The recently held essential introductory coaching clinic that was staged by the Jamaica Boxing Association has been endorsed by a number of local coaches who praised the initiative for its valuable content and impact.

The one-day clinic, led by certified personal trainer and boxing coach Ava Sturm from Canada, was held on Wednesday at the Stanley Couch Gym in Parade Gardens. It provided in-depth training and practical insights, covering essential techniques that can be easily incorporated into training sessions for new fighters or individuals just starting their boxing journey and marked an important milestone in the JBA’s mission to expand its groundbreaking gloves over guns futures initiative.

It was attended by 22 coaches who received certificates of participation.

Among the attendees was Coach Odean Taylor from the Portmore-based Fit Like a Fighter Initiative, who was particularly impressed by the session’s content. “The session was very informative. We were taken back to basics, where we were taught (along with) and a demonstration was done of things that we can incorporate easily in our training sessions to help with creating a little bit more baseline of where to start with new fighters or persons who are just starting out with boxing.”

One of the key topics covered during the clinic was the technique of the jab. Coach Taylor highlighted the importance of body rotation, shoulder positioning, fist alignment, and overall body stance when throwing a jab “One of the things she was talking about mostly, is the Jab, how the rotation of the body is important, where the shoulder is positioned, where the fist is positioned, where to aim with the arm that is throwing the jab, how your body should be aligned, (and) all of those things just from jabbing. So she showed us the different steps to go through, to identify these things then making sure that we correct the misconceptions or the incorrect forms, to make sure that they are throwing the jabs the correct way.”

Ava Sturm herself expressed her satisfaction with the clinic and the enthusiastic participation of the local coaches. “Everyone is so professional and everyone is so engaged today and there is people asking questions and they received me very well. I feel like their progression from learning today, everything went very smoothly and I’m really excited for what the future holds for all of these coaches”

The first gloves over guns futures initiative fight-card is scheduled for Saturday February 22 at the Stanley Couch Gym.