Boxing Scotland

Promoting and Developing Boxing In Scotland

Ben Holme

Kingswells BC launch free classes for military veterans to combat mental health issues

By

KINGSWELLS Boxing Club are launching a free six-week boxing course for military veterans to help combat mental health issues.

Ex-Serviceman and Kingswells Coach Scott Milne is behind the initiative, which will launch this Sunday (May 30th) 15:00-16:00 at their gym in Stoneywood, Aberdeen.

The course is available for military veterans of all categories and ages, and was developed due to concerns over rising suicide rates.

“I’m ex-Military, I was in the 1st Battalion Highlanders,” said Scott.

“I found it quite hard when I got out of the army.

“In the last three years, I’ve known a few guys I was in the army with who have committed suicide, and it’s just down to not being able to talk to anyone and not being able to socialise really.

“Coming out of the forces can be dauting for people.

“However long they have been in, they come out and it is back into civvy street. It is hard, it is really hard.

“The reason we are doing this is to try to get ex-veterans out of the house to try and keep fit. It is good for the body and good for the mind.

“Suicide rates, especially in veterans, has gone through the roof in the past 18 months and we are just wanting to help.

“We want to get them out the door and meet new people. Even people who don’t want to train, we’ve got a kettle through the back and they can come and have a cup of tea and have a yap and have fun.

“At the end of the six weeks whoever has been the best, or we think has tried the best, will get free gloves, free t-shirt and skipping rope and four extra free weeks membership of the boxing club.”

Scott joined Kingswells Boxing Club during the pandemic, and feels it has been of big benefit to himself.

The 42-year-old started coaching eight months ago and was recently on the first virtual Boxing Scotland Level One Coaching Course to be held via Zoom earlier this month.

Scott added: “I thought the course was really good and I learned quite a bit from it.

“Craig McEvoy did a really good job at presenting it over Zoom.

“I am already looking at doing the Level Two course later this year.

“However, it was a bit daunting being on the same course as former World Champion Ricky Burns and showing him how to throw a jab.

“But he did have some great stories and he said he might come up to Aberdeen at some point to do a few rounds with us.”

If anyone is concerned about their mental health, the below organisations are available to provide assistance;

SAMH website – The website has a lot of useful information for organisations and individuals.

https://www.samh.org.uk/

There is also a Coronavirus information page available.  Lots of useful information including the – ‘Clear your head campaign’ an NHS initiative.

https://www.samh.org.uk/about-mental-health/self-help-and-wellbeing/coronavirus-information-hub

The NHS A-Z contact list of support from Mental Health Charities.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/mental-health-helplines/

Big White Wall 

Offers safe and anonymous 24-hour support

https://www.bigwhitewall.com/?lang=en-us

Student Minds – for Students in further education.

https://www.studentminds.org.uk/latestnews/student-minds-responds-to-student-specific-lockdown-restrictions-in-scotland

Young Scot

Wellbeing advice for young people

https://young.scot/

Young minds – School-age advice. They also conduct training courses for leaders of groups at a cost.

https://youngminds.org.uk/

Sportscotland has a Mental health awareness workshop for Coaches and Volunteers – link below

https://sportscotland.info/mentalhealth/#/

There is also the Institute of sport mindfulness guide.

https://sportscotland.org.uk/media/5637/mindfulness-complete-guide.pdf

We have also researched several helplines listed below.

Phone Helplines;

Breathing space: 0800 838587

Weekdays: Monday-Thursday 6pm to 2am Weekend: Friday 6pm-Monday 6am
Webchat is available Monday to Friday, 6pm to 10pm

Samaritans: 116 123 (24 hours)

email jo@samaritans.org (24 hr response time)

Mind Infoline: 0300 123 3393

Monday to Friday (except for bank holidays) 9am to 6pm Text: 86463

No Panic: 0844 967 4848

10am-10pm every day

North West Coach and Sports Mentor Kieran McMaster knows the importance of continuing to be a good role model during the coronavirus pandemic

By

NORTH West Boxing Club Coach Kieran McMaster insists the importance of being a good role model for young people has never been more clear to him.

In addition to helping coach at the Kilmarnock based club, the 24-year-old works for East Ayrshire Council as a Sports Mentor.

Kieran has mentored some of the most vulnerable young people in East Ayrshire, using boxing as a tool to build meaningful bonds to allow challenging conversations to take place on topics such as mental health, drugs and alcohol.

The coronavirus pandemic has limited his ability to do his job as normal, however the accomplished boxer has still strived to support these young people over the past 14 months.

“This year has been a tough one, however, during these difficult times I have been able to continue my work with young people and the importance of my input has not been lost,” said Kieran.

“I am a consistent male role model for a lot of young people who might not have parents, or have Dads.

“I am someone who they see every week and I build positive relationships with them.

“For a lot of these kids they struggle with authority or they struggle with members of staff.

