Women’s programmes combine for week of learning

This weekend saw the Women’s Coach Development Programme (WCDP) and Women’s Officials Development Programme (WODP) join forces for a two-day learning camp, hosted by the British Army Boxing Team in Aldershot.

It proved to be an extremely valuable experience for all those who attended and brought together both practical and theoretical elements under expert guidance.

On Saturday gym bouts were staged to mimic, giving  the officials a chance to practice their judging, timekeeping and refereeing skills.

At the same time, the coaches were put out of their comfort zones by having to take boxers they didn’t know in the corners – quickly introducing themselves and bidding to bond and gain trust –  in what was a massive learning curve.

“All of the boxers and clubs in attendance where fantastic and I would like to thank them all and their coaches for allowing the WCDP to have this experience,” said England Boxing’s Women and Girls Officer, Laura Sargeant.

“It was a really great day and it allows everyone to practice their craft in a realistic, but safe and friendly, environment, without the usual pressures being there.”

Sunday saw the Coaches and Officials team up for a short seminar on the scoring criteria delivered by Mentors Amy Pu, Terri Kelly and Emma Smith. This proved to be really insightful and sparked a lot of questions from both sides.”

The officials then had their own workshop and the coaches went on to have an invaluable pad session led by the Army Coaches.

Sargeant added: “All in all it was a fantastic weekend with everyone  learning and developing together, growing their networks and having  learned something to take away from it.

“A massive thanks to Ben Stewart and his Army team for having us down and supporting the programmes and the futures of Women In Boxing.”

For more information on the programmes, email: laura.sargeant@englandboxing.org