AMATEURS
Wales national coach Colin Jones, formerly a British, Commonwealth and European welterweight champion, in his own words tells Louis Daniel of his roles and responsibilities
The Welsh national coach opens up
“I’M STILL very proud of what I achieved myself as an amateur boxer under Gareth Bevan at the Penyrheol ABC. I won my first Welsh title at 11 years old then won every year bar one before turning pro at 18. I also won three British schoolboys. In the seniors I added two British ABA titles and went to the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. I had well over a hundred bouts. We need to get kids back to serving that type of apprenticeship.
In 2006, Tony Williams asked me to join the national set-up. I agreed to give it a trial for a year, see how we went, and I’ve been there since. I’ve helped bring through the likes of Fred Evans, Andrew Selby, Joe Cordina, Lauren Price, Rosie Eccles….
I’ve been head coach since 2011. I’m responsible for the whole kibosh but mainly focus on the top Youth and Seniors, anyone eligible for the next Commonwealth Games. It’s a fouryear programme. We’ll only take them if we think they can medal. I enjoy the travelling and I love the opportunity to study all the fighters at the big tournaments.
I’m based at the National Sports Centre in Cardiff, a lovely facility. As a coach, you have to be good at a lot of things. To help, we’ve got analysts here, someone doing the strength and conditioning, dieticians, who work for the Institute of Sport not just the boxing. It gives me more time to coach the boxers. I’m also very reliant on the club coaches at grassroots level. There’s so much knowledge in those older fellas.
I still remember and utilise methods from the good old days but any coach who can’t tweak and alter, will get left behind. The
Elite squad are here Monday to Thursday. It’s a good time to be an amateur boxer. They get all their food, accommodation, petrol paid for, which gives them every chance. Too many kids with great potential are turning pro as teenagers and I see them two years later and they’ve had just three, four fights. Ruined. What a waste of talent. I’ll be the first to tell them to turn pro and fill their pockets, when they’re ready.
I have a very good relationship with Rob Mccracken, a very clever man, at the GB set-up in Sheffield so, if we’ve an especially talented boxer, I’m more than happy to send them to him, knowing they’ll be in capable hands.
Presently, we’ve got Mickey Mcdonagh at 63kgs and Sammy Lee at 81kgs plus (World champion) Lauren Price at 75kgs and Rosie Eccles at 69kgs. All are in with a good shout of going to the Tokyo Olympics next year. The Olympics are the pinnacle for any amateur. It’s some achievement just to qualify.
You have to have the boxer’s best interests at heart. My biggest gripe today is the restrictions on wrapping boxer’s hands. The amateur authorities are stuck in time. We need pro wraps for all senior boxers. It’s not so they can hurt people, it’s to prevent boxers busting their hands at a young age. I’m seeing terrible injuries at 18, 19, 20. Presently a pro wrap is only allowed at the Worlds, Europeans and Olympics which is ludicrous. By the time youngsters reach elite competition, it’s too late.
Our top Welsh boys and girls get decent funding but it’s still the smallest funding of the home nations because we’re the smallest nation. We have to succeed at big tournaments just to sustain it.
As Welsh coach, I’ve been to six Commonwealth Games - three Senior, three Youth - and we’ve delivered 25 medals. We’ve won more medals since I’ve been there than they’ve probably ever done. We had five medallists in Glasgow (2014), four in Australia (2018). We must be doing something right.
A good group bring each other along on their journey. I try to instil values such as loyalty, honesty, respect, being a good sport.
I never ask them to do anything I haven’t done or wouldn’t be prepared to do - but I’m not a fighter’s friend. You’ve got to be hard and honest. Sometimes, there are difficult decisions.
Sometimes I do need to be stern with them, though I don’t like taking the ‘scallywag’ out of a fighter … just manage it.
I don’t get excited about much in life but I do love achievement. I love winners. I still have that competitive gene, that edge. Without passion, you can’t do the job of national coach. I’m Wales through and through. Patriotism goes a long way and in Wales we have that in abundance.”