I
joined Ballina Boxing Club in the mid 80s to do weight-training and became Hon. Secretary shortly afterwards. Not coming from a boxing background, I reluctantly
accepted the position, explaining that I did not know boxing, but was
assured that the club needed a Secretary who would do the
necessary in that regard and that the members and officials would look after the
other aspects. I had been
training for just a few months in
the weights room in the gym, which was on the floor
above the area for boxing training, and I found a
warmth and a bonding that was very evident between the club officials
and boxers. I would say the club was a home-from-home for most of the
members at that time, (and still is) a place to go for a work-out and a
place to meet people who accept each other in a non-judgemental way.
For the coaches, it was a way of giving back what they had received
from their own mentors in previous years. I wish the club
every success in the years ahead and I know that boxing will be a
passport to greater things for the youths and young ladies of the club
as they strive to build their futures. For me, this passport is a
game called Bridge, and it has taken me all over the world and
introduced me to like-minded people. Of course boxers play Bridge too,
and one of the foremost boxers/Bridge-players in Ballina was the late
Anthony Kilcullen. Anthony was highly respected in Connaught boxing and
equally at the Bridge table: anyone caught napping and it would
be all over in the wink of an eye. Mr. Mick Durcan, one of the founders of Ballina Boxing Club, was also a keen Bridge player.
My
own background was in primary school teaching and I can easily
recognise the benefits of gym training, though boxing was not on the
primary school curriculum. Many of the benefits of boxing are outlined here,
During my time with the Ballina Boxing Club, I have seen some young
boys with low self-esteem and lacking confidence, develop into fine men
to be respected and feared in the boxing ring while behaving like
proper gentlemen
elswhere. Very few boxers win national titles, but I know the
opportunity is there in Ballina should a suitable boxer join the club.
Success has four vital elements: Ability, Drive, Parental/Peer Support
and Good Coaching. To reach the top in any discipline, in addition, one
has to start young as Rory McIlroy or Tiger Woods did. Many people have
ability but lack the drive, and it is here where boxers like young
Jamie Conroy owe much of their success: Jamie has the ability and he's
prepared to put the work in. Ballina has some of the finest boxing
coaches in Ireland, they themselves having excelled at the sport as
youths and teenagers. A "complete" boxer is one who has competed
successfully at all levels, took up
coaching/mentoring/refereeing/judging afterwards and also served in
administration: Ballina Boxing Club has a number of these complete
boxers and that experience is a great advantage when working
with the youths and young ladies of the town and hinterland. The
new gym on Mercy Road provided a
vital facility for boxing for a time but the 10-year lease is set to
expire in 2022. Acutely aware of this, the club has sought a location
for a permanent home for the club, and in 2014, Ballina Community
Sports and Leisure Centre offered a site on which to achieve this and
construction is currently underway. The founders of the club in
1927 would be justly proud of achievements so far, and the
life-size photo of Dick Hearns in Mercy Road, Ballina, will always be a
reminder of
what a
Ballina man can achieve. It is envisaged the club will relocate to the
new facility in time for the 2021/2022 season. See: dickhearnscentre.ie