BoxRec

I have recently been getting involved in helping out classes for kids from 4-10 at my local gym.

Most of the stuff we do is centred around fun fitness games and do a lot of running and stuff like that. The main boxing work we do at the moment is teaching a standard stance and differentiating between jab/backhand. As basic as it sounds it is quite difficult to keep 20 kids interested in pretending to punch in a mirror. Also, quite a lot of them struggle with the concept of keeping your hands up at all times

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of coaching kids and if so are there any techniques/games/drills that are both good for them to learn from and don't bore them to death

let them go mad on the body shield every now and then.

A novice boxer is a fresh slate. If he learns everything the correct way, executes everything correctly, and doesn’t have to unlearn anything, he’ll be miles ahead of the poorly coached boxer who has numerous bad habits.

To get a new kid excited about boxing science, teach him the basic stance, basic footwork, the basic punches, and a little about defensive blocking, slipping, rolling, and counterpunching. Then you do a focus pad workout with him that puts all this together . You do all this in his first 2-hour gym workout, to show him the potential of the sweet science and what he could eventually learn. You’re not trying to cram all that into him all at once, but give him an all-around feel for the potential of the game.

The first thing you teach him is how to relax.. Ask him if he’s right handed or left handed before giving him the appropriate stance.. Have him shake his arms out and relax his shoulders.. Have him look straight into the mirror and put his feet, legs, knees, hips, waist, torso, shoulders, arms, hands, neck, and head into perfect position. No tension on the shoulders or arms. Shoulders aren’t hunched and neck isn’t sucked in like a turtle. You need to be able to block, parry, slip, duck, or roll incoming punches with perfect ease and good speed...and counterpunch sharply and smoothly. A perfectly balanced and relaxed, scientifically correct stance is mandatory for achieving that.

Make sure their shoulders are aligned with their hips.. a 30 degree angle from square.. Chin is not pulled down to the chest nor forehead pointed at the opponent. Head is relaxed and natural, but back instead of hunched forward and down—so it’s more difficult to reach with a jab. Balance is on both feet, not the front or back foot. Torso and shoulders have to be positioned to duck and slip punches with perfect ease.

For an orthodox stance the left foot is 17 degrees from a right angle or line of head direction, and the right foot 30 degrees... The left big toe touches a perpendicular plane that runs from your nose to your opponent’s nose, through your navels to the floor. The right heel touches this plane from the opposite side.. Most boxer’s feet are too far apart rather than too close, so strive for a tighter stance than most for better speed, leverage, and power. Knees are most often bent too much. The knee bend is soft for mobility and superior foot speed.

Take 10 minutes on the stance, then go to footwork. Have the novice step in left-right, step out right-left, repeating over and over. Spend 10 minutes on this movement speeding it up—this is the boxer’s bounce, which is the first basic foot pattern. Then 4 steps in and 4 back. Then stepping right it’s right-left, right-left, stepping left its left-right left-right. Every 2 steps you’re back in your stance. Spend 30 minutes teaching them to step in and out, left and right and circle in both directions.

Then go through the basic punches starting with the jab. Teach them to move their left shoulder and clavicle forward to set up the jab, and get full extension on the jab without lunging -- and to step in as they jab, not before. The straight right is triggered off the ball of the right foot with no loading or signal its coming... Punches are all thrown hand first.. then arm.. then shoulder.. then torso, body and legs in a lightning sequence – thrown for form, speed, accuracy, and deception rather than power.. Go through the jab, straight right, hooks, and uppercuts with both hands for 30 minutes – put him in bag gloves and don the focus pads.

Show him how to block the jab, and slip and duck punches for 10 minutes with the focus pads on – and then start the pad workout. Praise him on his punching, footwork, slipping, ducking rolling and countering. Don’t go fast. If he tries to punch hard tell him he’s loading and telegraphing, and to be smoother and more deceptive. Have him throw the punch you want by holding one of the pads in perfect position and angle for the jab, straight right, left hook, right hook, left uppercut, or right uppercut, and see how fast he reacts. He'll love it. At the end of the 2 hours work in some combinations, the 1-2 the 1-2-3 and possibly a couple more.. Don’t show him body punching for 3 or 4 days. If he asks say “that’s coming” ... Stick with shadow boxing and mitt work for several days before moving the heavy bags, speed bags, and double end bags. With shadow boxing and the focus pads you can correct his stance immediately – move his head, shoulders, feet, and torso where they need to be, and correct his form immediately.. Kids tend to lay into punching bags and not worry about correct positioning, balance and form if they start hitting them right away.. You want to develop crafty, clever, skillful boxers with great footwork, and to have that mentality – and not the macho fighter big bomber mentality.

Would you always teach a left handed kid to box 'southpaw'?

Because that way his big power hand is his left... You also need your most adept hand blocking jabs and hooks when you're facing somebody with the same stance.. If he's really great he'll drill you if you're using your non-dominant hand... You naturally develop better jabs and hooks with your non-dominant hand -- and your jabs are going to be more deceptive and effortless with your offhand.. That's just the way your brain is wired.

You can develop a very high level of comfort being a converted southpaw after many, many years of boxing -- like Oscar De La Hoya for instance.. But he's always going to seem just a little awkward against the Mayweather's, Mosley's, Hopkins's and Pacquiao's of the world. They're just as experienced as he is, and are more in their natural environment at all times. The right hand is going to be a particular weakness and will never be super great for a converted southpaw.. Just as you'll never throw a pass 75 yards down field with your non-dominant hand.

The two hemispheres of the brain are not interchangeable. They're used for different processes and tasks. The asymmetries allow the two sides of the brain to specialize. When you undo or tamper with this efficient setup, it causes many psychological problems in kids and adults. This is something that's very little known, but if you research the subject deeply you'll find tons of data to back me up on this.

It's okay to train your non-dominant---or offhand as I call it---to be more proficient. Just don't do it at the expense of your dominant one.