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.’

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.

The season commenced with HMS Nottingham V MWS Collingwood competing in the first Ship v Establishment tournament. The event was held at HMS Temeraire. The event was the first in its history, which saw HMS Nottingham running out 4-3 winners.

Portsmouth Naval Base had a clean sweep for the 2008/2009 season in which they won the Portsmouth Area Championships and RN Cup.
As soon as the Portsmouth Areas had finished I mustered my Area team every week at the RN Boxing Gym, a small team which consisted of only HMS Sultan and HMS Nelson boxers went forward to the Navy Novices and won. SHMSThis was due to a strong coaching team and a special mention must go to CPO(AWW), Scott CPO(AWT) Wilson, LPT Hinds AB Crawford and a dedicated and quality group of Novice Boxers.

As the Area coach I was delighted to win all 4 competitions and look forward to the new season.
Naval Base Champions 09 who have since been highlighted by RN Coach:

• AB Stocker Bantam weight
• AB Crabtree Featherweight
• LOG Kirby Middleweight
• AB Barton Lightweight
• POPT Sloan Light Heavyweight
• AB Brabin Cruiserweight

LPT K GREEN
Portsmouth Area Boxing Coach

Grass Roots Coaching will be held at HMS RALEIGH on the following dates: Wed 22 Jul, Wed 29 Jul and Wed 23 Sep 09.

We have a Boxing Club running every Tue and Thu evenings from 1700-1800 to prepare for the Plymouth Area and Naval Air Novice Boxing Championships 2009 in October.

We run regular Boxercise classes and Specific Boxing Circuits for Phase 2 and Phase 3 personnel, complying with PDev.

LPT Humphries
HMS RALEIGH GYMNASIUM

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.

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.”

The Royal Navy Boxing Association was invited to participate at Worcester City Boxing Club’s annual boxing show. The venue, the impressive Worcester Warriors Rugby Union Stadium, played host to a formal dinner show during which boxers from around the Midlands battled it out in the ring.
Two representatives from the RN team, one male and one female flew the flag for the Senior Service.

After a number of junior bouts to warm the crowd’s spirits, AB(LOGs) Shemekar Bowen’s (HMS NEPTUNE) opened the evening of senior boxing. In the only female bout of the evening she faced Urch (Bowers ABC), a strong and aggressive boxer.
In only her second bout, Bowens began confidently popping out straight shots and keeping her opponent at range. Hardly succumbing to any scoring shots, Bowen’s led on points at the end of the first round.
As the bell sounded Urch stepped up a gear and forced Bowens on the back foot with good combinations and phases.
With some good trunk and foot movement Bowens stepped up to the challenge but the points were closer moving into the final round.
Knowing that she needed to make a statement to win over the home judges, Bowen’s began positively landing devastating back hands. Forcing her opponent onto the ropes she threw relentless phases and combinations, her opponent unable to answer with any scoring blows. At the final bell, Bowens was rightly victorious albeit on a majority decision.
An impressive display of boxing from two inexperienced boxers, their bout received a huge round of applause.

In the second RN bout, SAC Judd Allen (RNAS YEOVILTON) faced a tough challenge against experienced Dinwiddy (???ABC). Cautious in the opening round, Allen stood off his opponent and got caught by long, fast shots.
For the majority of the round it seemed that Allen was destined to be out boxed, but seconds from the bell he penetrated the tight defence and landed two harmful rear hands, buckling the legs of Dinwiddy and forcing him to hold until saved by the bell.
With a boost to his confidence, Allen began the second round positively, applying relentless pressure onto his less willing opponent.
Landing hurtful shots with his second and third phase attacks he should have forced several counts by the referee. Continuing in the same vein into the final round Allen’s busy combinations and phases rocked his opponent; unable to miss with the looping right hook he finally forcing two eight counts.
Clearly in command by the final bell, Allen was deservedly awarded a unanimous decision and a well earned victory. Showing incredible maturity for a novice boxer, he performed well above his experience and showed distinct potential to progress far within the boxing arena.

