Boxing in schools?

FIGHTING IN SCHOOLS - A NEW APPROACH?

It has been 50 years since boxing was last a common place sport taught in schools across the UK. In 1962 there was great debate about whether it was actually beneficial for the youth to learn how to box, as many claimed it was just legitimising of an already over glamorised and often turbulent sport.

The ‘British Medical Association’ have a very negative view on the subject of children under the age of 16 boxing, they believe at that age “children have little awareness of risk” and also state that “there is no place in contemporary society for a youth sport which has as its primary goal, the infliction of acute brain damage on an opponent”. 

Boxing as a ‘youth sport’ is often defended as a legitimate and controlled way of relinquishing pent up anger and instilling discipline amount young people, but is this the case?

I spoke to Ron Tulley, who in November was appointed as ‘Head of Development’ at the ‘Amateur British Boxing Association’. I asked Mr. Tulley a number of questions regarding the subject; when I asked him whether he thought boxing in school was benefiting children he said “of course they are, if it’s being done properly”, I went on to ask Mr. Tulley if boxing promotes self control at a young age or actually has the inverse effect, to this he replied “it does promote self-control...like most sports, if your abiding by the rules and playing in the ethos of the sport then it can have a wonderful effect on young people”. To conclude I asked him about the study done by the British Medical Association, and their claims that boxing causes brain damage, he said “far be it for me to contradict the BMA” he went on to say that other sports such as “equestrianism” were more likely to cause injury and that amateur boxing is so “well regulated” that injuries are few and far between, my final question was regarding te recent headlines based on the events between David Haye and Derik Chisora, to which he replied that “it’s not up to the amateur boxing association to make a judgement” however he did state that “it doesn’t make my job any easier” when trying to promote the sport to children and their parents.

Clearly then, there are two very contrasting opinions on this matter and research suggests that yes, boxing is a dangerous sport, but that is always going to be the case when you have 16 stone heavyweights going blow for blow. However Mr. Tulley did emphasise the distinction between professional boxing and amateur; amateur boxing regulations state it is mandatory for a boxer to use head protection at all times while sparring and there are only fights of three rounds compared to the professional twelve, he went on to state that amateur boxing is very well regulated.

If you were to remove the confrontational aspect of the sport, it is undeniable the cardio-vascular benefits a sport such as boxing can have; getting children strong and fit can only be seen in a positive light. The problems arise when the confrontational aspect is re-introduced, as there is no way to hide the fact that the aim of a sport like boxing is to hurt your opponent, and I’m not sure you can justify that. Having said all this, regardless of the recent headlines, boxing throughout the history of this country has been a cornerstone to the youth; boxing halls were set up virtually on every corner in the 1950’s and it was the perfect way to get the children fit as well as keeping them off the street and out of trouble. Perhaps this will be the case again in the coming years, as the youth are taking a lot of bad press and perhaps learning to box could be the solution?

I think the distinction between professional and amateur boxing is the key, as they are two very different disciplines in many aspects. To be seriously injured in professional boxing is rare; however it is even rarer in the amateur ranks. Going back to my original point, I think it would be best to think of the situation of boxing I schools like this; in a supervised environment, with safety gear on, just how much damage could a 10 year old inflict upon another? The sport has been victimized by the media on a number of occasions for the events in the professional ranks and this in turn has impacted the amateur sport.

Whichever way you spin it, boxing in schools and in amateur clubs is once again on the rise, and even with negative press it’s going to continue to do so, the only way that boxing is going to recess once again is if a minor was to be seriously injured while boxing, which would create a media storm that would once again cripple the sport in amateur terms.

  

FIGHTING IN SCHOOLS - A NEW APPROACH?

It has been 50 years since boxing was last a common place sport taught in schools across the UK. In 1962 there was great debate about whether it was actually beneficial for the youth to learn how to box, as many claimed it was just legitimising of an already over glamorised and often turbulent sport.

The ‘British Medical Association’ have a very negative view on the subject of children under the age of 16 boxing, they believe at that age “children have little awareness of risk” and also state that “there is no place in contemporary society for a youth sport which has as its primary goal, the infliction of acute brain damage on an opponent”. 

