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ROYAL NAVY HOST ENGLAND LADIES BOXING SQUAD (29/07/2009 )

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.’

 

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BRONZE IN BULGARIA FOR O’CONNOR (23/07/2009 )

Lieutenant Lucy O’Connor was in action again earlier this month at the European Union Championships in Bulgaria. Reining EU champion, the pressure was on the team captain to lead from the front and retain the title.Meeting last year’s finalist Gratzck (Poland) in the quarter finals the win tally stood at one all between the two boxers. O’Connor took the lead early with clear straight shots. Catching and hurting the Pole with a solid rear hand in the second round, the Officer capitalised on the advantage and increased the lead. Frustrated in the last round O’Connor boxed and moved and finished on a 9 – 3 win. In the semi-finals O’Connor met former World and European Champion Davide (Italy). A cagey fight eschewed, with both boxers keeping their distance. O’Connor struggled to find a way inside the Italians long reach and the bout ended 2-2 final score. Illustrating the tightness of the decision the countback was also tied leaving the final decision to the judges who saw the Italian ahead by 3 judges to 2. “My aim for this tournament was to reach the podium which I achieved, although I was disappointed not to retain my title. Realistically my focus this year is on the European Championships and to lose on a close decision to a former world and European Champion gives me confidence and a realistic shout for a medal in the Europeans” said O’Connor. Overall the England team had its best ever performance in Bulgaria with all five team members reaching the podium, including 3 gold medals, and winning team of the tournament.

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RN LADIES BOXING GOES FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH (16/06/2009 )

Continuing the storm of ladies boxing within the Royal Navy, Lieutenant Emma Garey made history by becoming the first female boxing referee in the Royal Navy.
She gained her referees license after being assessed by the Referees and Judges Commission of the Amateur Boxing Association of England, in Camberley near Sandhurst.
As well as the first referee in the Royal Navy, Emma is one of only five in the country to qualify to this standard.

She said, 'I've been involved with RN and Combined Services Boxing for just over 3 years but the opportunities to advance myself have been plentiful and have certainly proved to be very exciting. I've had the privilege to work under the tutorage of some real legends in the RN boxing community including Lt Cdr Micky Norford and WO Dale Randle; knowing that I'm the first female referee for the RN and following in their footsteps is pretty daunting but I'm looking forward to the forthcoming season.' We wish Emma the best of luck in her Refereeing career and who knows she may be another candidate for the 2012 Olympics in London.

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HAUL OF MEDALS FOR RN FEMALE BOXERS (10/06/2009 )

This weekend saw the finals of the Women’s Amateur Boxing Association National Championships for 2009 in Gorton, Manchester. The Royal Navy, known for its strength in depth of female boxing, entered 7 boxers into the championships.
Success was seen in the early rounds of the competition as some boxers met their counterparts from the Army in the quarter finals. A clean sweep saw the RN bag 3 out of 3 wins to secure the places in the semi finals.
The crowned Combined Service Champions, Lt Cdr Sollitt (DLO Andover), AB Bowens (HMS Neptune) and AB Locke (HMS Bulwark) joined their colleagues in the semi finals but after three hard fought bouts lost on close points decisions to their civilian opponents, never the less securing well deserved bronze medals for the team.

This left four RN competitors in the finals; PO(ET) Teeling (HMS COLLINGWOOD), PO(ET) Palin (HMS Cornwall), AB Ingman (HMS Kent) and Lt O’Connor (HMS Temeraire).
PO(ET) Teeling participated at the novice class C category at 51kg and faced a former Dutch kickboxing Champion Shekira Lea (Waltham Forest ABC).
Despite limited boxing experience, her kickboxing past would prove to be a challenge for Teeling. Using her speed of shots and intelligent movement Teeling managed to fend of the stronger opponent for the first two rounds.
The kickboxing experience paid off in the last round however to secure a points victory, leaving the Navy boxer with a silver medal, nevertheless well deserved.

PO(ET) Palin faced Jodie Brierly (Chadd ABC) in the class B novice 75kg category. Towering over her opponent, Palin was forced to ride an initial rush from the smaller boxer; but managed to evade her early attacks.
Surprisingly Palin was down by a point after the first round so she set out positively in the second round picking off her opponent successfully as she charged forward.
Despite reversing the points deficit clearly in the second round disaster struck as Palin sustained an injury in the dying seconds of the round and was forced to retire. A proud performance saw Palin return with silver on this occasion.

At 46kg, the smallest of the RN contingent, AB Ingman won a bye through to the final. After a considerable training programme unfortunately Ingman’s only opponent pulled out leaving her with a walkover, but as she had not competed in the competition, no medal.
Unperturbed by this temporary disappointment, Ingman is a talented young boxer and one to watch for the future.

The last of the Navy’s competitors, Lt O’Connor was not unfamiliar with these circumstances as this was her fifth ABA Championship Final. Pitched against a strong opponent Hayley Webb (Met Police), O’Connor needed to win to secure her position in the International Squad and her British Ranking.
All the pressure was on the naval officer as she stepped into the ring to defend her title. It was a cagey start with feints and speed of shots from both boxers. The policewomen adopted a counter boxing style whilst the naval officer stalked her opponent around the ring.
The points were even after the first round and O’Connor knew she had to step up her game if she was to secure the win. Forcing her opponent to miss, O’Connor capitalised on the mistakes and scored her shots throughout the remaining rounds to secure a close but decisive points victory. “I thought it would be a close fight. Hayley is an awkward counter boxer and I couldn’t afford to make mistakes. I knew I had to be patient and pick my shots, thankfully I stuck to our game plan and it paid off” said O’Connor.

All the more impressive, this win makes it the forth consecutive ABA Championship Title for the Naval Officer and secures her ranking as number one female featherweight in Britain for the forth year running. With no let up in her competitive training programme, O’Connor is straight back into training for the EU Championships in Bulgaria at the end of June, to again defend her title, this time as EU Gold medallist.

All in all the RN Ladies Boxing Team returned from the ABA Championships with 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals, making them the most successful boxing team in the country.
RN coach POPT Stuart O’Connor was delighted with the girl’s performance, “All of the boxers performed brilliantly and I’m delighted with the results. We are seen by the boxing community as the leading lights in female boxing development and we have displayed today that we are technically capable, fit and dedicated to producing quality boxers; I’m thrilled.”

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