Breaking News
The Connacht
Boxing Centre of Excellence for boxer training which is up and running in Castlebar
since 2017 is a welcome development and its influence is already being felt within the county and beyond. The centre is the brain-child of Castlebar Boxing Club whose record in the sport is exemplary. Clubs from all over the province of Connacht are invited to send boxers to the centre to boost their training and skill levels. Boxing is Ireland's most successful summer Olympic sports and it is hoped this new venture will enhance the country's chances of further hounour in the future. Centralized training facilities in Dublin can only do so much and regional centres for coaching and honing of skills have been identified as the way forward. What better location in the centre of the province than Castlebar?
The
news that boxing clubs in Ballina and Mayo will soon have a very fine
stadium for county and regional tournaments has also been welcomed by
all. A company, trading as Dick Hearns Centre, is about to construct a
two-storey multi-functional indoor arena in Ballina, and it is envisaged
this will be used to showcase the enormous talent there is in the
county as well as being a venue for visiting clubs and teams from
outside the county and province to train and compete. The
centre takes its name
from the great Dick Hearns, a Ballina native who accomplished so much
in his sporting career in the ring, on the field and on the track, and
later as a very successful mentor in Gaelic football and soccer in
addition to taking charge of the physical training of recruits at Garda
HQ for several years. One's
trophies die with those who win them, however, and Dick's momorabilia
is currently on display in GAA Museum, Croke Park, Dublin. It is hoped
these priceless items will rightfully be placed on display very soon in
Dick's
native town of Ballina. "When we reach calm waters, it is easy to
forget who guied us through the storm" is an old saying and very true:
we must never forget what this great man has done for boxing in
Ballina, for Mayo Gaelic football, for Irish soccer, and for Irish
boxing, not only at national level but at European level also with the
Garda team. May his light shine for many years to come.
There
is a very positive relationship between the British and Irish boxing
associations, and clubs from both jurisdictions are only too eager to
travel to compete against their counterparts. Boxing clubs from Londan,
Leeds and Cardiff have been regular visitors to Ballina in the past and
it is envisaged this new venture will provide a readily-available
venue for further enjoyable encounters. Co. Mayo Boxing Board's boxers
have travelled to Belfast and Donegal last season and a selection from
Tyrone also boxed in Ballina during the summer. A Mayo boxing selection
will travel to Bristol in October 2019 while another is due to box in
Edinburgh in November. The second leg of the Finland/Ireland
Senior Ladies' International of 2015 took place in Ballina and the town
hosted a 16-day Polish training camp in December of the same year.
The aforementioned Connacht Boxing Centre of
Excellence in Castlebar will be complemented by the Dick
Hearns Centre in Ballina. Both centres will ensure that the sport gets
its rightful place in the day-to-day lives of the youth of Mayo in the
first instance, and in the development of all Irish boxers in the long term. Historians will view
these two developments as a watershed in the development of the sport
in the county and nationally: essentially a re-birth of the glory days
of Mayo boxing when huge crowds turned out to tournaments. People of vision are
never satisfied with "making do", rather they strive to leave a trail
much easier to follow by those who come after.
"For when the One Great Scorer comes
To mark against your name,
He writes - not that you won or lost -
But HOW you played the Game."
-- Grantland Rice
Both
the Connacht Boxing Centre of Excellence in Castlebar and the Dick
Hearns Centre in Ballina will be central to this re-birth.
Ar aghaidh linn le chéile!