Coaching Edge - Boxing Clever

|COACHING THE WHOLE PERSON| COACHING EDGE
BOXING
CLEVER
‘I
t’s not a parry, it’s a wedge,’ yells
Andy Cox, twisting his hips and
lashing out with a blink-and-you’llbe-unconscious left jab.
‘Use your footwork,’ yells Cox.
One of the lads has to try and untangle them.
The other has to prevent him – all without
employing their hands.
‘When they’re throwing it, they’re stepping in
with force,’ he says, totally focused and
enviably nimble as his trainer-clad feet move
like lightning on the hardwood floor. ‘Meet it.
Wedge it. Then pull the trigger.’
Staring down from the wall, posters of
Muhammad Ali shimmer under the bright lights
and flickering shadows, while a jukebox
powers out electro pop at a volume that does
not manage to drown out Cox’s voice.
The 10-year-old girl with the ginger ponytail
and impressive sheen of perspiration nods her
head solemnly, and puts up her gloves, ready
to get it right, or take failure on the chin.
Against one wall, half obscured by the heavy
bags that hang like stalactites from the high,
white-painted ceiling, a group of very
presentable mums chat and talk about what
they’ve been up to since they were last here –
fewer than 24 hours earlier – and occasionally
look up to see their children trying to break down
one another’s guard… and pull the trigger.
Behind her, two teenage lads, tied together at
the waist with an unrolled hand-wrap, grimace
in concentration.
© Nicola East
There’s more to being a good boxing coach than teaching teenagers
how to slip the jab and punch above their weight. At former pro pugilist
Andy Cox’s gym, the emphasis is clearly on building the whole person,
with sport as a tool. By Dave Mark.
Welcome to Grimsby Boxing Academy, a centre
for sporting excellence that in less than two years
has become one of the most respected gyms in
the region and now boasts 160 members.
‘You play rugby and you play football,’ says
Cox, not even out of breath after a 10-hour day
and an explosive, spellbinding display of
handspeed. ‘You don’t play boxing. You live it.’
He certainly practices what he preaches. He
may be only 24 years old, but for the past 13
years his every moment has been devoted to
the sweet science.
‘I’ve been boxing since I was 11,’ he recalls.
‘I’d always wanted to do it, but my mum, like
many others, didn’t like the idea. Then a family
friend said he’d show me the ropes and my
mum was okay with that because she knew
COACHING EDGE |COACHING THE WHOLE PERSON|
Andy Cox in action
coaching the kids in his
Grimsby Boxing Academy
him, and that was that. It’s been my life
ever since.’
Was he a natural or was his rise to the top of
the amateurs, to his Multi Nations gold medal
and subsequent signing of professional forms, a
result of hard work?
‘Hard work,’ he says, firmly. ‘When I started
there was a kid who was dancing rings around
me, and then when we’d go for a run he just
wouldn’t bother. Wouldn’t put the effort in. I
bust a gut to get fit. Every corner he cut, I took it
twice. And within six months, the fitness paid
off. I was running rings around him. That’s the
work ethic. That’s the hunger. That’s what
it takes.’
Despite being tipped to make it as a pro, Cox
realised a couple of years ago that his hunger
was not for belts and championships, but for a
greater immersion in the sport that had
changed his life.
‘I’d been out for almost a year, having a few
wrangles with promoters over contracts, and
was heading to London for a comeback of
sorts. I got on the train and phoned my partner
and said I just didn’t want to do it. It wasn’t
what I wanted. I wanted to train other people.’
Cox established his first gym in 2008 in a
community hall in a suburb of Grimsby and
was soon preaching his work ethic to an
ever-increasing number of students.
Vicky has already had her first bout. She’s
licking her lips at the prospect of the next – as
are the other members of this specific class who
are all keen to win championships.
Was he out to train champions? ‘Not at all,’ says
Cox, leaning against the ropes at the spacious
gym he now runs off a run-down shopping street
close to the town centre. ‘We have people here
who want to fight in the amateurs, maybe turn
professional, but people have different reasons
for doing this. Everybody is different. The one
thing they all have in common is the passion.
It takes you over.’
But what sets Cox’s academy apart from the
others is the responsibility he takes for what
happens to his students outside the ring.
‘We have our boxer
of the month... it’s
the ones who have
increased their
work ethic.’
To demonstrate his point, the coach asks petite,
26-year-old student Vicky for her input. ‘I started
to lose a bit of weight,’ she says, pausing in her
warm-down stretches. ‘This week I sold my
business to concentrate more on the boxing.’
He is the brains behind Boxing Clever – a
programme run by the Grimsby Institute of
Further and Higher Education and North East
Lincolnshire Council to help 16–18 year olds
who are not in education, employment
and training.
The programme combines amateur boxing and
life coaching to give students the chance to
pick up new skills, both in and out of the boxing
ring, to help them achieve their ambitions.
He said: ‘Boxing Clever is about opening
doors the participants never knew existed.
‘The programme is designed to do much more
than just improve fitness; it offers a variety of
opportunities to improve their CV and helps
them progress on to the next step.’
