Canberra Boxing Bulletin - Edition 33 - June 2003

Oceania Titles – Canberra boxers bring back 4 gold

The four ACT boxers on the Australian team to the Oceania Titles returned from Tahiti last month with a gold medal each. Congratulations to Gerard O’Mahony, Kirsteen Maclean, Claire Ghabrial and Karen O’Brien for fine performances, and to Don Abnett for his great work as an assistant coach with the Oceania team.

Two ACT boxers at WA Olympic Committee event

New boxing ring commissioned by PCYC Canberra

The 28 June tournament at the Tuggeranong PCYC will utilise a brand new boxing ring commissioned by the Canberra Police & Citizens Youth Club. The ring was partly funded by a grant from Sport & Recreation ACT, and was built by Tuggeranong Metal Centre Pty Ltd. Boxing ACT will utilise the new ring for future tournaments. We would like to thank Jack Pappas for his generosity in allowing us to use his boxing ring for the past two years, it has made a huge contribution to the success and growth of the amateur competition programme here in Canberra.

Our upcoming Canberra tournament dates

Weigh-in for the above shows is 12-2pm, medicals 4.30pm, boxing starts 6pm.

Please note the change of date for the September tournament – it is now a week later than originally planned, and is on a Sunday afternoon.

Weighin for the two Sunday afternoon shows is 10am-12pm

Upcoming NSW tournament dates

NSW Southern Districts tournaments coming up soon are on Saturday 21 June and Saturday 16 August, at Griffith Aquatic Centre. Glen’s Gym also have a show on at the Lemon Tree Passage Bowling Club on Saturday 2^nd August. The Southern Zone championships are on Sunday 31 August, at the Richmond Club, and ACT boxers are eligible to take part in these championships. COACHES: You must wear your Boxing ACT Coach badge when cornering a boxer here or interstate.

Next Level One Boxing Coaching Course

The next course for people wishing to be accredited as a boxing coach is on Sun 6 & Sun 13 July. Pre-enrolment using the official form and pre-payment two weeks in advance is mandatory, as we need to book suitable rooms and make copies of course manuals, videotapes, etc. Enrolment forms are available from our website http://boxingact.org.au or call 62921149 for a copy to be mailed or faxed to you. Enrolment forms should be received at our office by Monday 23rd June.

Invitation to strategic planning session

Boxing ACT will hold a planning afternoon on Saturday 12^th July to map out our priorities and objectives for 2004. All financial members are invited to take part, including boxers, coaches, and officials. The session will run from 1pm till about 4-5pm. Venue is the community meeting room upstairs of the Tuggeranong Police Station, on the corner of Soward Way and Anketell Streets, Greenway (opposite HomeWorld). Please call Tony on 6292 1149 to advise you’ll be attending.

Selection policy for the 2004 Australian Championships – have your say

The winners at next year’s Australian Championships (Adelaide, in March) will go to Samoa in April for the Oceania Titles; the Oceania winners will then become the representatives for the Olympic Games in Athens later in the year.

Therefore, the selection process for sending ACT boxers to the 2004 Australian Championships is potentially a selection for the Olympic Games, and must be conducted in a manner that meets the requirements of Boxing Australia and the Australian Olympic Committee. Boxing ACT is now required to decide on the formal selection mechanism for sending ACT boxers to next year’s Australian Championships, and to seek Boxing Australia’s approval of the policy.

The Board of Boxing ACT will determine the selection policy in the next few weeks. All financial members of Boxing ACT are invited to submit their opinions about the best selection process, including provisions for protests and appeals. We will have a discussion paper available by the time this newsletter is published, available on our website at http://boxingact.org.au (see the Documents/Policies page) or call us for a copy to be sent to you. Send your comments to us by email, fax or post no later than 14^th July. The Board will make a formal decision on 16 July.

Women’s boxing development classes – Saturdays 10am

Karen O'Brien (2003 Oceania gold medallist in 70kg division) is running women's boxing development classes at the Underground Boxing Gym at Determination Fitness, 45 Liardet St Weston (opposite McDonalds). Guest coaches will assist at various classes. Classes are on Saturday mornings at 10am. Contact the Gym on 6287 3707 for more info.

Latest research on amateur boxing and neuropsychological function

Canberra physician Mark Porter has recently completed a nine-year controlled study of amateur boxers to establish whether regular competition shows any evidence of brain damage.

The study used 20 randomly selected, actively competing, male amateur boxers, and twenty age-matched, socio-economic controls who were training in the same gyms but not sparring or boxing or involved in any full contact combat sport. The study was “blind”, that is the measurements conducted in a way that prevented observer bias from affecting the results. The boxers had to have competed in a minimum of 40 amateur bouts, still be actively competing, or in training for competition, be devoid of any history of cerebral injury (other than from boxing), alcohol dependence or abuse, drug abuse, exposure to organic solvents, positive psychiatric history, or history of major medical illness (e.g. epilepsy), and be at least 16 years old.

Participants were from amateur boxing clubs in Dublin, Ireland and measurements were taken at regular intervals between March 1992 and April 2001 (specifically March-June 1992, thence at 18 months, 4 years, 7 years and 9 years.) The boxers participated in amateur competition and sparring during this period, the control subjects did neither.

The results of this study indicate that there is no evidence of decreased neuropsychological test performance in the boxers over a period of nine years. In fact, there is evidence of a significantly better neuropsychological performance amongst the boxing group, compared to the controls. The results of this study should be published in one of the professional medical journals shortly.

Hepatitis B is a high risk in contact sports – protect yourself!

Around 1000 Australians die each year from the complications of hepatitis B. The virus is particularly contagious and can survive exposure outside the body for up to seven days. Even the tiniest spot of infected blood (0.00004ml) can cause infection to those not vaccinated against the disease.

It is estimated that only around 10 per cent of people aged between 15 and 30 have been vaccinated against hepatitis B. There are approximately 150,000 Australians chronically infected with hepatitis B virus who may infect others. Anyone engaging in sparring, plus all tournament boxers, coaches, judges, referees and ring-side officials, should be vaccinated against hepatitis B; to arrange your series of jabs, contact your doctor.

Kickboxing show at Italo-Australian Club

Planet Max are running a full-contact kickboxing show at the Italo-Australian Club in Forrest on Saturday 26 July. Start time is 7pm. This is the same venue we will be using for Boxing ACT’s August and September tournaments. The address is 78 Franklin Street, Forrest, near the corner of Dominion Circuit – just a few blocks from Manuka shops.

AussiePeople Athlete Registry – free online facility for athlete profiles

Give yourself some free publicity! Take a look at http://www.aussiepeople.com.au where boxers and others can submit their athlete profile & photo free of charge.