18 months ago Harry and I started working together to take his boxing to the next level with his goal being to win Commonwealth and Olympic gold.
Harry has boxed since the age of 9, with the sport being second nature to him. Strength and conditioning however, was completely foreign to him.
Due to the nature of amateur boxing it was a new challenge to me as a coach to program and athlete who was in competition all year round, competing more than a handful of times as well as attending training camps at locations around Australian and Internationally.
Competitions prepped together:
2017
- 60kg Oceania Champion (June. Just started working together)
- AIBA World Championships in Germany (August)
- Australian Titles 60kg Champion; 4 x Australian Champion and 2018 Commonwealth Games qualifier (November)
2018
- Commonwealth Games 60kg Gold Medalist (April)
- 64kg Silver Medalist at the Kalpori Cup, Indonesia (July)
- Australian Golden Gloves Champion (July)
- Australian Super 8’s Champion (August)
- International Tournament in Istanbul, Turkey (September)
- Australian Titles 64kg Champion; 5 x Australian Champion; Highest International Ranked Male Boxer and Best Male Boxer of the Tournament (December)
When it came to starting with Harry he was a complete blank canvas. A then 19 year old with no strength training experience and little knowledge on nutrition and recovery for performance. With this, the initial focus with Harry’s programming was to teach him how to move well and begin to build a strength base that would help prevent injuries, increase his performance and set him up for future phases of training down the track.
With Harry’s multiple week long competitions and 2 to 4 week long training camps, it meant physical contact time with him was minimal throughout the 18 months. Due to this Harry’s programming was a combination of Strength, Conditioning and Maintenance phases (more detail to come in a later post).
With training being a major part of his performance, this is still only one part of the big picture when it came to what Harry needed to ensure he was going to achieve his dreams.
Getting Harry’s nutrition on track also played a vital role in his performance and recovery. For the most part Harry’s nutrition was not calculated until the past 6 months when increasing to 64kg weight class. This approach was taken as it was important to focus on teaching Harry what the right foods were to consume to fuel his body and not get too caught up in macro amounts and measuring. He had followed a particular routine for his entire boxing prep life so it was also important to ease him into a new way of prepping. As expected as soon as we changed up his food from fruit cups, muesli bars and tins of tuna, to good quality protein, fats, carbohydrates and vegetable, we saw a big change in a number of areas but mostly in his now ease to cut weight and perform at a high level.
When it comes to boxing it is a very lonely sport. Being a support and guidance for Harry through every detail of his prep has shown to be vital. Building a relationship where Harry has full trust in me and my abilities to get him to his goals is very important. We work together as a team, not as coach versus athlete, and over the months this has proven to be one of the key aspects to success.
With a massive 2018 and Commonwealth Gold to add to his collection, it’s no surprise that Harry has achieved so much at such a young age. An incredible athlete where talent and hard work meet. But with Harry it’s more than that. His focus, self drive, humble nature and attitude towards everything he sets his mind to is like no other. A true champion at heart! Lastly huge respect to Harry’s life long boxing coach Brian Levier. The number one man behind the scenes who has shaped Harry into the athlete he is today.
The past years have only just been the warm up, with his vision clear for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Gold! Keep your eyes on him…this champ is only getting started!
