BOXING: 2014 Commonwealth Games boxer Kaye Scott has her gloves ready for Rio as she trains with the world’s best at the International Boxing Association (AIBA) Training camp in Qianan, China.
The Chinese Boxing Federation recently invited the best women’s boxers from Australia, Finland, Italy, Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan for a joint training camp where the athletes can spar and prepare for future tournaments.
The Sydneysider was introduced to the sport of boxing through a “boxercise” class at her local gym.
“The class instructor was an active fighter and used to train a few boys after the class with proper contact boxing. He noticed my style in the class and encouraged me to stay back after class to learn some more and see if I liked the contact training,” said Scott.
With a lot of dedication she made huge progress and is now training alongside Commonwealth Games teammates Shelley Watts and Kristy Harris in the eastern city of Qianan with the aim of making the 2016 Australian Olympic Team.
This camp will help athletes prepare for the 2016 AIBA Asian/Oceanian Olympic Qualification Tournament, a lead up tournament to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Scott has been boxing competitively for just over 5 years. She says her greatest boxing moment was her selection and appointment as captain of the 2014 Australian Commonwealth Games boxing team, which following on from the London Olympics, included women’s boxing on its program for the first time.
Over the last decade boxing has spread across the world, females in more than 120 countries across five continents now participate in the sport.
The 30-year-old believes female boxers are often considered more technical and tactical in their style compared with their male counterparts.
London 2012 was the first time in history that both female and male competitors can participate in every single event at the Games.
Scott said that it was inevitable that women’s boxing would make it onto the Olympic stage, allowing women to “showcase their skill and talent in the most prestigious sporting event in the world”.
As a proud advocate for gender equality, particularly insport, Scott was proud to be selected in the Commonwealth Games team and be part of a change in the primarily male dominated sport.
“I believe the broader community is accepting of the change and supportive of females within the sport.”
Despite the recent progressions made within the sport, there are still major disparities in the number of medals women can win compared to the men.
With only three weight divisions (fly, light and middleweight) on the program for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, many girls are forced to fight above or below their best fighting weight.
Fortunately Scott said she is one of the few boxers that easily fits in her weight category, with no major diet cutting or sweat training needed for weigh in.
“Ideally my best fighting weight would be in the welterweight division but since that's not an Olympic weight category I fight up in the middleweight division,” said Scott. Scott is currently training twice daily, six days a week at Hornsby PCYC and with Team Business at G-six Fitness on the Central Coast.
When she is not travelling and training around the globe, Scott will often train out of the AIS in Canberra where trainings can increase to three sessions a day.
Trainings usually consist of alternating days of cross country running, track work, shadow boxing or strength and conditioning in the morning, with another boxing specific session in the afternoon.
Multi-nation training camps allow these athletes to experience and train with the best in the world.
“There are more than 60 girls at this camp so it's been a great opportunity to test yourself against a variety of different boxing styles,” said Scott.
The girls train three times per day in China, with the first 2 sessions specifically for the Australian team while the afternoon boxing specific session is a joint country training session.
China is one of the leading nations in world boxing, and with their athletes are preparing for the upcoming ASBC Asian Confederation Women’s Continental Championships, the Australian Team are able to harness this high level of training in the lead up to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Scott hopes to see further developments for equality in the future, but she still has her eyes firmly set on Rio 2016.
“I want to test myself further and Rio 2016 has been cemented as my next sporting goal. Competing against the upper echelon of my sport at the Worlds pinnacle sporting event, the Olympics would be everything to me.”
Ashleigh Knight
Olympics.com.au
