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The Amateur Boxing Association of EnglandEnglish Institute of Sport - SheffieldColeridge RoadSheffieldS9 5DA www.abae.org.uk
Summer 2008
WOMEN’S AND GIRLS’ BOXING IN ENGLAND HITS NEW HEIGHTS ...
With a record number of entries for this year’s National ABA Women’s Championships, silver for AmandaCoulson in Turkey’s Ahmet Comert Cup, andnew opportunities for girls wanting to try boxing at school, theseare exciting times for women’s and girls’ boxing led by the Amateur Boxing Association’s development team.
Welcome to the first edition of the AmateurBoxing Association of England’s women’s andgirls’ boxing newsletter. The newsletter will beproduced quarterly and availableelectronically to keep you informed and helpto raise the profile of the sport.Women’s and girls’ boxing is booming, and isbeginning to gain the publicity it deserves.There are now more than 500 women andgirls competing in England, with many moretraining at gyms and in schools the length andbreadth of the country.Recently women and girls’ boxing hasfeatured on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, BBCSouth East Inside Out, and in many localnewspapers. The Royal Academy forDramatic Art (RADA) has also produced a playfor the stage to be shown on 5, 8, and 10 Julyat the Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre, Londoncalled “Boxergirl”, which explores the debateregarding girls boxing, focusing on a group ofgirls in Afghanistan.This newsletter is for all of the boxingcommunity to share stories related to thedevelopment of women’s boxing. Please sendstories through to us to continue to share.Women’s and girls boxing is set to developand grow with Box Camps, regular EnglandTraining Camps, more regional squads andthe highlight of 2008, the Third Women’sEuropean Union Boxing Championships to beheld in Liverpool in August. See page 5 fordetails and how to obtain tickets, and contactthe ABAEoffice for details ofthe excitinggroup packages available. Also, see the ABAE website atwww.abae.org.ukfor further information on allaspects of the sport.
GET INVOLVED!
Rebecca BlackWomen’s Boxing Development Managerrebecca.black@abae.co.uk
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2008 National Women’s ABAChampionships
The Female Commission organisedthe National ABA Championships for2008. The championships saw anoverwhelming increase in entries,illustrating the dramatic growth inboxing for women and girls. Thisyear there were 101 entriescompared with 69 last year. Thisdramatic growth caused a fewlogistical problems and a semi finalsevent was included at the lastminute hosted kindly by the MidlandCounties. Many aspects have beenreviewed regarding this year’s eventto ensure that we 2009 provides forfurther anticipated growth anddevelopment. We thank everyoneinvolved for their patience and lookforward to next year.The finals were held on Saturday21
st
June at Maida Gym in Aldershot, hosted by the ArmyBoxing Association who did afantastic job and our thanks go outto them. The atmosphere wasbuzzing with nerves and anticipationbefore the contests begun andexcitement and thrill during the 20bouts. The boxers showed theirboxing skill, athleticism and the hardtraining that had been done leadingup to the event.RESULTS (winners in bold)Junior (1992) Class A Finals48kg B. Mitchell (Unity) retired v
N. Nesbitt(Horsley Hill)
Junior (1991) Class B Finals50kg
Shakira Ley (Waltham Forest)
v ChloeFairhead (Sheerness) – 10-854kg
T. Anthony (Chadd)
v L. Hilson(Burngreave) outclassed57kg S. Seager Strood (Sth Cts) v
C.Weallans (Newbiggin)
outclassed60kg C. Walker (Handsworth Police) v
L.Wilson (Knowsley Vale)
20-870kg
S. Marshall (Hartlepool Headland)
v JBrierley (Chadd) retiredSenior Class A Finals52kg
Sharon Holford (Handsworth Police)
vTina O'Dell (Birmingham City) 5-360kg
Anna Cousins (Marsh Lane)
v RebeccaDonnelly (Gravesham) 6-463kg Fiona Hayes (St Albans) v
NatashaJonas (Rotunda)
outclassedSenior Class B Finals57kg
Hayley Webb (Met Police)
v Tina Evans(Army) 14-360kg
Katie Bulmer (St Pauls)
v S. Hemmings(Tamworth) 7-266kg
S. Hemsley (One Nation)
v G. Hampson(Tamworth)70kg
S. Batty (Newdigate)
v Kaleen Love(Oxford University) 13-248kg S. Brazell (Hartlepool Catholic) v
P.Dhanecha (Brunel Univ)
18-554kg
Nina Smith (Chaddwell & Corringham)
v C. Shield (Lawrence) 2-057kg C. Brown (Hamer) v
C. Dent (EastDurham)
4-160kg Ratcliffe (Army) v
J. Mellor (1st Class)
5-463kg
J. Johnson (Oxford Univ)
v L. Gibbons(Natbridge) 16-466kg R. Murray (Birmingham City) v
Kane(CSBA)
8-170kg
C. Todd (Hanwell)
v G. Green (Solihull)25-780kg
L. Morgan (St Aloysius)
v L. Perryman(Empire) 9-4
THE ACTION . . .
