Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid

THE FACTS

• The Tauranga Boxing Academy tournament featured 25 bouts, including first-time competitors and mature novices.
• Tye Belcher and Logan Gray won their matches, while Levi Belcher participated in an exhibition bout.
• The academy emphasises discipline, respect and humility, benefiting participants beyond the boxing ring.

Last Saturday, I went to my first boxing tournament for over 12 months, when I was ringside at the Tauranga Boxing Academy tournament at their 13th Avenue headquarters.

Twenty-five bouts took place at the grass-roots Tauranga tournament. The participants were a mixture of youngsters engaging in their first contests through to mature novice boxers ready to tick off engaging in combat in the ring, from their life must-do list.

It wasn’t hard to pick out the whānau of several boys and girls who were entering the ring for the first time in competition . It was a whole new world to nervous parents, siblings and grandparents of the newbie boxers.

It took me back to the Gisborne YMCA in May 1987, when my 15-year-old son made his competitive boxing debut.

There were plenty of what-ifs on the journey from Wairoa to Gisborne.

Then followed nervous pride as our boy walked to the ring wearing the uniform of the Wairoa Boxing Club.

Happiness broke through our uncertainty when the referee raised our son’s hand in victory at the end of the junior novice bout.

I could sympathise with the families of the first-timers who underwent the same emotional journey our family went through some 38 years ago.

The Tauranga Boxing Academy (TBA) operates under the umbrella of the Bay of Plenty Youth Development Trust.

Three TBA boxers entered the competition ring for the first time last Saturday.

Tye Belcher, 13, and Logan Gray, 15, impressed in defeating opponents from the Eastside Gym (Hamilton) and Tauranga Freestyle respectively.

Eleven-year-old Levi Belcher engaged in a lively exhibition with a Taumarunui youngster to get his first taste of action under fire in the ring.

Teral Thompson, 15, who has moved north from Naenae, was in good form in his eighth boxing contest, using his long reach to his advantage to earn a unanimous points decision.

Another TBA 15-year-old, Kaitiaki O’Neill, who recently boxed in the Queensland Golden Gloves, was involved in the best fight of the tournament.

While Kaitiaki was on the wrong side of the judges’ decision, the two combatants received the “fight of the tournament” award.

Essentially, the Tauranga Boxing Academy is a Bay of Plenty Youth Development Trust after-school programme aimed at two age groups, 9- to 12-year-olds and 13-17 years of age.

Competition boxing is then available to the most committed TBA after-school graduates.

The TBA competition boxers train twice a week under the tutelage of the TBA volunteer Boxing New Zealand-registered coaches.

The benefits to the TBA competition boxers go well beyond being able to compete.

Discipline, humbleness and respect are lessons that they carry into everyday life long after leaving the sport.

While the club gets them ready to box and compete, the real dividends are how the team interact on the road with other boxers, coaches and officials.

The TBA coaching team received many comments about their charges’ good manners, behaviour and respect, which reflects well on the Tauranga region.

The support of the TBA team parents is another big plus on the journeys around the North Island provincial tournaments.

The future will measure the work and dedication that the TBA class of 2025 have put in when they join with the community as mature adults.