Blog 3

Boxing competition at Hoddesdon - 4 Feb 17

After a good weeks preparation with the boxers and coaches we travelled to Hoddesdon to box against an Italian select team. 2 of my boxers were boxing Italians and 1 other was boxing a home boxer from Hoddesdon.

Prior to this show the coaches had sat down and discussed the tactics that were going to be deployed and how the corner work would happen and how we would best communicate to each other and the boxers the instructions. We had 3 boxers on so there would be learning and action during and after the bouts, I looked at the Donald Schön - Reflection-in-action/Reflection-on-action model to make sure the we could look at a situation, act on it and make the correct decision and therefor give our boxers the best chance of winning.

The first bout was a tough bout for our boxer as we were up against a GB kid on his home show, we had done our homework and knew the game plan of the opposing boxer, although our strategy was understood by the boxer and coaches we were unable to get the result and lost this bout. On reflection and feedback from the boxer we had done what we had planned and the plan was what we were after but we were beaten by the better boxer on the night.

The second bout was against a tricky Italian and this had the added prize of the Southern Area Title Belt. Again the game plan was to keep distance, the boxer and coach was aware of these tactics and were in agreement that this would win the bout if the boxer stuck to the game plan.
During the 1st round all was good and the I was able to communicate to the boxer when slight changes were needed. There was good feedback from the boxer as he was able to act on the instructions, then was able to give feedback during the round.
The result did go our way and gave a positive discussion post bout for how we would go about the final bout.

The final bout was a female bout, my girl had been out of boxing for 18 months and this was also her first as a senior. She was boxing an experienced Italian girl and was understandably nervous due to the time out of competition. For this bout especially it was very important gain the trust of the boxer as this would also be her 1st bout for me and working with myself in the corner.
The bout went well with our boxer working at a high tempo following the instructions given. There did seem to be some confidence issues in the breaks where she was not confident in her performance but I knew she was boxing well and ahead in the bout. At the end of the bout we were confident she had won but she did not feel she had done enough, the decision went our way and so it should have as the performance from my boxer was very good. Before the decision she was still very negative although I was telling her how well she had competed. Post bout this was addressed and we will be doing some more bonding, earning the trust and confidence from coach to boxer and boxer to coach.
I learnt that although I may be confident and precise in what we are trying to do, the boxer may be thinking differently, this may be due to a number of reasons, points that need to be addressed prior to her next bout;
1. Trust
2. Confidence
3. 2 way communication
4. Positive feedback.

Looking forward to the next competitions this weekend, I feel that I am learning a lot from reflecting during and after the bouts, only good results can come from using the reflection models.