Highland Boxing Academy takes first steps towards normality
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Highland Boxing Academy head coach Liam Foy has been delighted to welcome back his group of under-18s to full training.
Tier One of the Scottish Government’s framework to combat Covid-19 allows for contact sports to resume indoors for those under the age of 18, so Foy has been running sessions as often as he can.
Protective measures have been implemented, with smaller class sizes and 15 minutes between sessions specifically set aside to clean equipment, but he is delighted with how things have gone so far.
“It’s been really good, but it has been a constant battle trying to structure sessions in a way that allows us to take on new members in the safest possible way,” he explained.
“It has given a little bit of hope to the over-18s now too.
“There is a pathway there for us to get back to some sort of normality, and the seniors see that if we get to level zero they can return to pad-work and contact sparring.
“From my perspective, it has been hard keeping everyone motivated for such a long period of time since we returned, because obviously everyone wants to get back and do everything as soon as they can.
“We have retained all our members from before lockdown, and we’ve taken on loads more. There have been some long nights, but it’s worth it because the appetite is there just now, which is really good.”
While there was the possibility that people would be hesitant to return, Foy has instead seen numbers boom.
“We kept in touch with pretty much everybody during lockdown,” he explained.
“I think most people just wanted to get back to normality.
“We could have just opened our doors, but instead we did inductions where we set all the rules and expectations out.
“That alleviated concerns, people knew that they were coming back to a gym that was taking every step to make it as safe as possible.”
