your answer.
.
many thanks:- gareth turley.
james i am keith jefferies coach for cwmbran abc and would like to put ryan llewellyn name forward for assessment 52kg date birth 23/5/92 he is a good pros
Hi Keith, thank you for this. I will be in touch soon. James
thanks and ahappy xmas and new year yours in sport keith.
Hi james i e-mailed carl pesticcio last night to include myself in the assistant coaching course taking place in february.
Many thanks- gareth turley merthyr ex a.b.c.
Well done James did you attend the boot camp at Llandudno on Sunday on the 4th? Happy to hear about what your doing, amazing work
Ginny
Hi Ginny, thank you. Yes I was in Llandudno on Saturday & Sunday. It was great to spend time with the boxers who showed a great deal of commitment as they were put through their paces over the weekend! Best regards, James
Hi James my son did attend and confirmed he saw you there, its great to know these youngsters are being looked after. I heard the whole event was exciting for them. Well done again and thank you
Ginny
any info available on coach education?
Hi how come Cardiff coaches camp is not available to all this really would benefit all coaches at any level the boxers i’m sure would love to help out people at grass roots.
And there’s no coaching assessments for how long.
No grass roots no olympic gold medals
Hi Neil. The AIBA Road to London Camp is being run by AIBA not the WABA. We have been given slots for Welsh coaches to attend and we intend to use those slots, which is why I have asked the divisions and clubs to put names forward. Colin & I will try to involve as many coaches as we can. Best regards. James
you and me know it all starts at amatuar boxing ? Everyone seems to be soo concerned about foobball and rugby.we have more world champions on the m4 corridor and anywhere else in the world . Dosnt that send alarm bells ringing ? My fathers gym has been fighting for a grant for 4 years to support a class gym and know finally they have been given the go but it is with rediclous conditions , im 21 and i speak to trainers and fighters who simply have had a guts full of the way they get treated by senior management , Lets be onest the amatuar scene needs a full referb if you ask me , How about a super gym with rings where clubs can train together spar each other work on each other , Then we will see true quality , We have to trval stupid miles for quality sparring . email me aaron_jones10@hotmail.co.uk
Hope we can speak thanks .
Aaron. Thanks for your comments, very much valued. I think the development of the sport is really important and that is a key area I am talking with coaches in the divisions about at the forums we are hosting. There are two more: 1) 28th February in Newport, and 2) 20th March in Llanelli. I hope you are able to come along.
Best regards. James