Throwing a right hook for good
The club boasts 65 youngsters including young girls aged 4-18 years.
TAKING punches for the youth of today. That’s the inspirational story of Queensburgh’s Louis du Plessis (39), who has taken it upon himself to help an impoverished boxing club in Chesterville and try to enrich the lives of its young members.
The Overcome Boxing Academy started with just three boys in 2018. “The reason for the name is because of how these children have overcome everything that has been thrown at them. They have adapted to living with the bare minimum and still come to training with the biggest smiles I’ve ever seen,” said Louis.
During lockdown, more boys joined when they started to see the others succeed and gain fame among their peers through boxing. The coach, Junior Yombo Yombo, who arrived in SA in 2014 from the Congo, welcomed all new faces as he knew it was keeping them off the street. He has a lot of talent and experience with boxing and trains the youngsters for no remuneration. He soon started to see the potential with some talented young boxers showing promise.
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Louis met up with the coach when his son Louis Junior (7) joined the club. “He has always been interested in boxing, MMA, and wrestling, so I thought I had to get him into it.”
Junior started boxing properly a year ago and was scheduled for his first fight in September, but unfortunately, there were no boys in his weight class. Louis decided to give more of his time to the youngsters and has taken on the role of assistant coach. “I’m just a dedicated father who can see these boys have the potential to do great things with some help and motivation. I don’t have much experience, but my brother used to box years ago, and I worked in his corner.”
Training takes place Mondays to Thursday, from 16:00 to 18:00. “We use the West City Fellowship Church in Chesterville as our base, but we train under an awning on the cement. We use danger tape as a makeshift ring for sparring on Wednesday nights.”
When Louis joined, the club’s equipment consisted of a small boxing bag with only a pair of gloves, a skipping rope and a set of old-school hand pads. He saw two boys sharing one gum guard and using the same bandages at a tournament and decided to step in. He slowly started sourcing more gear, which he and two friends put money together to buy. “We got them two boxing bags, three skipping ropes, two rugby tackle bags, a few pairs of second-hand gloves, some nice hand pads, a fold-up ladder for them to do footwork and a few other things to make life easier and more enjoyable when they come to training.”
Word has spread, and the club now boasts about 65 youngsters, including some girls, ranging in age from four to 18. “They are doing extremely well, and we can see big things coming for them. I’ve been to three tournaments with the academy. We have a young boy with a record of four fights and four wins, all by knockout, so the potential is there.”
“I’ve learned that a little goes a long way, and seeing what these children have and what they can do with such a little has amazed me. They are fighting in tournaments against clubs with many more resources, and they are proving that you don’t need lots of money to be great.”
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