Patrick Connell and Brandon Loebert are bound for the Victorian boxing championships. 55067
By Mara Pattison-Sowden
TWO Yarra Valley teenagers are mixing it up in the boxing ring.
Healesville’s Patrick Connell and Brandon Loebert from Gruyere are heading to the Victorian championships next month.
Boxers fight according to their weight range. Fifteen-year-old Brandon has been boxing for three years and presently holds the Australian title.
But the growing teen has been forced into a higher weight-ranking this year, and will have to beat an opponent bigger and older than himself.
Patrick began boxing early in 2010 as part of his training for football, but with the season over, he has been able to concentrate on his technique in the ring.
He heads to Thailand on Saturday for 10 days of training with Foxtel’s Mhai Thai trainer Pipat Kritep. It will be Patrick’s first trip overseas, where he will train for six hours a day.
The young men show a keen appreciation for keeping fit at the Lilydale Community Youth Club, where they train at least three nights a week.
Patrick said training gave him an adrenaline rush.
“I love it, keeping fit and how physical boxing is. Your heart-rate is up all the time,” he said.
“You learn the basics at the start and then work on refining your technique.”
Patrick said every day was about giving 100 per cent.
“You need to have speed, stamina and strength,” he said.
“The idea is to hit … and not be hit.”
Brandon, whose father teaches martial arts at the gym, said he was thinking about boxing professionally but knew it could become a lifestyle.
“Otherwise, I’d like to do something outdoors, but there’s a few years before I need to decide,” he said.
Brandon said this year he won a fight against a man seven kilograms heavier, which was a great feeling.
“You try to psych yourself up – you can’t get nervous, but you don’t want to lose,” he said.
Fight ‘n’ Fitness trainer Nick Lundh said training was about more than just hitting another person.
“It gives them confidence and teaches them self-defence skills they hopefully don’t have to use,” he said.
“It also helps the community by giving our youth great community values, discipline and goal-setting skills perfect in all areas of life.”
Patrick and Brandon have guaranteed Victorian title shots in Sunshine on 13 November and will then fight in the Australian titles at the end of November in Hobart. They finish the competition year in the Fight ‘n’ Fitness Fight Night on 4 December.
Fight Night will be held at Lilydale’s Youth Club on Market Street. For more information, to get involved or to book tickets, call Nick Lundh on 0417 516 045.
