We Thank every single coach past and present for their dedication to the Club.

When it comes to Waltham Forest Amateur Boxing Club head coach Chris ‘Bomber’ Baker can certainly be described as the glue that holds us together.
In fact Chris has certainly stuck around for years – seeing many highs and lows during that time – and he was a key figure in helping the club find its new home at the start of the millennium when we quite realistically faced being disbanded.
Chris, who learnt to box at the Wellington Avenue Youth Club in Chingford, joined the club as a 19-year-old boxer, with his most notable achievement coming in 1994, when he was crowned middleweight Senior Novice Champion.
The following year Baker attempted to conquer the ABA’s, but he would lose out to eventual winner Jason Matthews who would also eventual go onto win both the WBO and Commonwealth middleweight titles as a pro.
Bomber, who had flourished under the guidance of Derek Lloyd announced his own retirement from the ring in 1995, but quickly went from poacher turned gamekeeper as he slipped on the pads to start his coaching qualifications.
Chris has been with us ever since, and his dedication to the club was noted in 2012 when he was short listed in the local council’s Coach of the Year Awards.

Reflecting on events he said: “I will never forget the night I won that Novice final at the home of boxing York Hall.
“I was very lucky to have Derek as a coach at the time, and I learnt an awful lot from him.
“Hopefully I have been able to take a lot of what he taught me into my own coaching.
“Being involved with this club is something I love, and while a lot of sweat and toil goes into it seeing one of the kids get a result in the rings gives you no better feeling.
“The club has been through a lot of highs and lows since I’ve been involved with it,” he continued.
“But I’m pleased to say thanks to the efforts of Ian Cuddy and all the other fantastic coaches we have on board that we are moving in the right direction.
“We now have a state of the art training facility at E4 Health and Fitness and what an honour it was to host the North East Division Schoolboy Championship just after Christmas.
“I now look forward to us hosting our first open show at the gym, because it is vital that as a club we can generate funds.
“I certainly know Derek, who was such a huge part of this club will be looking down in anticipation, so hopefully when that day comes we can do him proud and have plenty of winners on the card.”

Jas Singh

Coach
2012 – 2018

Born, Bred and raised in Essex, England Jas spent all his childhood in amateur boxing.

After his amateur boxing career he moved into Pro Boxing circuit.
Unfortunately, during this time, Jas had his pro career cut short after a work place accident.
He decided to take up coaching because he had a lot to give back.

Jas has been ABA coach for 16 years, he has vast experience having worked in Las Vegas with legends of boxing in the modern era Jeff Rodger, Floyd Mayweather Snr along with Richard Steele- Hall of Fame Referee.

He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the lads at Waltham Forest Amateur Boxing Club.

WFABC thanks Jaz Singh on Volunteering for 11years of Coaching and Time dedicated to the Club. 

Peter Williams

Coach
2016 – 2018

“We train for Perfection and Fight to win, like our lives depends on it”.
Williams has always demonstrated remarkable versatility as a boxing/athletics strength and endurance coach. His expertise is to facilitate power and speed for athletes like Jo Payne, National Champion in his weight category. Williams has adapted his impressive transferable strength and endurance skills to boxing at Waltham Forest Boxing club. He is a Level 2 athletics coach, and a boxing coach. More recently Williams is a certificated boxing referee and judge for Alliance Amateur Boxing shows.

From his early childhood Williams was inspired to be involved in boxing by his cousin (World light middle weight Champion) Maurice Hope, together with long-time school friend (The Dark destroyer) Nigel Benn. Williams aims to reinforce a reputation as a speed, strength and endurance coach for carded, amateur boxers both male and female. His speciality is creating individualised power circuit training for beginners, intermediate and advance boxers at Waltham Forest Boxing club, whilst developing his refereeing expertise.

During the 2012, London Olympic Games, Williams was one of the central Field Of Play Volunteers. He co-ordinated, organized and facilitated boxers, and led them on during the national anthem’s and was present during the medal ceremonies. Williams also escorted coaches and VIPs to designated points.

“If you are willing to endure repetitive pain, I can get you stronger and faster than your opponents guaranteed! ” – “Heavy weights with slow repetitions will only slow you down and bulk you up. Light weights with rapid repetitions, will develop speed, power and rip your physic.”

Becoming a Boxing Coach

What it takes to be a qualified Boxing Coach in the UK

18 to adult

ABAE/SPORT ENGLAND Coaching Contact Boxing:

Note: These courses are normally for people involved in amateur boxing clubs.

To achieve a career in contact boxing you must work towards awards, these can only be accessed through an affiliated boxing club.

The coaching structure is as follows:

Entry Requirements

• The entry age of 16 is based on development opportunities that exist within Further Education and Academies.  Anybody under the age of 18 is legally considered a minor and as such would always need to operate under the supervision of an appropriately qualified adult (all Level 1 coaches must operate under such supervision as the course qualifies coaches to assist delivery of sessions).
• Those without prior experience as a carded boxer would need to have attended a Boxing Leader Course in order to gain the understanding of boxing techniques required to attend the Level 1.
• There is no requirement to be a member of an ABAE affiliated club as the qualification would not be accepted onto the Qualifications & Credit Framework (QCF) with this stipulation.   The majority of places on courses will go to members of ABAE affiliated clubs.

1^st 4Sport Level 1 Certificate in Coaching Amateur Boxing

• The qualification is awarded by 1^st4Sport Qualifications and the ABAE is the delivery
• Partner.
• The qualification may not be UKCC endorsed as WABA do not wish to be involved.
• The qualification will be on the Qualifications & Credit Framework (QCF) and will be an accredited, nationally recognised qualification.  The qualification will be developed to meet UKCC standards.
• The qualification will qualify coaches to assist the delivery of sessions under the supervision of an ABAE Full Coach (or Level 2) or above.
• The Level 1 Coach will be able to hand-up in the corner and he/she will be able to take technical and conditioned sparring (again, under supervision), but NOT open sparring.
• There will be a full Theoretical Syllabus and Practical Syllabus for the qualification that candidates will be able to see in advance of the course.
• The courses will be delivered using a ratio of 1 Coach Educator to 12 candidates (1:12).  This ratio reflects the requirement of the coach educator to support all 12 candidates with individual feedback throughout the course, and to support the completion of tasks within each candidate’s Candidate Pack.
• Each candidate will receive a resource pack.

POST-COURSE

ABAE Registration

• Although it will not be a requirement to be a member of an ABAE affiliated club in order to attend a course, coaches will only be able to operate within amateur boxing if they are registered to the ABAE.
• A coach will still need to have a current enhanced CRB clearance and First Aid qualification in order to register with the ABAE.

Ongoing Qualifications & CPD

• Following implementation of the new Level 1 and Level 2 courses there is a need to develop additional continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities for coaches’ e.g. practical seminars.  These will allow coaches to continue to enhance their knowledge and skills without necessarily having to take the next level of qualification.
• Although a coach cannot have their qualification taken off them, within a 3 year period there will be a requirement for coaches to either progress to the next level of qualification or complete a Refresher Course, as a requirement of ABAE registration.
• The Level 2 qualification is currently in development for roll-out in 2011.  It is very unlikely that a stipulation for Level 1 coaches to wait a year before attending the Level 2 course could be applied.  Coaches will be able to progress when they are ready to and feedback from their assessor will guide them as to an appropriate timescale.