Benefits of Amateur Boxing

Healthy Living Habits: Success in boxing is inconsistent with smoking, drinking, taking drugs, and eating badly. Time spent partying or looking for trouble must be redirected toward rest, conditioning, and health-consciousness.

Self-Discipline: Boxers must learn to listen to their coaches and to the more experienced boxers around them. They learn humility. They must adjust their lifestyles and eating habits. They must learn to endure the pain of constant conditioning. Ultimately, they must summon the courage to step up into the ring in front of hundreds of people and perform a difficult skill with poise and control.

Good Sportsmanship: Boxing commands good sportsmanship. There is no trash-talking or posturing. Each boxer knows the pain of preparing the courage necessary to get int he ring. They respect each other for being there, win or lose.

Respect for Rules: Boxing is a sport where a band-aid, extra pound of weight, a judge’s single vote, lack of defined waist band, or spitting out a mouthpiece can disqualify you after months of hard preparation. The rules are established for safety and fairness, and they are strictly enforced. Boxers with the most checkered of legal backgrounds learn they must learn the rules and abide by them.

Self-Confidence: Boxers have more self-confidence and less need to prove themselves by reacting physically when confronted or insulted. Boxers with anger management problems and schoolyard fight histories can be seen counseling younger boxers about how they must not resort to fighting to settle disputes.

New Friends: Boxers gain a king of family in a boxing club. There is a tight-knit relationship among the boxers and coaches at out club.

Self-Esteem: Some kids who take up boxing come from backgrounds where they lacked respect from parents, from peers, and sometimes society itself. Some have experienced racism or physical abuse. As they learn how to box, they discover their own courage and earn the respect of others. The result is a positive self-image.

Physical Conditioning: Amateur boxers are among the best conditioned young people alive. To box adequately, they must do running, sprinting, heavy bag work, burnouts, ring work, sparring, medicine ball work, weightlifting, and abdominal strengthening.