–by Josh Canty

The 4th Women’s World Boxing Championships ran from November 18-24, 2006 at the Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi, India.  The following is a list of informal comments made by coaches at the breakfast table, on the bus ride to and from the venue, and on the plane ride to Amsterdam on my way home to Canada.  This is not a comprehensive survey.  Although there are 32 countries competing in this most prestigious of women’s boxing tournaments, it seemed to me inappropriate to interview potential opponents’ coaches.  As my athlete, Katie Dunn, had the possibility of facing representatives from France, Ukraine, India and Russia (among others), I opted not to cross those lines and interview coaches from those teams.Although I was somewhat limited by a conflict of interest, being both a coach and an interviewer, I believe the camaraderie I share with my fellow coaches, having befriended many of them at the 3rd World Championships in Podolsk, Russia, provided me candid access that an outside reporter may not have been granted. 

U.S. National Coach Gloria Peek arrived a week prior to the tournament with her team to New Delhi to acclimatize to India’s weather and the time change.  Team USA also had an advantage over several other squads in that they had a weeklong training camp in Colorado where they completed “all of the hard work.”  Over the final week, Peek brought the intensity level down for her team in terms of workload, and “modified what we worked on in camp, such as lateral movement, hand speed and timing.”   Indrsena Rajith, Sri Lanka’s National Team Coach reported that he began tapering his team’s training regimen two weeks before the World Championships, “reducing the volume of the training sessions while increasing their intensity.”Denmark’s National Coach, Henrik Peterson noted that he tapers his workouts at the end of each week: “Every week, Friday Saturday and Sunday we have light training, and three weeks before this tournament we started reducing the volume of all our workouts.”  Peterson’s team arrived four days before the World Championships, training lightly each day.  “We can’t do anything for the conditioning now, so training is only to maintain the weight and for timing.”Wang Lian Fong, National Coach at the Chinese University of Sport, arrived two days before the tournament began with a full roster of 13 boxers.  His team began tapering with one week to go before the Championships.  Interesting to note was the fact that he and assistant coach Cheng Lee Qiang had the team light sparring the day before competitions began.Similar to the Chinese Team, Peter Taylor, the Irish National Team Coach began tapering his daughter one week before the tournament. They arrived five days prior to the tournament to acclimatize.  Normally, the Irish will train for 2:15 rounds, but that is cut back to 2 minutes a couple weeks before a tournament, then again down to 1:30 a week before and finally to 1:00 minute rounds in the days immediately preceding the competition.  In the final week before a major tournament, Taylor will reduce his workouts to light 30 minute sessions.  Running is completely eliminated and workouts consist of only pad work, shadow boxing and skipping.Like the Irish, the Finnish Squad arrived early to acclimatize, one week before the competition.  Assistant Coach, Nick Winburg assessed recent workouts as a “whole lot lighter” than the team normally trains.Canadian Team Coach, Mike Moffa reported a similar tapering stage of one week.  Normally, Moffa’s team will exercise for 26 to 28 rounds per session; however, over the past week he has reduced that to 18 to 20 “shorter, sharper rounds.”The Norwegian National Team coaches Max Mankowitz and Martin Kitel discussed the tapering process for Team Norway.  Their squad had trained with the Denmark National Team for the 2006 Venus Cup earlier this year.  Following this pattern, the Norwegians came in ten days before the World Championships to train and spar with the Indian National Team.  The first two days were set aside for relaxation and acclimatization, then they proceeded with their modified workout regime, stressing low volume and high intensity.Finally, the Swedish team also arrived early and had an opportunity to spar with the Indian team.  Coach Eric Bredler explained how his team “came in five days before the tournament.  The first day was light training, the second we sparred with the Indian team, the third we sparred with Finnish Team, the fourth day we had a easy train then went to the Taj Mahal, and on the final day, we had another easy training.” 

