HMS Lancaster has become the first Royal Navy unit to complete the non contact boxing tutor awards. In all, 20 personnel have completed the Prelimary, Standard and Bronze awards.

Completing the awards in the Gulf was a battle in it’s self with lesson’s having to be cancelled due to boarding stations and clearing off the upper deck just as the lesson was getting started.

The team battled through and progressed to complete the bronze award before getting alongside in Dubai. LPT Daz Hoare said you should see them now they move so well and throw there punches with perfection. All 20 of the personnel taking part passed with flying colours.

CO Rory Bryan added they have shown a lot of dedication completing the courses and are looking very sharp.

LPT Daz Hoare said he hopes the team move onto the contact side of the awards when they get back to the UK and hopes some more coaches get qualified to take the awards so to help recruit more raw talent in and around the Royal Navy. It’s a great way to start and people who would have never put on a pair of gloves enjoy it so much they want to continue. We have a few in the group that want to go that one step further and actually go to a boxing club now and this will certainly improve the chances of RN boxing.

If as a team we can do it while on operations in the Gulf anyone can do it. For people out in Gibraltar look out for these awards happening as Daz is off there next.

HMS Lancaster better known as the Red Rose or should that now be The fighting Red Rose, are currently on operations in the Gulf. LPT Daz Hoare onboard is the Leading Physical Trainer, an ex boxer and qualified ABA boxing coach and Tutor.

In September last year Clubz as he is known was in contact with Q Shillingford to try and get the Non-Contact awards started onboard whilst deployed.

We had around 25-30 personnel come forward and were interested. With this clubz got to work and ordered there Non-Contact books. The ship sailed for the Gulf in October 2009. After transiting the Suez cannel and with warmer weather, lessons started during the lunch periods.
The first award started and completed was the prelimery award with some great results all personnel passing with flying colours. The awards have identified new people who would have never put on a pair of gloves in there lives. Some are taking part to keep fit, some to learn about boxing I have some that are so interested in boxing now they want to keep it going and want to go to a boxing club this they will do when they have completed all 3 non-contact awards and move onto the 3 contact awards.
I have a couple that I am so impressed with who have never boxed before that I am taking for extra pad work and have told them to get to there nearest boxing gym as they have some great potential and this is what part of these awards are about delivering at a grassroots level and identifying people with that kind of potential. On board the ship we have a mixed range of people taking part in the awards from the young AB upto the PO/CPO sea dogs and even a female officer of the watch who is extremely talented.

The ships Captain, CDR Bryan, was amazed by how much the team have come on when at the beginning it looked like they had two left feet but now they slide around and float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. The XO Lt Cdr Hammond was also surprised by how much they had advanced.

The team are currently coming to there assessment in the Standard award with just the Bronze left to do. Clubz said the awards will all be completed by the time I leave in Feb 2010. From here when the ship returns to the UK people who have taken part can then move onto the contact side. The awards are really good and get all kinds of people involved they learn the moves, health and fitness with diet all included. The Amateur Boxing Association are right behind the awards, and the awards also earn you accreditation points in the GSCE in boxing.

Clubz said I hope they continue with the three other awards and we get some other tutors in other ships and establishments I am moving to Gibraltar where I will be looking to get the awards started and take a group through all 6 with a boxing club available. Like Q says don’t think you can know you can.


D M HOARE
Leading Physical Trainer
HMS LANCASTER

A change of venue this year saw HMS DRAKE play host to the Navy Novice Boxing Championships 2009. A packed entry from the Royal Marines, Portsmouth and Plymouth Commands promised a compelling competition. Boxers battled it out in the preliminary stages of the Championships, some facing both quarter and semi-final qualifiers; the finals, however, saw 10 contested bouts for a thoroughly engaging evening of military boxing.

Full Final Results:

Two Royal Navy middleweights, AB Andy Neylon and Mne Corin Daly, travelled to Birmingham to pit their skills against local favourites Connelly (Studio ABC) and Hodgkiss (OZ Box) at Kings Norton Ex-Servicemen’s Club.

HMS Raleigh’s boxing squad are hoping to make it a hat-trick of titles when they compete in this year’s Plymouth Area and Naval Air Command Boxing Championships at HMS Drake.

The competition starts today (Tuesday 6 October) with the preliminary rounds and the semi-finals, while the finals will take place on Thursday in front of a packed audience.

HMS Raleigh have been the overall team champions for the last two years and this year’s squad are hoping to emulate the previous successes.

The squad is made up of phase two trainees from Ceres and Mckenzie Divisions.  They will be competing against boxers from HM Ships Bulwark, Ocean and Sutherland along with fighters from RNAS Culdrose and HMS Drake.  Head coach is LPT Donna Humphries, who took up boxing in 2007.  She will be among the taking to the ring and is due to face a boxer from HMS Ocean.   

LPT Humphries said:  “The squad have been training since June.  They were all novices to begin with, but they’ve come along great and we expect to do well.  This is the first time I have been the head coach and I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Last month the squad took the chance to get some extra tips during a training session with Steve Penberthy, the Royal Navy Boxing Development Officer, and one of his coaches, LPT Leon Taylor.

Mr Penberthy and LPT Taylor were visiting the establishment as part of HMS Raleigh’s Grass Roots Sports Coaching Programme, and also held an introductory session for phase two trainees. 

Coaches and officials from 39 Naval Sports Associations have been invited to enter the grass roots programme, which gives them the opportunity to gain exposure to talented individuals as they start out on their Naval careers.  As well as the mainstream sports, the programme has included fencing, archery and gaelic football.  VT Group has donated sports jerseys for individuals who show the most promise during each session.

HMS TEMERAIRE was the venue for a recent England Ladies Boxing Squad training weekend. Twenty five junior and senior female boxers, including RN representatives, arrived at the Establishment gates for a weekend of intense physical and skills training.

The boxers were accommodated within the Naval Service Sports Accommodation and the training camp took advantage of the facilities within HMS TEMERAIRE and HMS NELSON. The camp involved physical tests, conditioned and open sparring and technical training and was to be the selection for upcoming tournaments such as an England/Sweden/France tri-nations competition and junior and senior European Championships.

The weekend was jointly run by the England Coach Mick Gannon, Southern Counties Regional Coach Matt Bell and the Royal Navy Boxing coach POPT Stuart O’Connor. Of the weekend England coach Mick Gannon said that ‘we are grateful to the Royal Navy for allowing our use of their facilities – it was a hugely successful weekend with all coaches and boxers enjoying the unprecedented sports and accommodation facilities.’