HAVING taken the decision to further develop the sport of boxing at the amateur level, with the view of having Simon Purées from Guyana compete at the 2016 Olympics, the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) will be hosting a two-day clinic in the Ancient County of Berbice this weekend. The Pocket Rocket Boxing Gym is the venue identified for the clinics, which will see the participants taken through the fundamentals of boxing, both theoretical and practical, by Cuban coach, 45-year-old Francisco Hernandez Roldan, with assistance from GABA’s technical director Terrence Poole.
According to president of the GABA and Assistant Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport Steve Ninvalle, apart from Georgetown, Berbice has the most boxing gyms and following his association’s clinics in Linden a few weeks ago, they thought it best to tackle Berbice.
Ninvalle said that after the weekend clinics that were held in Linden, Roldan listed a lot of deficiencies as well as the lack of adequate knowledge about general physical training and technical preparation tactics.
“We need to educate the coaches on the methodological fundamentals of boxing and hold more coaching seminars and clinics on the psychological approach to the sport, not only for the boxers, but the coaches as well,” said Ninvalle.
The GABA boss said that the next clinic will be held in the Cinderella County of Essequibo. Poole will also be taking the opportunity to identify Under-16 boxers for the Pepsi/Gatorade-sponsored National Under-16 tournaments, with one scheduled for Berbice sometime next month and the final one in Linden in December.