Developing a Young Fighter From Scratch

I'll post a response to this tomorrow once I'm back in the office.

Might make interesting reading.

 

well i'd use the first few sessions learning how to punch right, repetition is key i think. make sure every punch is perfect, spend round after round throwing a jab in a mirror, then a straight, then hooks then uppercuts, until every motion from toes upward is perfect, if that took one session or two thats fine, but they'd practise it to some degree at the start of every session for a couple of weeks. then i'd be working on how to throw that punch without losing balance, thn introduce movement, getting in and out whilst throwing, then do this on pads and slowly intorduce head movement ( just getting them used to moving their head after throwing, or getting clipped by the pads) then work on blocking ni light sparring, and try and fit all the pieces together.

might take a while and time frame varies but thats the essentials imo

 

im always reminded of cus d'amato and tyson, theres a clip of tyson (about 15/16 ish still built like a tank!) on the heavy bag and looking super quick throwing great combos with venom and cus sasys something like "watch your head/keep it down" and tyson says "is my head coming up?" and cus goes "nearly, its starting to come up, its not perfect its gotta be perfect!", they made him a fighting machine, a phenom

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iXP9yoc4VY[/ame]

 

I read somewhere ages ago that Eder Jofre used to spend most of his time as a child shadow boxing.

 

The question is how much do you allow for natural style development. This is probably key in the development of most great fighters. Fighters of all levels will find some things more natural than others and devise their own ways that may or may not be better of doing things.

Jones jr, Sweet Pea, Hamed, etcetc had styles that werent conventional but were natural to them. How much do you drill into these fighters how much do you let them feel their way?

 

1st Session - I'd have them on the pads first and foremost. When i trained we hardly ever done pads, the trainer just used to take the carded guys on them, but was happy to let us spar them without any punching form, which i suppose didn't benifit either of us

2nd Session - I'd do a few foot work drills for the first half hour or so and then i'll let them move around the ring with 1 of the more experienced fighters, maybe abit of a tap spar

 

Everything would depend on there mentality.....and there trust.

I think the fact that they were enjoying it and building there confidence as a person.....is of the utmost importance.

Then of course if they was fighting amateur that they knew that the gym dosent revolve around them.....remember they are still young....and you will go to the effort of giving them a lift or buying there gloves etc if they is skint......but they must show some form of return, turning up/respect etc....

The trust as mentioned is of course there belief in you.....trainers are like fathers.

Good thread btw.....

 

ye i heard that, i heard the cuban ams do it loads as well, and i think that helps with wrimcs dilemna, as a coach you can observe them shadowboxnig and pick up on faults you can iron out, or traits to their style which could be left and decide what type of style they have

 

Great post :thumbsup

Another thing....

I seen world champs skip to warm down but an amateur coach who made 40 + champs without a boxing gym......skip to warm up.


Can be confusing.

 

Always start with stance and guard. Everything comes off of it and if its wrong then forget it. Too many guys start wrong and never correct it.

 

1) Footwork and balance. Everything comes from that. Getting that right will make it much easier to teach the rest. Learning the right position for maximum leverage. By the end of the session I'd introduce the jab, but just the jab. That way they get a taste of punching in position, on the move, but mostly just moving.

2) I'd use that first session as a basis to start the basic punches. Jab, straight, left hook. No combinations, just combining the movement, the footwork and positioning with basic, single shots.