Ireland’s Peter Taylor feels that the most important factor in preparing a boxer for a bout is consistency.  When a boxer goes away with the National Team, Taylor ensures that he or she takes a form detailing what pad work and other warm-up drills that are preferred by that athlete.Canada’s Mike Moffa believes that “visualization is the number one thing because while she does that she forgets about her stress and she starts believing.  Also, belief in the coach is imperative.  If they believe in you, you can be the worst coach and still produce.”  Fellow Canadian Team Coach Charlie Stewart feels that the game plan for a particular bout should already be in place in the days leading up to a bout.  “That way I can just say key phrases from the fight plan to activate specific responses.”Norway’s Mankowitz and Kitel utilize videotape analysis with their boxers hours and days before competition to discuss tactics and strategies for particular opponents.  The key, they feel, in the last few hours before a bout is “to relax and have a lot of fun.  If you think on the bout too much,” says Mankowitz, “ you put too much pressure on yourself and that can create too much stress to have a good performance.”  The Norwegians prefer to “start warming up 4 or 5 bouts before, then some light pads and go!”Romania’s National Coach Adrian Lacatus believes it is imperative that the coach encourages the athlete before going into battle.  “I speak to the boxer and tell her, ‘You are the best!  You can do it’ – things like that.  Also ten days before the competition we have a meeting with each of the boxers to discuss not only boxing but also their personal life outside the sport.  The idea is to build a relationship between the boxer and the coach.”  In terms of strategies or tactics, Lacatus says, “All that depends on which boxer I’m working with and on the particular boxer she is facing.”  The Netherlands’ National Team Coach John Vergouwe feels that keeping a positive perspective is the best approach for pre-bout psychological preparation.  “You want to talk about the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, but only about your fighter’s strengths,” Vergouwe says.  “You want to emphasize the positives from both training and recent bouts to build your boxer’s confidence.” Although their physiotherapist accompanied Team France to New Delhi, Sweden was the only team I interviewed that brought their National Team’s Sport Psychologist with them to India.  Jorgen Kalmendal has been working with the Swedish Female Boxing Team since 2002, developing a long-term psychological program for the athletes.  The long-term program has included “self-confidence building, controlling affections, controlling emotions, and team-building (for example as goal-setting, tolerance and norms).”  In the short-term, Kalmendal has the boxers visualize the day before their bouts, taking “good examples from the past and recalling them to create a similar flow.  She will be in almost a trance with all the senses focusing as concrete as possible on past successes.”  Interesting with the Swedish method is the fact that all formal mental preparation is done the day before competition.  Kalmendal explains, “because the body is mobilized for the bout, I don’t want to disturb that mobilization.”Finally, USA’s Gloria Peek took advantage of her National Team Psychologist in Colorado with each of her athletes during their weeklong training camp in early November 2006.  The boxers participated in workshops and programs including Imagery Sessions.  Peek also met with each of her boxers to discuss strengths and weaknesses, stressing that “mental and physical go together.” 

