3
In order for the sport of boxing to thrive in the future, all attention
and effort has to be dedicated to the safety of the boxer.
Any coach that puts a new or inexperienced boxer in the ring
to spar before teaching him the fundamentals of offense and
defense has no business coaching. Sparring is practice boxing.
There is nothing to practice if you haven’t been taught anything.
Putting inexperienced youngsters in the ring before they’re ready
will harm a novice boxer, either physically or psychologically.
Either way, you’ve lost the boxer. To put new kids in the ring
to “see how tough they are” is insane and is an injustice to
the sport.
Teach them offense and defense and require them to attain a
level of proper conditioning before putting them in the ring. You’ll
have better developed boxers and a higher number of participants
by taking this approach. Teach and make your boxers work on defense. Although much of the available equipment is
geared towards offense, this is only half the game. Defense should be practiced each workout session just like hitting
the heavybag. The less you get hit, the more fun boxing is. Learn from other coaches, their tricks of coaching and
conditioning, and implement them into your program. The worst coach is one that thinks he knows all there is to know.
Beginning fundamentals should include proper stance, delivery of a left jab and straight right hand. Attention should
be given to the proper position of hands and elbows. These basics should be practiced nightly while going through
the normal workout routine: shadowboxing, heavybag, speed bag and double end bag.
After the offensive fundamentals are learned, move on to the basic defensive fundamentals. Offense and defense should
be taught hand-in-hand. If a club has too many boxers for the coaches to work with individually, assign each boxer a
partner to practice on each other’s defense.
After your boxers have a working knowledge of offense and defense, have attained a desirable level of conditioning
and are able to go three rounds, it is time to start sparring. Sparring means instructive boxing. The purpose of sparring
is to work on fundamentals. This cannot be accomplished unless the sparring session is properly controlled. First of
all, each new boxer should spar with a more experienced boxer who can control both himself and the action.
In order for the sport of boxing to thrive in the future, all attention
and effort has to be dedicated to the safety of the boxer.
Any coach that puts a new or inexperienced boxer in the ring
to spar before teaching him the fundamentals of offense and
defense has no business coaching. Sparring is practice boxing.
There is nothing to practice if you haven’t been taught anything.
Putting inexperienced youngsters in the ring before they’re ready
will harm a novice boxer, either physically or psychologically.
Either way, you’ve lost the boxer. To put new kids in the ring
to “see how tough they are” is insane and is an injustice to
the sport.
Teach them offense and defense and require them to attain a
level of proper conditioning before putting them in the ring. You’ll
have better developed boxers and a higher number of participants
by taking this approach. Teach and make your boxers work on defense. Although much of the available equipment is
geared towards offense, this is only half the game. Defense should be practiced each workout session just like hitting
the heavybag. The less you get hit, the more fun boxing is. Learn from other coaches, their tricks of coaching and
conditioning, and implement them into your program. The worst coach is one that thinks he knows all there is to know.
Beginning fundamentals should include proper stance, delivery of a left jab and straight right hand. Attention should
be given to the proper position of hands and elbows. These basics should be practiced nightly while going through
the normal workout routine: shadowboxing, heavybag, speed bag and double end bag.
After the offensive fundamentals are learned, move on to the basic defensive fundamentals. Offense and defense should
be taught hand-in-hand. If a club has too many boxers for the coaches to work with individually, assign each boxer a
partner to practice on each other’s defense.
After your boxers have a working knowledge of offense and defense, have attained a desirable level of conditioning
and are able to go three rounds, it is time to start sparring. Sparring means instructive boxing. The purpose of sparring
is to work on fundamentals. This cannot be accomplished unless the sparring session is properly controlled. First of
all, each new boxer should spar with a more experienced boxer who can control both himself and the action.
<< Home