The programme involves 15 hours of lessons a
week, which cover basic boxing skills as well
|COACHING THE WHOLE PERSON| COACHING EDGE
Having a website regularly updated with the
achievements of his protégés is one way in
which Cox sets realistic goals.
‘We have our boxer of the month on there,’ he
says. ‘That isn’t always the best boxer in the
building. It’s the ones who have increased their
work ethic, or given it their all. It’s a big deal.
The hard part is choosing between all the
people who are putting in 100%.’
He has students who walk for an hour to get to
the gym every evening, then walk home again
after an exhausting training session. Another
student drives 50 miles from North Somercotes
to train.
© Nicola East
Students who complete the programme could
progress on to sports courses available at
the Institute.
The first batch of students have completed the
course and Cox has been bowled over by the
way its members embraced it.
‘All of the eight students that enrolled on the
programme have given 100% and they all
want to progress to the next level and
continue boxing.’
It is just one aspect of the philosophy Cox
believes is vital.
‘This is a lifestyle,’ he says. ‘It’s more than that.
It’s a life. Some gyms and some coaches
concentrate on the ones with the natural talent
who can get by and seem destined to bring in
the glory. If anything, we’re the opposite. The
ones who go above and beyond are the ones
who catch the eye. They get my time and
my respect.’
‘It’s taken over my life,’ says Cox, who hopes
some day that local magistrates will sentence
young offenders to serve a certain amount of
hours of boxing tuition.
‘You can’t act up or go off the rails when you’re
focused on something. Within these four walls,
you’re a somebody. And that gives you a taste
for it. You can be a somebody in life as well.’
Watching an evening coaching session, it’s
easy to forget that, at 24, Cox is only a few
years older than many of the people who look
up to him for life lessons.
NEXT STEPS
In the gym, it’s clear his word is law. When he
tells the class to stand with their toes on the black
lines he has pasted on the floor, they jump to it as
if being drilled by a sergeant major.
To find out more about how sport can
help the whole person, you can enrol
on the sports coach UK workshop
‘Coaching the Whole Child: Positive
Development Through Sport’ which is
running on the following dates:
‘If they don’t, the whole class gets press-ups,’
he says. ‘There’s no grey area.’
as advice on applying for jobs and preparing
for interviews.
Andy uses his experience of fitness coaching,
military training and sports coaching to
combine a fun, action-packed weekend. And
many of the participants come back.
One thing Cox is clearly a master of is
adapting his approach. He can offer a friendly
arm around the shoulders – or the iron fist.
‘We get our share who want to play the fool a
bit,’ he laughs, ‘but the thing is, boxing gives
these kids somewhere to shine. It teaches them
about hard work and consequences. And that
trickles back to the rest of their life.’
The message is not lost on 11 year old
Bailey Dyas.
He trains every night of the week, and in the
words of his mum Jenny, ‘eats, sleeps and
breathes’ boxing.
‘Andy keeps them so focused,’ she says, as her
son participates in close-quarter body sparring
with talented youngster David Jameson. ‘Before
he was into this, he wouldn’t even speak to a
shopkeeper. He’d hide behind me rather than
pay when I gave him money for sweets. Now
he’s so confident. He’s got a glimpse of the
future he wants and Andy has shown him that
hard work is how to get it. I honestly think if he
was ever in trouble he’d be as likely to phone
Andy as he would me!’
The gym certainly seems to specialise in tough
love. Its ‘Boot Camp’ has proven hugely popular.
These exhausting but rewarding weekends can
serve as an introduction to exercise but also
boast that they are a kick up the backside for
anyone lacking motivation or stuck in a rut.
Although run through the Academy, only a
small percentage of the course involves boxing.
• 15 November (Cornwall Cricket
Centre, Truro) – to book telephone
Rob Harrison on 01872-323 348
• 10 January 2011 (The Runneymede
Centre, Addlestone), 21 February
2011 (venue TBC) – to book
telephone Vicki Jamieson on
01483-518 951
• 7 March 2011 (University of
Chichester) – to book
telephone Perry Northeast
on 01243-816382.
You could also visit
www.streetgames.org
StreetGames is a groundbreaking
national charity which develops sport
with disadvantaged communities and
makes sport accessible to young people
regardless of their social circumstances.
Further Reading
Cooke, G. (no date) ‘The whole
person approach to coaching’,
www.ausport.gov.au/sportscoachmag
/role/coaching_the_complete_person
Haskins, D. (2010) Coaching the
Whole Child: Positive Development
Through Sport. Leeds: Coachwise
Business Solutions/The National
Coaching Foundation.
ISBN: 978-1-905540-78-5.
Kidman, L. (2005) Athlete-centred
Coaching: Developing Inspired and
Inspiring People. Christchurch,
NZ: IPC Print Resources.
ISBN: 978-0-476014-45-9.
This article is taken from edition 21 of Coaching Edge, the subscription magazine of sports coach UK. Covering the latest methods and techniques, and featuring interviews with some of
sport’s leading figures, Coaching Edge is a must read.
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