15 Jul 2021

One of Botswana’s finest boxing coaches, Khumiso Ikgopoleng, who left the country in 2015 is back home.

Ikgopoleng left for United States of America where he coached Corner Boxing Club.

He said club level in the US was professional, given that coaches were hired on full time bases.

This, Ikgopoleng said, helped USA to produce results at international stages, adding there was a lot of competition, because the clubs believed in hiring experienced coaches.

“I can compare their clubs with Liverpool and Manchester United football clubs. As a coach, if one of your boxers reaches USA boxing championships, you are regarded as the best coach, remember USA has 50 states,” he said.

Ikgopoleng said for a boxer to reach the final, he had to go through five different stages, which he said were all demanding and taxing.

He said he was happy that he had some boxers who made him proud by reaching the boxing championships finals.

Ikgopoleng pointed out that two of his boxers were in the Olympic trials although they did not make it, noting that alone had made him proud as a coach.

The competition structure in USA, he said, was done regionally, something, which he was prepared to share with Botswana Boxing Association (BOBA).

“You see some teams as far as Maun and Ghanzi always find it difficult to come and compete in Gaborone, but if we can divide our country in regions, so that clubs can compete in their respective regions, that will make our boxers active, rather than making one tournament,” he said.

The AIBA 3 -Star coach said Botswana had a lot of boxers, but sadly, they were not fully exposed, adding that the Americans had their national coaching education, where refreshers courses were organised to train coaches regularly.

“To me, refresher courses are important, right now boxing is not active, so when we go back to the ring, obviously we would have forgotten a lot of things hence refresher course should be a priority to BOBA, considering that coaches here are not full time but they are volunteers,” he said.

He said his take-away from America and other parts of the world was that boxing started at a younger age. He was of the view that boxing in Botswana should start at primary level with qualified coaches helping pupils.

“At primary schools, there should be no bouts or contact, you just teach them technique and skills only, so as they proceed to the junior, already having the skill and well refined, then you can give them gloves and allow them to have contact,” he said.

Furthermore, Ikgopoleng said he had realised that in Botswana boxers ‘do not go through all stages’, given that they were not taught boxing at an earlier stage.

Ikgopoleng moved to Bahrain in 2017 and the experience was the same, but what impressed him most was that parents encouraged the children to take part in boxing.

Meanwhile, over the years, Botswana boxers we renowned for competing at regional and international stages and bringing medals back home.

The glory seemed to have faded, given that Botswana boxers’ performance had been declining and failing to leave an inedible mark in different competitions.

But, for coach Ikgopoleng a lot had to be done for boxing to regain its glory days, adding that robust development programmes should be put in place. 

He said in centres of excellences, they should have qualified coaches who could produce top boxers who could compete at international stages. Ends