The Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) is once again in the corner of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA).
Recently, the newly elected brass of the GOA, presented sponsorship to the association in an effort to aid its contingent attend the World Championships to be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from May 1-14. The boxers attending the event are Sportsman-of-the-Year, Desmond Amsterdam and Olympian Keevin Allicock.
Technical Director of the GBA, Terrence Poole, is the coach.
President of the GOA, Godfrey Munroe, commended the boxing association for their steps to properly prepare the boxers for the major international undertaking by contracting the services of Cuban coach Francisco Roldan, and sending the team to a training camp in Uzbekistan.
At the handover ceremony, Vice President of the GOA, Philip Fernandes, congratulated GBA and wished them much success at the World Championships and handed over a cheque for financial assistance to Poole and indicated that he looks forward to the report afterwards.
Meanwhile, Poole has been selected as the second Guyanese to participate in the International Boxing Association (IBA) Cut Technician Course.
The first was three-star tactician Sebert Blake and Poole will also participate in the significant programme which will be conducted at the Men’s World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from May 1st-4th.
The official invitational missive from IBA, which was signed by Development Officer Chris Roberts, OBE, stated that the primary aim of the course is the development of the Cut Technician in each national programme,” a release from the Guyana Boxing Association stated.
According to the GBA, the aim is to improve the knowledge of the coaches so that they can provide the pugilists with the essential treatment to avert and manage injuries such as hematomas, lacerations, and nose bleeds. It will also diminish hand injuries with the mastery of hand-wrapping techniques.
“The main objective of the course is to help develop our Cut Technicians and increase the pool of specialists around the world as well as to broaden the knowledge of coaches, doctors, and physiotherapists about hand wrapping techniques and facial injury care of the athletes”, the correspondence stated.
The course is only eligible for officials affiliated with their national federation and who are already registered for the upcoming Men’s World Championship from April 30th-May 14th in the capacities of team coaches, doctors, and/or physiotherapists.
With the removal of head guards, IBA states that the importance of experienced cutmen to assist boxers cannot be understated. Thus, the world governing body has crafted a course that will train and equip cutmen with the requisite aptitude to prepare combatants before, during, and after fights.
The programme will comprise one theoretical section and extensive practical segments, which will be followed by respective assessments.
Blake, who is part of a small cadre of three-star coaches in the Caribbean, is the first-ever Guyanese to participate in and successfully complete the programme, which took place at the Women’s World Championship in New Delhi, India from March 15-31. Blake scored in the 90th percentile.
GBA President, Steve Ninvalle, said, “This is the development of our human capital, and this is how you cultivate the discipline from a personnel perspective. The advancement of the sport, and by extension, the athletes can only occur if the teachers, essentially the trainers and coaches possess the requisite and ever-evolving knowledge to impart to their students. We envisage creating an assembly line of qualified and knowledgeable coaches. That is the vision of the GBA. We anticipate as in the historic case with Blake, similar success for Poole which is to the benefit of the overall boxing ecosystem.”