. . . from Aldershot
The Army’s Maida Gym in Aldershot was the scene ofsome of the best women’sboxing ever seen inEngland, as you can seefrom the shots on thispage. Next year’s eventshould be even bigger andbetter, with the number offemale boxers increasingfast, and the standardrising as a consequence.
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The Development of Women’s andGirls’ Boxing
In 1996 the Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) votedto lift the 116-year ban againstwomen boxing. Since then AmateurBoxing has developed to have 508registered female boxers (2007/08season). There is also the potential forinclusion of Women’s Boxing in theOlympic programme for 2012 or2016.The ABAE has demonstrated theircommitment to developing boxing forwomen and girls by appointing thefirst National Women’s BoxingDevelopment Manager in February2008 – that’s me, Rebecca Black.Since starting, I have been travellinground the Country establishing whatis happening, and looking at whatneeds to be developed. A studyreport has been completed into thebarriers and potential developmentsolutions for women and girls to startboxing and progress in Boxing. A copy of this study report is availablethrough the ABAE website or byrequesting a copy by e-mail (seecontact details below). It is clear thatmuch needs to be developed for thesport to be ready for further growth,however there are also pockets ofgood practice, including clubs andcoaches that are doing somefantastic work and regional squadsthat are growing and developing.The study report has helped toestablish a 5-year strategy to providethe required level of vision anddirection and to ensure that boxing asa whole works towards a shared goalof being a world class provider ofboxing for women and girls. TheNational Women and Girls’ BoxingDevelopment Strategy 2008 – 2013 iscurrently in its consultation stage andwill be fully launched in July. Thethree main objectives set out in thestrategy are:a)
Grow: To increaseparticipation of women andgirls at the foundation layerof participation defined asclub and recreational levelby 15% each year toachieve 1000 registeredfemale boxers in 2013.b)
Sustain: To sustain theinvolvement of women andgirls in Boxing through aneffective Boxinginfrastructure and qualityexperience.c)
Excel: To enable womenand girls to fulfil theirpotential through aneffective competitivestructure and talentdevelopment process thatleads England to haveinternational success.Many people have fed into thisstrategy and I hope that morecomment on the document during theconsultation stage. Your views areimportant. Action plans, furtherpartnership working and projects willfollow.Contactme – Rebecca Black,National Women’s BoxingDevelopment Manager on07515333044 orrebecca.black@abae.co.uk
Beacon Women’s and Girls’ Clubs -We Need You!
We fully appreciate that not all boxingclubs are set up or prepared to coachwomen and girls – although this is ourlong term goal. In the short term weare looking to actively promote Amateur Boxing Clubs that want todevelop and demonstrate bestpractice in boxing for women andgirls. If your club would like to bepromoted in such a way PLEASE getin touch with Rebecca Black. Yourclub will then be promoted via thefemale section of the ABAE website,in the next edition of this newsletter,in links with development projectsand when women and girls contactthe ABAE office wanting to startboxing.Rebecca is also looking to identifyclubs to work with on creatingBeacon Clubs for women and girls’boxing. These Beacon Clubs willdemonstrate that they are femalefriendly. Being female friendlyincludes elements on the followingfactors:i)
Positive publicity includingimages of women boxing.Distributing posters and leafletsin outlets that are femalefocused e.g. girls’ schools,women’s centres, guides andbrownies.ii)
Positive images within theboxing environment andrecognition of the successes ofwomen boxers.iii)
Weekly female only sessions oran introductory female course ofso many weeksiv)
Mixed gender sessions whereappropriatev)
Female chaperones andsupervisors within the boxingenvironmentvi)
Female coach(s)vii)
Female changing and toiletfacilitiesviii)
Information
readily availableincluding other opportunities,welfare officer, grants and safetyequipmentix) Link with other clubs for femalesparring sessions regularlyx) Match making to enable womento compete and develop
Good Practice Examples
We’re looking to promote examples ofgood practice, including projects.Please let us know your stories andwe will help you promote them. Emailrebecca.black@abae.co.ukor contactthe ABAE office in Sheffield at theaddress on page four.
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