Sports Trio adding value to local boxing by Barbados Today 21/07/2020 written by Barbados Today Updated by Stefon Jordan 21/07/2020 3 min read A+A- Reset Chad Belgrave, Brandon Lee and Craig Reid Share FacebookTwitterLinkedinWhatsappEmail 402 Three young coaches are now part of the Barbados Boxing Association (BBA) setup after successfully completing the national coaching course. Richard Atwell, president of the BBA said he was glad to see that Brandon Lee, 26, Chad Belgrave, 25 and Craig Reid ,41, had decided to become certified boxing coaches. During an interview Atwell told Barbados TODAY they planned to have yearly national certification courses. Despite being unhappy with the turnout for last year’s course held June 24 to September 30, he noted that BBA executives were pleased to see that out of the six participants that attended, all were mostly young people. “We were looking for a bigger response. But the plan is to put on the course every year. Before it was sporadic in terms of the application and how we actually implemented it. So, it wasn’t an annual thing but going forward from 2019 we said we are going to put on a coaching course and we are,” he said. Lee, a graphics designer by profession, explained that the three days a week BBA coaching course benefited him significantly. Having returned to Barbados in 2016 from the United States of America where he had taken up boxing, Lee said he competed in a couple local boxing tournaments and as time went on thought about the possibility of coaching on the island and that’s when he opted to do the course with some encouragement from Atwell. Chad Belgrave, Brandon Lee and Craig Reid “I decided that I want to do a bit of coaching and even though I did not have the certificates at the time. Richard Atwell told me ‘if you really want to coach and have your own gym, you should do the coaching course.’ So I took the opportunity and did the course,” he explained. He stated that some areas of focus during the course were the different phases of coaching, how to handle athletes and medical terms used in the event of injuries. Chad Belgrave another one of the participants is a young martial artist who opted to incorporate boxing since it is a contact sport similar to his first love which is karate. Speaking about the course, the 25-year-old Belgrave said: “It was quite informative. I got to learn some of the theories behind the practical. Things such as how to properly set up the training programs especially when it gets closer for the time for the competitions. That part was very important to me.” Belgrave also expressed satisfaction at seeing young individuals like himself showing an interest in coaching boxing. He stated: “I would like to see more young people because it is a very good way to develop yourself and become more confident, honestly. Also, don’t let age put you in a bottle at all.” Craig Reid who is the oldest of the three told Barbados TODAY that his journey of over 20-years in mixed martial arts was the reason he decided to get involved in boxing. The 41-year-old Reid has a love and passion for teaching both martial arts and boxing. Describing the four-month coaching course as interesting, Reid added: “From being more involved in boxing as a sport, obviously I get pulled into the boxing world, so I attend more boxing events, training fighters. So based on that I figured I might as well get the coaching badges required. “The course was interesting. A lot of the stuff I knew but it was good to get it in a formal aspect of teaching. And even though some of the things I knew, it is good to be reminded sometimes. The course was informative and it was good receiving interesting perspectives,” said Reid who coaches at Fight and Fit based in Surfside Gym. morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb Barbados Today Stay informed and engaged with our digital news platform. The leading online multimedia news resource in Barbados for news you can trust. You may also like Six more qualify for CARIFTA 18/02/2025 Strikers win to set up showdown with Blazers 18/02/2025 Hurley, Bulls silence Cavs 18/02/2025