“But I’m not a member of staff, I’m Kieran McMaster the boxing coach, the kids respond to me different and they let me in.

“They need to see me once a week just to make their week feel normal,” Kieran added.

“I’ve been seeing some of these kids every week for the past one or two years. For some of them I am the only person that they trust.

“The last year has been stop start stop start. It has kept me physically out of the school, so it has made it difficult for me and the young people to keep in touch.

“I can only imagine the impact the pandemic would have on some of these kids being stuck at home.

“But I was able to speak to some of them on the phone and check in and see how they were doing and I was able to see some in the local community, although I wasn’t allowed to do boxing with some of them because of social distancing, but I still saw them and kicked a football about.

“I did some online boxing training videos too, similar to Joe Wicks, which were filmed and then were rolled-out throughout East Ayrshire and were getting used in class.

“I was really quite pleased with that, because I was worried how I might impact on the kids while I couldn’t engage in the schools.

“I did some fitness challenges too just so they knew we hadn’t forgotten about them during the pandemic.

“Over the past few months I have been back in the schools, but I am still very limited on how many schools I can attend.

“It has been a long tough year.”

Kieran admitted he never intended to go into coaching, instead focusing on his own promising amateur boxing career.

However, he first got involved as a teenager due to a shortage of coaches within the West District club and has excelled ever since, even being named Young Coach of the Year at the 2019 sportscotland Coaching, Officiating and Volunteering Awards.

“I boxed myself for North West Boxing Club,” Kieran explained.

“A couple of the coaches in the club left and then my Dad was asked if he could come in and assist the club.

“Another coach then left and my Dad was left with the whole club himself.

“Ray Connell then came in and helped the club get to the best that it had ever been.

“But because we only had two coaches I was asked if I wanted to my coaching badges just as a back-up and to help out for a bit of fun.

“I started helping out with the kids class and then the job came up with East Ayrshire Council.

“I did not expect to be a sports coach as I was planning to be a firefighter, but I am in a very lucky position. There is nothing like the Sports Mentor job.”

“I had never put on a pair of gloves before I was 23-year-old, and look where I am now” World No.5 Megan Reid wants to help encourage more Women to aim for success

By

WORLD Number Five ranked boxer Megan Reid is hoping her own achievements within the sport can help inspire more woman to aim for international success.

The full-time member of the British Army boxing team and Boxing Scotland’s Elite Boxing Group cracked the top five of the 64kg category in the AIBA World Rankings last year.

This achievement came off the back of a busy couple of years for the Leith Victoria boxer where, in addition to winning the Scottish Elite Championships in 2019, Megan also represented Scotland at the 2018 Women’s World Championships in India, the 2019 Women’s European Boxing Championships in Madrid and the 2019 Women’s World Championships in Russia.

“I do realise that a lot of the young girls will look up to me as I am the only female on the Elite Boxing Group competing at these levels,” said Megan.

“Hopefully they look up to me and aspire to get to the same level.

“I was 23 when I started. I am in the military, so it was with the army to begin with. I worked my way up from there and got into the army team.

“I then won the Scottish Championships and got myself onto the Elite Boxing Group.

“I never thought I would reach this level, I was just doing it for a bit of fitness and to lose some weight.

“Then I started to enjoy it and see that I could compete at a high level as well.

“When I started believing in myself and realising that I could go far in a boxing career, that is when I got my head down and started training hard.

“I had never put on a pair of gloves before I was 23-years-old, and look where I am now.

“It should encourage people not to think just because they are in their 20’s that they are too late to start.

“People shouldn’t be scared to get into it and give it everything they have got.”

Megan, from Duns in the Scottish Borders, admitted she was delighted to reach No.5 in the World last year, but now she has her eyes set on even bigger goals.

The 31-year-old is hoping to further climb the rankings, while also aiming for next summer’s Commonwealth Games which is due to be held in Birmingham, England.

“Being ranked Number five in the world is amazing,” said Megan, who serves in the Royal Logistics Corps (RLC) as a communication specialist.

“I’m always striving to be better so, of course, I’d love to climb the rankings and be ranked number one in the world at my weight category one day.

“It would be amazing to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in 2022, that’s my ambition and main goal that I’m working towards.”

Boxing Scotland Monthly Newsletter – May 2021

By

Dear Members,

Boxing Scotland is delighted to share with you our latest monthly newsletter.

The newsletter has been designed to bring together the most important news and information from Boxing Scotland from the prior few weeks.

We hope this will make it easier for clubs to keep abreast of important information and updates from the Governing Body.

The newsletter was sent to club’s main contacts earlier this week via e-mail and we would encourage clubs to forward this on to the rest of its members.

Alternatively, the newsletter can be downloaded in a PDF format below;

Boxing Scotland Newsletter – May 2021

If club members would like to receive the newsletter directly via e-mail each month please contact your Regional Development Officer and they will add you to the mailing list.

