To establish effective male and female programmes, be it under development or performance, there is a need for us to understand the number of boxers, current levels of experience, fitness, technical and tactical ability along with potential commitment to the programme.
Utilising previous assessment and selection experience employed over a number of years, and analysing other similar programmes including GB and Ireland Boxing, the following three stage approach has been developed.
Stage 1 – Open Invitational training sessions for boxers of all levels.
• Well-advertised via Boxing Scotland Website and Social Media;
• All appropriate Boxing Scotland Performance Programme Coaches in attendance;
• All participants briefed on the culture involved within a Boxing Scotland development/performance programme i.e. what is expected from a boxer, the opportunities available etc;
• Sessions designed to introduce all participants to a typical Boxing Scotland programme session, covering both technical and tactical training, along with fitness and nutritional advice;
• Held in the Scottish High Performance Centre, Bridgeton, Glasgow.
Stage 2 – Grading Sessions
After conducting a series of open invitational sessions for boxers, the natural progression will be to grade each boxer within their respective weight category. The main aim of grading sessions is to select boxers at the appropriate level to go forward to Boxing Scotland Development or Performance Programme assessments, scheduled to take place on completion of the grading sessions.
All boxers will be briefed on the concept and aim of the session upon arrival, before being split down into their respective weight categories.
Boxers will then continuously assessed over 3 separate stations, with each station running for 15 minutes with a 5 minute recovery turnaround between stations as the groups rotated in a round robin format.
Each boxer will be graded using the following 4 specific criteria:
1) Individual Technical Skill (including footwork, punch/defence repertoire, mechanics of punching etc);
2) Tactical awareness (opponent specific, ring craft, positive defence, phasing of attacks etc);
3) Receptiveness to instruction;
4) Personal qualities (effort, concentration, discipline etc).
The above criteria will be tested over the 3 stations, incorporating several aspects including technical and tactical partner work, themed equipment and various groundwork drills (technical / tactical shadow boxing etc).
Each session will conclude with a base endurance test which will see all boxers continuously carrying out burpees on command of the whistle blast. The best effort test ends for each individual when they either retire themselves or a coach signals their finish due to incorrect form or missing the whistle blast. All boxers will be then instructed to remain in the order they finished, thus providing a base indicator to complete the grading session.
On completion of the grading session, the coaches grading scores will be collated and discussed, resulting in a long list of boxers being put forward to the actual assessments.
Stage 3 – Assessment
The assessment comprises of both ‘Test Match’ Open Sparring and a physical test.
The Test match sparring has been designed to replicate contest conditions for each respective group, however head guards and sparring gloves will be worn as the assessments still formed a part of the training process.
Whenever a group within a certain weight category has more than 2 boxers, a round robin Test Match Spar will be carried out with all boxers. In the interest of fair play, the round robin order will be decided via an independent draw.
The groups will then be assessed using the Boxing Scotland Test Match Assessment Score Card, which provides a scoring criteria for the 5 main attributes found in AIBA international competition Gold medallists:
• Quality blows landed on the target area with sound punch mechanics;
• Shape, balance and controlling distance;
• Consistently in a position to throw a punch;
• Flow, Rhythm and Flair;
• Adaptability, Tactics and Tempo.
The test match assessment score card will be modified and updated as and when necessary, ensuing the Boxing Scotland development and performance programmes remain closely aligned to the international boxing landscape.
The technical skill of any individual boxer, i.e. punch/defence repertoire, footwork etc will continuously be assessed during all programme activity.
Importantly however, each individual boxer will also receive an International Grading, grading the boxers on a scale of 1 – 10. A brief description of that scale is 10 being an Olympic gold medallist, with 1 being a raw novice boxer. A key objective of the assessments and international grading mechanism is to establish where boxers are in relation to this scale and to chart boxer development and progression during continual assessment.
The physical test will consist of a timed run on a 400m athletics track. Each boxer will complete a best effort 1km timed run, followed by a 3km timed run. Both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems are assessed during this test, giving a robust indication of boxing related fitness.
Summary – Key Objectives
The key objectives of the assessment process are as follows:
1) Assess all boxers in attendance, both within their weight category and in accordance with the Boxing Scotland International Grading system;
2) Increase the amount of male and female boxers with Boxing Scotland Development and Performance programme where possible;
3) Trial the content and actual delivery of the assessments, analysing lessons learnt and areas for improvement in order to implement a transparent and robust assessment programme in 2015 and beyond.
RANKING SYSTEM
The Boxing Scotland assessment process has been scheduled into our 2015 performance programme which is due for publication 10 January 2015.
Assessments have been allocated during specific phases throughout the 12 month programme, ensuring both maximum attendance and that boxers are provided with the opportunity to prepare accordingly, in particular to adhere to the weight tolerance identified for each group.
From 2015 onwards, all assessment results will be communicated directly to boxers and published.
To further promote our culture of excellence, a new boxer ranking system will be implemented in 2015. This will list boxers by age group and weight category, with associated rankings based on the following criteria:
• International performances and results;
• Programme assessments;
• Dual match performances;
• Domestic Championship performances and results;
• Development and Performance programme continuous assessment.
Rankings will be published on a bi-annual basis on or around the end of July and December.