GO BOXING

Summer 2008

The Amateur
Boxing Association’s
women’s and girls’
boxing newsletter

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 Amanda
Coulson in Turkey’s Ahmet Comert Cup, and new opportunities for girls wanting to try boxing at school, these
are exciting times for women’s and girls’ boxing led by the Amateur Boxing Association’s development team.
Welcome to the first edition of the Amateur This newsletter is for all of the boxing
Boxing Association of England’s women’s and community to share stories related to the
girls’ boxing newsletter. The newsletter will be development of women’s boxing. Please send
produced quarterly and available stories through to us to continue to share.
electronically to keep you informed and help Women’s and girls boxing is set to develop
to raise the profile of the sport. and grow with Box Camps, regular England
Women’s and girls’ boxing is booming, and is Training Camps, more regional squads and
beginning to gain the publicity it deserves. the highlight of 2008, the Third Women’s
There are now more than 500 women and European Union Boxing Championships to be
girls competing in England, with many more held in Liverpool in August. See page 5 for
training at gyms and in schools the length and details and how to obtain tickets, and contact
breadth of the country. the ABAE office for details of the exciting
Recently women and girls’ boxing has group packages available.
featured on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, BBC Also, see the ABAE website at
South East Inside Out, and in many local www.abae.org.uk for further information on all
newspapers. The Royal Academy for aspects of the sport.
Dramatic Art (RADA) has also produced a play The Amateur Boxing Association of England
English Institute of Sport - Sheffield
for the stage to be shown on 5, 8, and 10 July GET INVOLVED!
Coleridge Road
at the Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre, London Sheffield
called “Boxergirl”, which explores the debate Rebecca Black S9 5DA
regarding girls boxing, focusing on a group of Women’s Boxing Development Manager
girls in Afghanistan. rebecca.black@abae.co.uk www.abae.org.uk

[1]

2008 National Women’s ABA
THE ACTION . . .
Championships
The Female Commission organised
the National ABA Championships for
2008. The championships saw an
overwhelming increase in entries,
illustrating the dramatic growth in
boxing for women and girls. This
year there were 101 entries
compared with 69 last year. This
dramatic growth caused a few
logistical problems and a semi finals
event was included at the last
minute hosted kindly by the Midland
Counties. Many aspects have been
reviewed regarding this year’s event
to ensure that we 2009 provides for
further anticipated growth and
development. We thank everyone
involved for their patience and look
forward to next year.
The finals were held on Saturday
21st June at Maida Gym in
Aldershot, hosted by the Army
Boxing Association who did a
fantastic job and our thanks go out
to them. The atmosphere was
buzzing with nerves and anticipation
before the contests begun and
excitement and thrill during the 20
bouts. The boxers showed their
boxing skill, athleticism and the hard
training that had been done leading
up to the event.
. . . from Aldershot
The Army’s Maida Gym in
Aldershot was the scene of
some of the best women’s
boxing ever seen in
England, as you can see
from the shots on this
page. Next year’s event
should be even bigger and
better, with the number of
female boxers increasing
fast, and the standard
rising as a consequence.
[2]
RESULTS (winners in bold)
Junior (1992) Class A Finals
48kg B. Mitchell (Unity) retired v N. Nesbitt
(Horsley Hill)
Junior (1991) Class B Finals
50kg Shakira Ley (Waltham Forest) v Chloe
Fairhead (Sheerness) – 10-8
54kg T. Anthony (Chadd) v L. Hilson
(Burngreave) outclassed
57kg S. Seager Strood (Sth Cts) v C.
Weallans (Newbiggin) outclassed
60kg C. Walker (Handsworth Police) v L.
Wilson (Knowsley Vale) 20-8
70kg S. Marshall (Hartlepool Headland) v J
Brierley (Chadd) retired
Senior Class A Finals
52kg Sharon Holford (Handsworth Police) v
Tina O'Dell (Birmingham City) 5-3
60kg Anna Cousins (Marsh Lane) v Rebecca
Donnelly (Gravesham) 6-4
63kg Fiona Hayes (St Albans) v Natasha
Jonas (Rotunda) outclassed
Senior Class B Finals
57kg Hayley Webb (Met Police) v Tina Evans
(Army) 14-3
60kg Katie Bulmer (St Pauls) v S. Hemmings
(Tamworth) 7-2
66kg S. Hemsley (One Nation) v G. Hampson
(Tamworth)
70kg S. Batty (Newdigate) v Kaleen Love
(Oxford University) 13-2
48kg S. Brazell (Hartlepool Catholic) v P.
Dhanecha (Brunel Univ) 18-5
54kg Nina Smith (Chaddwell & Corringham)
v C. Shield (Lawrence) 2-0
57kg C. Brown (Hamer) v C. Dent (East
Durham) 4-1
60kg Ratcliffe (Army) v J. Mellor (1st Class)
5-4
63kg J. Johnson (Oxford Univ) v L. Gibbons
(Natbridge) 16-4
66kg R. Murray (Birmingham City) v Kane
(CSBA) 8-1
70kg C. Todd (Hanwell) v G. Green (Solihull)
25-7
80kg L. Morgan (St Aloysius) v L. Perryman
(Empire) 9-4