Regards,

The Boxing Scotland Regional Development Team

North District – Ben Holme, ben.holme@boxingscotland.org 07702 866135

East District – Stewart Ferguson, stewart.ferguson@boxingscotland.org 07944 598755

West District – Paul Coleman, paul.coleman@boxingscotland.org 07803 513699

Scottish Student Boxing Vice Chair

By

Scottish Student Sport (SSS), the organisation for student sport in Scotland, is seeking an energetic and committed individual to act as one of the lead volunteers within Scottish Student Boxing.

The Vice Chair will enjoy an excellent opportunity to contribute towards growing the sport and building a relationship with Boxing Scotland.

The selected individual will be a key figure in the drive towards improving and strengthening student boxing in Scotland.

The Vice Chair will work with the Chair and SSS staff to coordinate event delivery, manage a budget, participate in strategic planning, communicate with student participants, support event volunteers and improve both SGB engagement & club development.

Role Title: Scottish Student Boxing Vice Chair

Responsible to: Head of Competitions

Where (Location): Various within Scotland

Time commitment: Variable, 10-15 hours per month, with one full weekend tournament

Role duration: Minimum on year until 30th June 2022

Main tasks

Help oversee programme

  • Assist in coordination of meetings for all student Boxing Club captains at the start and end of the year to share plans and hear feedback – and take notes
  • Promote student boxing competitions and opportunities to clubs on social media channels

Assist in development of student boxing

  • Help Chair and SSS Staff develop and manage Boxing Sport Development Plan
  • Develop Student Boxing calendar, in conjunction with Chair, Competitions Coordinator and Boxing Scotland
  • Other tasks as identified by Boxing Development Plan

Help Plan and Deliver Programme

  • Support clubs in staging regional sparring days
  • Support the development of a SS Boxing Championships
  • Ensure SSS has all results and participant data

Required skills, qualities, and experience:

  • Proactive, can do attitude
  • Experience in event management
  • Experience of student boxing in Scotland
  • Knowledge of boxing landscape in Scotland
  • Ability to effectively communicate with a range of stakeholders

Training and support available:

  • Annual Chairs’ Training day hosted by SSS
  • Any relevant CPD courses/experience as identified by Chair and Head of Competitions
  • Named staff member within SSS

Recruitment process:

Further details; Scottish Student Boxing Vice Chair | Scottish Student Sport

International Appointments for 3-Star R&J’s can Inspire the Next Generation

By

BOXING Scotland CEO Chris Roberts believes that aspiring R&J can take inspiration from the recent appointments of our two most senior Officials.

Eastern District President Ravi Rai was recently in Poland for the Youth World Championships, where he was selected to referee one of the Finals on the last day of the competition, while George Brown has been selected to attend the Asian Championships in Dubai later this month.

Last week Boxing Scotland unveiled a new Pathway for R&J with a Seminar that was attended by 43 registered or prospective Officials.

Now with a clear Pathway from grassroots to International Level, Boxing Scotland is aiming to have more R&J receive World-level appointments in the years to come.

Chris Roberts said: “We have two fantastic officials at 3-Star level who continue to do Boxing Scotland proud.

“Ravi performed outstandingly well at the most recent Youth World Championships in Kielce, Poland – out of 36 R&Js in attendance, Ravi was selected to referee one of the 10 male finals on the last day of the competition – a fantastic achievement at World level.

“George is our most experienced 3-Star R&J, and he has been selected to attend the Asian Championships to be held in Dubai at the end of May.

“Another great opportunity which will take George closer to that Olympic selection for Japan in Jul/Aug 21.

“I know Ravi and George’s appointments will act as inspiration for the rest of Scotland’s R&J, there is nothing better than seeing your own people from your own organisation operating at the very highest of levels.

“We are very proud of both R&Js who are role models for our younger officials who aspire to be at that level.”

Meanwhile, Chris Roberts was delighted at the turnout for the R&J Seminar that was held via Zoom last week.

He insisted that as long as individuals are willing to put in the time, there are some great opportunities to be had.

“It was really pleasing to see so many of our Boxing Scotland officials and membership attend the seminar last week,” Chris added.

“We are in a great position as an organisation moving forwards and the opportunities as an official are endless.

“Note that it takes a lot of time and patience, but if you have that, are prepared to put the hours in a support our boxers, Boxing Scotland will support you.

“We are hoping to roll out another virtual seminar shortly, the ‘what it is to be part of a team’ model, and again all officials are welcome to attend.

“The light at the end of the COVID tunnel is almost there, and Boxing Scotland should be looking forward to the first event back in the ring for our Schools and Junior boxers; we will of course be looking for officials to support this really important event on Saturday 21st August 2021.

“Those who are interested should drop an email to our competitions e-mail in the first instance.”

Boxing Scotland’s competition e-mail is competitions@boxingscotland.org and interested Officials are advised to use ‘August Event’ as the e-mail Subject title.