Holland’s John Vergouwe went through his usual routine between rounds: “You must not give water for at least twenty seconds.  Too many times I see boxers choking on water because their coaches fill their boxers’ mouths before they have time to catch their breath.  I use the first 20 seconds for deep-breathing, then I give some water for my boxer to spit out, then I speak – only 2 or 3 things, for example what defenses she must implement, or what strengths she must tap into – then I give her water to drink.”Peter Taylor of Ireland also has a particular system that he follows between rounds.  First he has his fighter perform deep breathing and gives her water.  Next, he emphasizes “at maximum two techniques or strategies” to be followed.  Taylor stressed that there should be only one voice coming from the corner – his voice.Assistant Coach Nick Winburg recalled his own boxing career in Finland: “When I come to a corner I want to be relaxed and calm.  I want the same for my fighters.” Also, when referring to the issue of whether or not to inform the fighter of the bout’s score, Winburg feels that “must be established ahead of time. I like my boxer to have a few breaths before I tell her the score.”Denmark’s Henrik Peterson feels the method of delivery of the message in the corner depends on the personality of the boxer: “Some boxers want me to be calm with them, other perform better when I get angry.” China’s Wang Lian Fong believes the focus in the corner should generally be “on defense – offense follows.” Adrian Lacatus of Romania feels that the score of the bout dictates his message to his boxer.  “If she is winning I praise her and tell her to ‘Keep it up!’  If she is down on points I tell her what she must to recover in the bout.  Also depending on the personality of the boxer, I might not tell her the score if she is down too much.”Gloria Peek takes more of a “primal perspective” in her corners.  She tells her fighters, “There’s one bone; and only one dog can get it.  I try to tell them what to do, and it’s their job to implement the plan.”“When you are two or three points ahead, it’s easy to talk to your fighter; however, when you are down – whether you want to or not – a trainer too panics,” candidly admits Canada’s Mike Moffa. “If she is doing the right thing, keep doing the same thing.  You can be the best coach, but if your fighter doesn’t have what it takes, there is nothing you can do.”Norway’s Mankowitz and Kitel feel that it is sometimes in their athlete’s best interest to “modify the truth” if the score of the bout is a potentially a discouraging one for the boxer.  Kitel stressed, “we know the girls well, so we know their triggers – some of them want to be yelled at, some want to be calmly told one or two instructions.  The main thing we want to do in the corner is to give them time to relax.” Cultural Shift – International Perception of Female SportChirhoc Ramona, Romania’s IABA Team Official, reports that there are two sides to the way the public views women’s boxing in Romania.  “Most people are accepting of Female Boxing, she says.  “However there are still some who are uncomfortable with the idea.”Although Mike Moffa feels that mainstream boxers such as Layla Ali and Christy Martin have “made female boxing a little more popular,” it is still an oddity in Canada.  “They’ll ask, ‘She boxes?’ whenever I introduce one of my fighters to someone.”  Moffa figures acceptance will take time.  “It’s a male sport 100%, then all of a sudden the girls are here.  People don’t know how to react until they see how far they have come.”In Holland John Vergouwe feels the perception of female boxing is “getting better and better.”  However, Vergouwe is concerned that the athletes do not get enough support to train properly.  “We need a full-time program,” stresses Vergouwe.  “[Our Association] is working on it because it is so difficult for the girls to keep jobs and train at the same time.”Peter Taylor explains that the acceptance of Female Boxing is still slow coming in Ireland.  However, there are signs of hope: “Since Katie [Talyor] won the European Championships twice, it’s started kicking the women’s boxing off in Ireland.  But I still don’t think it’s [taken] serious [enough] in Ireland.”In the USA, Gloria Peek feels public perception “has improved a lot; however, most people still equate amateur boxing with pro boxing and I think it’s hurt by that.  And of course there is still a stronghold of male chauvinists who feel that boxing is a man’s sport.”Eva Wahlstrom, Finland’s most experienced female boxer, is pleased with the acceptance Women’s Boxing has received in her homeland.  “Nowadays it’s almost normal,” she explains.  When she began boxing in the late ‘90s the perception was that “all female boxers were ugly, almost like a man – maybe they really were men.”  She adds that female boxing is now “well-known” and although there is no professional female boxing, amateur female boxing is no longer “a surprise.”The negative stereotypes of Female Boxing have also dissipated elsewhere in the world.  Wang Lian Fong explained that although teakwondo is still the most practiced female sport in China, boxing is likely second in popularity. Fong reports that boxing is “No problem.  It is accepted.”The same holds for Norway, where Mankowitz and Kitel report that the kind of determined, intelligent and disciplined female athletes who are drawn to the sport of boxing have created a great deal of admiration and respect, not only from their male counterparts, but also in the general public.  “In all of the sports it is very normal for girls to compete.  The public sees these educated, good-looking girls having so much success and they embrace them,” explains Mankowitz.