The Development of Women’s and
Girls’ Boxing
In 1996 the Amateur Boxing
Association of England (ABAE) voted
to lift the 116-year ban against
women boxing. Since then Amateur
Boxing has developed to have 508
registered female boxers (2007/08
season). There is also the potential for
Positive publicity including
inclusion of Women’s Boxing in the
Olympic programme for 2012 or
2016.
The ABAE has demonstrated their
commitment to developing boxing for
women and girls by appointing the
first National Women’s Boxing
Development Manager in February
2008 – that’s me, Rebecca Black.
Since starting, I have been travelling
round the Country establishing what
is happening, and looking at what
needs to be developed. A study
report has been completed into the
barriers and potential development
solutions for women and girls to start
boxing and progress in Boxing. A
copy of this study report is available
through the ABAE website or by
requesting a copy by e-mail (see
contact details below). It is clear that
much needs to be developed for the
sport to be ready for further growth,
however there are also pockets of
good practice, including clubs and
coaches that are doing some
fantastic work and regional squads
that are growing and developing.
The study report has helped to
establish a 5-year strategy to provide
the required level of vision and
direction and to ensure that boxing as
a whole works towards a shared goal
of being a world class provider of
boxing for women and girls. The
National Women and Girls’ Boxing
Development Strategy 2008 – 2013 is
currently in its consultation stage and
will be fully launched in July. The
three main objectives set out in the
strategy are:
a) Grow: To increase
participation of women and
girls at the foundation layer
of participation defined as
club and recreational level
by 15% each year to
achieve 1000 registered
female boxers in 2013.
b) Sustain: To sustain the
involvement of women and
girls in Boxing through an
effective Boxing
infrastructure and quality
experience.
c) Excel: To enable women
and girls to fulfil their
potential through an
effective competitive
structure and talent
development process that
leads England to have
international success.
Many people have fed into this
strategy and I hope that more
comment on the document during the
consultation stage. Your views are
important. Action plans, further
partnership working and projects will
follow.
Contact me – Rebecca Black,
National Women’s Boxing
Development Manager on
07515333044 or
rebecca.black@abae.co.uk
Beacon Women’s and Girls’ Clubs -
We Need You!
We fully appreciate that not all boxing
clubs are set up or prepared to coach
women and girls – although this is our
long term goal. In the short term we
are looking to actively promote
Amateur Boxing Clubs that want to
develop and demonstrate best
practice in boxing for women and
girls. If your club would like to be
promoted in such a way PLEASE get
in touch with Rebecca Black. Your
club will then be promoted via the
female section of the ABAE website,
in the next edition of this newsletter,
in links with development projects
and when women and girls contact
the ABAE office wanting to start
boxing.
[3]
Rebecca is also looking to identify
clubs to work with on creating
Beacon Clubs for women and girls’
boxing. These Beacon Clubs will
demonstrate that they are female
friendly. Being female friendly
includes elements on the following
factors:
i)
images of women boxing.
Distributing posters and leaflets
in outlets that are female
focused e.g. girls’ schools,
women’s centres, guides and
brownies.
ii) Positive images within the
boxing environment and
recognition of the successes of
women boxers.
iii) Weekly female only sessions or
an introductory female course of
so many weeks
iv) Mixed gender sessions where
appropriate
v) Female chaperones and
supervisors within the boxing
environment
vi) Female coach(s)
vii) Female changing and toilet
facilities
viii) Information readily available
including other opportunities,
welfare officer, grants and safety
equipment
ix) Link with other clubs for female
sparring sessions regularly
x) Match making to enable women
to compete and develop
Good Practice Examples
We’re looking to promote examples of
good practice, including projects.
Please let us know your stories and
we will help you promote them. Email
rebecca.black@abae.co.uk or contact
the ABAE office in Sheffield at the
address on page four.
BOXING IN SCHOOLS
Women’s and girls’ boxing from around the
regions.
Boxing Development in Schools
In recent weeks Mark Mutch, Facility and
Sports Programme Manager at Levenshulme
High School Community Sports Centre has
been working with Kevin Williams the Boxing
Development Officer for Manchester. This has
led to the successful outcome of new
opportunities for women in the local
community and pupils at the all girls’ school.
Women only aerobic and boxercise classes are
