Oughterard Boxing Club

A “get together” and meal for all our boxers who were involved in this seasons Championship on the 30th April and a Video of the Irish Juvenile Championship was shown.

Marvin Lee is currently in training for the European Junior Championship which are to be held in Birmingham in June. He has already spent approximately three weeks squad training with the other team members at Drimnagh Boxing Club in Dublin, in preparation for the above Championship. We wish him well in his endeavours, and I am sure, the people of Killanin and Oughterard wish him well also.

An indication of how highly the I.A.B.A. (Irish Amateur Boxing Association) hier- archy regard Marvin can be gauged from the fact that he is one of only four Junior boxers to have been awarded a £ 1,000 grant from the Government Sports Body. This was applied for through the I.A.B.A. and while it is small in comparison to what other sports people got, it is the first time Junior boxers have been recipients. This is to help in Marvin’s preparation for the above Championship and ultimately maybe a place on the Irish team for the Olympics in Sydney, Australia in 3 years time. As I understand it, the money will be administered by the I.A.B.A. and will be paid out on an “expenses basis” to Marvin, based on receipts etc. Again we wish him well and hope that he can at least bring home a Bronze Medal, as he did at the European Youth Championship in Italy last year. In last months Newsletter I thanked a number of people on be half of our Club, for their assis tance and vocal support at the Juvenile Championship.

While I thanked Seamus Kelly, I left out his wife Mary and their two children, Martin and Sandra, who spent the full week in Dublin with us. Connie Joyce and his wife Nora also took the week off to be with us in Dublin. Connie gave such vocal support all week to our boxers, that he was barely squeak ing by the time Michael Kelly’s final was fought on Saturday. We didn’t lack vocal support, how ever, as there was a strong contingent up from Oughterard for the finals.

John Healy led from the front and the Baur isheen troops rallied to the cause so well, that the Stadium shook to its foundations. His lieu tenant Jimmy Kelly took on the role cheer leader and brought out the killer instinct. Other supporters with Oughterard connections in great voice at the finals were Paul Betty and Jenna Richards, John McGauley and his sons, and Adrian Cusack and his father John.

N.B. Thanks to Connie Joyce for Video-taping the County, and Connacht Championships, saving us having to purchase them elsewhere. As he said himself “I really got hooked on it.”