"Newtown A.B.C. has been running for over 25 years in various locations in the small market town, under the guidance of a number of coaches and trainers, including Ernie Ray, Les Bridge, Keith Galhier and Glyn Fletcher.

The last eleven years the boxers have trained at their present gym, under the careful guidance of head coach Steven Chapple-Gill, who set the gym up eleven years ago to concentrate on training boxers after his own boxing carreer was cut short with a bad recurring shoulder and neck injury.

During that time assistant coaches have come onboard, including Darren Owen a former Boxer at Newtown. Mid 2006 saw the arrival of Tim Gibbs, a former Boxer in the R.A.F. and the latest addition to the coaching staff is Former Royal Marine Boxer Tony Smith.

The club has had some good success over the years, given the size of its catchment area, including 3 Welsh schoolboy champions, 1 Welsh youth Champion, 1 Welsh Senior Champion, 1 four nations gold medallist, 8 Welsh championships finalists. The club's most recent success being 2 2007 Welsh novice champions - Johnathon Flower at 74kg and Lee Harding at 64kg.

The club meets for training on Mondays and Wednesdays 7.00pm-9.00pm and is open on Fridays at the same time for active carded up Boxers (boxers involved in proper competitions out side of the gym).

The club is open to anyone over the age of 10 that becomes a member.

There is a small questionaire to be filled out by boxers or parents for the under sixteens.

Membership is £10 plus £5 for W.A.B.A. insurance and £2 per session attended.

Most equipment is provided except for gum shields and hand raps (2" bandages) but you are welcome to supply your own gloves head guards etc.

Amateur Boxing is a full contact sport and every effort is made to make it as safe as possible. The training side of boxing can be very demanding both mentally and physically. Both verbal and physical prompting will be needed when being coached.

Boxing shows are mainly held at night and due to the long distances most of the rural clubs have to travel, it is unavoidable that sometimes they do not get back until after midnight.

For a training session you should take a towel, a dry top and coat with hood or hat for after training (it is very important to stay warm and dry after any form of physical exercise .Also bring your own bottle of water to re-hydrate yourself.

A typical training session would consist of
1. A 5minute warm up to raise heart beat and prepare your body for exercise.
2. A one mile run.
3. Two 3 minute rounds of free skipping (30 second breaks), four 1 minute rounds, fast hard skipping (15 second breaks) then four 30 second skipping flat out as fast as possible (10 second breaks).
4. Full mobilization of all main joints and muscles from the neck to your feet.
5. Six to ten minutes of conditioning exercise, with the emphasis on quality and the importance of good technique, many various exercises for abdominals, back, legs, shoulders, neck, hips, waist etc.
6. Eight-ten minutes rolling circuit training based on a lot of the exercises in part 5, still with good technique, but now with speed and constant movement.
7. Two minutes of relaxed deep breathing, with wise words from a coach (little bit of good advice while everyone is quiet).
8. 2 rounds of foot work and balance 2 rounds of footwork with defensive and offensive movement. 2 rounds off shadow boxing.
9. 10-12 rounds of mixed punch bag work, hand pads, situational light sparring or free sparring for the more experienced boxers.(head guards must be worn even when light sparring is taking place).
10. Ten minute warm down includes a full body stretch routine with loosen off and shake out. Get changed ,get and stay warm and get home.We also advise people

The Club has expanded its training facility over the latter part of 2007 and will be able to cope better with the influx of more young people wanting to try boxing, due to the success of British Boxing Stars such as Joe Calazaghe, Rickie Hatton, Amhir Khan and Enzo Maccarinelli.

The club held its first open boxing show for over twenty years on Easter bank holiday 2007, which saw 12 local Boxers pitting their skills against boxers from Birmingham, Manchester and as far as Ireland.

It was such a success that they now plan to put on more shows over the next few years.

The first being at Llandrindod Wells on 1 March 2008.

Anyone wishing to try Boxing at Newtown or even get involved with the coaching side can ring the club on 07870 455759 / 01686 625244."

Article written by Steven Chapple-Gill