held in the early evening for members of the
local community. Non-contact boxing sessions
for 8-12 yr olds and 13-17 yr olds have been
running for the past 6 months!
They are also starting a new mixed boxercise
session on Monday the 7th July and also a
mixed boxing session on Wednesday 2 July
with a fully qualified boxing coach. In
September there are plans for an after school
club just for the girls in different age groups
and a session for 5 - 7 yr olds as a school
extra club both taught by a female coach.
With opportunities like this, it will be exciting to
see new talented female boxers for the future.
Female Coach’s Success in
Sheffield Schools
Unity ABC coach Val Baguley has been
coaching girls-only and mixed groups at Firs
Hill Primary School and Fir Vale Secondary
School over the 2007-2008 academic year. The
longest running of these sessions was a girls-
only after school class, which was demanded
by the girls themselves after taster sessions at
a “Girls’ Teen Fitness Conference”. And the
twelve Firs Hill Primary pupils who took the
ABAE Preliminary Award will receive their
certificates on Tuesday 8th July. Well done to
Val and all her students.
Useful contact
information:
Boxing Development Officers (BDOs):
Sheffield - Paul Porter (Newsletter Editor)
paul.porter@abae.org.uk
Birmingham - Phil Brennan -
philip.brennan@birmingham.gov.uk
Manchester - Kevin Williams -
k.williams2@manchester.gov.uk
Tyne Tees & Wear - Rose Fraser -
rose.fraser@edhcc.ac.uk
3rd Women’s European
Union Championships -
School / Youth Package
The Amateur Boxing
Bring
Association of England
would like to invite your your school or
school / youth youth group to the
organisation to be part of Women’s EU
an exciting opportunity as Championships in
part of the Women?s
Liverpool
European Union rebecca.black@abae.co.uk to
Championships advertised within discuss availability as soon as
this newsletter. We are keen to engage with possible.
schools and youth organizations as part of the
Girls gain goals and box!
event. Schools / youth organisations that Rebecca Black recently visited a fantastic
register can access all or part of the following example of good practice in London. Rebecca
package: Donnelly, London Active Communities
• Come and watch world class women’s Programme Manager, provided a package of
boxing. Purchase 10 tickets or more and Goal Setting Motivational Workshops and
receive 2 free tickets. boxing taster sessions at schools in London
• Lessons plans that can be utilised in PSHE / with a focus on girls schools in the area. Richie
PE or social education focused on women in Woodhall, who amongst his achievements
sport. gained Commonwealth Gold and a World
• A chance to meet one of the England Professional Title, inspired the girls with his
Women Boxing Team. experiences and achievements and then
• 1 free recreational non-contact boxing introduced them to the fun of boxing. The girls
coaching session for 30 minutes prior to the were fully engaged and many were asking
start of the competition for your group. about how they could do more boxing. London
The Benefits: Active Communities will now provide boxing as
• Educational development and raised part of enrichment activities within the schools
awareness of tackling inequality in sport in Autumn term.
• Raising aspirations and increasing
. . . and remember
participation
. . . if you want your news story to appear in
• A summer activity to engage young people this newsletter you just have to send it to
positively
Rebecca Black or Paul Porter at the addresses
To register your interest, please contact
below, preferably with good quality photos. If
Rebecca Black, National Women’s Boxing
we haven’t got it we can’t include it!
Development Manager on 07515333044 or
Newham - Carl Barton -
carl.barton@newham.gov.uk GO BOXING
Western Counties - Roger Eady -
Rebecca Black
roger.eady@btinternet.com
Bolton - Mark Liptrot - Women’s Development
mark.liptrot@bolton.gov.uk Manager
Liverpool - Damian Ridpath - ABAE
damian.ridpath@liverpool.gov.uk EIS - Sheffield
Rebecca Donnelly - London Active
Coleridge Road
Communities -
Sheffield S9 5DA
rebecca@activecommunities.org.uk
rebecca.black@abae.co.uk
[4]
 !"#$%#&'()*+,-./0//0123245//06(06//'*78/0

August

GO BOXING 2008
Monday 4th - Saturday 9th August, 2008
The Greenbank Sports Academy, Liverpool

Tickets: Available from Friday 13th June

Prices: Monday – Friday: £5 per session (£2 under 16s)
Finals: £10, (£4 under 16s)

Tickets available from:

Everton Park Sports Centre: 0151 233 6336
ABAE head office: 0114 223 5654

STOP PRESS . . .
Ireland’s Katie Taylor, probably the greatest female amateur boxer of
all time and current World Champion, has confirmed that she will be
taking part in the Women’s EU Championships.

Come and see the seventeen countries taking part, including a very
strong home team, with the most English representatives ever in an
international championships.

[5]