02/07/2022
Back at the end of 2017 we started up as a little team of myself training Hayden and Ruby, over the Christmas period we were swamped with messages asking if we would train others, some experienced kids and some who hadn’t even worn a pair of boxing gloves or had been in a gym before. We agreed and throughout 2018 we built up a strong team of junior fighters who competed week in week out throughout the UK, taking some losses, but also some big wins along the way. 2019 we took 3 fighters across to Italy as part of team GB to compete in the world championships and came home with 2 silver medals, a European title, and 2 world titles. We continued to grow and have to date a vast collection of titles consisting of open tournament, Area, British, European, and World titles. And the best thing above all is a vast collection of memories made for myself and the kids.
The bad thing about all the greatness mentioned above is unfortunately it comes as a huge cost, believe it or not, running a junior team up and down the country when we receive no expenses comes as a huge financial burden. That along with the time it takes to arrange everything, along with trying to keep everybody happy doesn’t come easy, added to the need to chase payments every month to minimise the amount I need to take out my own pocket each time bills come in, the increase in insurance premiums, fuel costs etc etc has unfortunately taken its tole and as I’m not getting any younger I decided to take a few weeks off. After a long think and a chat with a few of my good friends in the sport I’ve today decided to call it a day with CTBA.
It’s not all doom and gloom and I’m certainly not walking away from the sport I’ve loved for as long as I can remember. After a chat with Simon from Unit5, who I’ll add has been brilliant with us and has always allowed us to use his gym like it was our own, he’s agreed for some of our older students to join Hayden and Ruby as part of their team. Where I’ll also be joining part of their already strong coaching team from time to time. For more info please drop us a message.
I’ll finish by saying a huge thank you for the support over the years and I’ll hopefully see a few of the older kids down the gym when I’m back off my hols 🙏🏻