RN caretaker coach POPT Stu O’Connor was delighted with the performances, ‘our boxers gave a tremendous account of themselves. Both were tested by strong and experienced opponents and both stepped up to the mark; they thoroughly deserve to be proud of their victories.’

Royal Marine Super-heavyweight Joe Harvey was the sole representative to fly the RN Flag at the recent ABA quarter and semi-finals at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. Despite having stepped up from heavyweight, he proved in the preliminary rounds of the competition that he could still pack a punch; stopping every one of his opponents within the distance.

The quarter final against Parsons (Milton Keynes ABC) was no exception. Weighing in over three stone heavier than Joe, the marine could not afford to be drawn into a brawl. Clever boxing in the first two rounds ensured that he racked up the points with single shots and speedy footwork. Parson’s was unable to cope with the marine’s speed of punch and movement and felt the toll in the final round.
Joe, sensing the fatigue of his opponent, upped his work rate, throwing devastating combinations and phases which saw the referee intervene and stop the bout for another victory by knockout.

With the reality of two bouts in two days there was very little time for celebration. Despite boxing his quarter final after midnight, he had to prepare for the semi final the following evening.
This time he faced Isla (Miguels), fresh after reaching the semi-finals by walkover. Lighter than his previous opponent, but towering over Joe at 6ft 8inches tall, the marine had to demonstrate his resourcefulness and ability to adapt.
A cagey fight in the early stages, Joe picked his shots and moved well, cleverly feinting his opponent and capitalising on his mistakes. Despite the reach dis-advantage, Joe maintained his early lead and entered the final round 10 points ahead. But with only 15 seconds of the bout remaining and streets ahead on points, Joe walked onto a wild left hook which knocked him to the canvas.
Whilst he made it to his feet well within the 8 count, he sustained a large cut below his nose which forced the referee to stop the contest.

Despite the disappointment, RN Boxing Coach Sgt Graham Alderson said that Joe had every reason to be proud of his performance; ‘he proved resourceful and adaptable, able to change his style to outwit a number of different opponents’.
He offered a boxing lesson to many spectators at the prestigious ABA championship and was a true ambassador for the Royal Navy Boxing Team. Despite this temporary disappointment there is no doubt that we have not heard the last of Royal Marine Joe Harvey whose career in the boxing world has only just begun.

Meanwhile the Royal Navy Boxing Team is preparing a number of female boxers for the forthcoming National Female Boxing Championships in June. In all 7 female boxers will represent the RN against civilian counterparts from the length and breadth of the country.
The team consists of a range of ranks and rates from Lieutenant Commander to Able Seaman and a range of experience from novice to international. The semi finals are due to take place on the 31 May and the finals on the 7 June both to be held at Cedar Mount High School, Manchester.

The military's outstanding sporting achievements took centre stage at the Combined Services Sports Awards which took place at the RAF Club in London on Thursday 19 March 2009.

The ceremony, which was attended by His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex, paid homage to the incredible sporting men and women throughout all three Services and their achievements throughout 2008.

Chairman of the Combined Services Sports Board, Major General C H Elliot CVO CBE, introduced the event, which was attended by military athletes from across the UK who had travelled especially to attend the awards.

The Sports Official Award was presented to Lieutenant Commander Micky Norford (Royal Navy) for his experience as a boxing referee. Throughout the year, Lt Cdr Norford refereed in eight international matches and European Championship Tournaments where his reputation as one of the most astute and professional officials on the European circuit is widely acknowledged. In 2007 he gained his world class referee's qualification placing him in the highest category in the country and qualifying him to officiate worldwide at any level of amateur boxing up to, and including, Olympic Games.

Lt Cdr Norford said: 'I was absolutely flabbergasted to start off with, I didn't expect it at all. It's really superb to be awarded this. You try and work it out, you think 'OK, Peter Reed's an olympian so he's bound to get Sportsman of the Year' but I didn't know anything about the other two nominees but they've obviously put a huge amount of effort into the sports that they do. 'I've already spoken to my wife and we know where we're going to put the award already. I'm so proud. Pleased as punch.'