Boxing as a ‘youth sport’ is often defended as a legitimate and controlled way of relinquishing pent up anger and instilling discipline amount young people, but is this the case?

I spoke to Ron Tulley, who in November was appointed as ‘Head of Development’ at the ‘Amateur British Boxing Association’. I asked Mr. Tulley a number of questions regarding the subject; when I asked him whether he thought boxing in school was benefiting children he said “of course they are, if it’s being done properly”, I went on to ask Mr. Tulley if boxing promotes self control at a young age or actually has the inverse effect, to this he replied “it does promote self-control...like most sports, if your abiding by the rules and playing in the ethos of the sport then it can have a wonderful effect on young people”. To conclude I asked him about the study done by the British Medical Association, and their claims that boxing causes brain damage, he said “far be it for me to contradict the BMA” he went on to say that other sports such as “equestrianism” were more likely to cause injury and that amateur boxing is so “well regulated” that injuries are few and far between, my final question was regarding te recent headlines based on the events between David Haye and Derik Chisora, to which he replied that “it’s not up to the amateur boxing association to make a judgement” however he did state that “it doesn’t make my job any easier” when trying to promote the sport to children and their parents.

Clearly then, there are two very contrasting opinions on this matter and research suggests that yes, boxing is a dangerous sport, but that is always going to be the case when you have 16 stone heavyweights going blow for blow. However Mr. Tulley did emphasise the distinction between professional boxing and amateur; amateur boxing regulations state it is mandatory for a boxer to use head protection at all times while sparring and there are only fights of three rounds compared to the professional twelve, he went on to state that amateur boxing is very well regulated.

If you were to remove the confrontational aspect of the sport, it is undeniable the cardio-vascular benefits a sport such as boxing can have; getting children strong and fit can only be seen in a positive light. The problems arise when the confrontational aspect is re-introduced, as there is no way to hide the fact that the aim of a sport like boxing is to hurt your opponent, and I’m not sure you can justify that. Having said all this, regardless of the recent headlines, boxing throughout the history of this country has been a cornerstone to the youth; boxing halls were set up virtually on every corner in the 1950’s and it was the perfect way to get the children fit as well as keeping them off the street and out of trouble. Perhaps this will be the case again in the coming years, as the youth are taking a lot of bad press and perhaps learning to box could be the solution?

I think the distinction between professional and amateur boxing is the key, as they are two very different disciplines in many aspects. To be seriously injured in professional boxing is rare; however it is even rarer in the amateur ranks. Going back to my original point, I think it would be best to think of the situation of boxing I schools like this; in a supervised environment, with safety gear on, just how much damage could a 10 year old inflict upon another? The sport has been victimized by the media on a number of occasions for the events in the professional ranks and this in turn has impacted the amateur sport.

Whichever way you spin it, boxing in schools and in amateur clubs is once again on the rise, and even with negative press it’s going to continue to do so, the only way that boxing is going to recess once again is if a minor was to be seriously injured while boxing, which would create a media storm that would once again cripple the sport in amateur terms.

JEEZUZ YEEZUS....Kanye Wests new ablum.....is it any good?

Yeezus Album Cover

Kanye West is an American Rapper,who has relseased his 10^th album recently. Seeing peak success during the ‘noughties’ and his 2010 album saw him hit record sales. With His long term girlfriend Kim Kardashian he has never been far from the spotlight and has often seen controversy, such as the time he walked on stage during the grammys and told Tayloer Swift that Beyonce should have won that particular award.

Kanye West’s latest album comes at an interesting time; as the album was relseased a week before his baby was born and it is his first release in quite some time. The album was famed before it was released because of the huge lengths that were gone too to ensure that the album didn’t leak, including a bomb-proof case that contained the only copy of the entire album however ironically the album ended up being leaked anyway, many claiming that it was kanye west himself who leaked it to increase the PR. The ablum name is worth looking into, as Kanye refferes to himself as ‘yeezy’ at times during songs and this has lead to the ablbum name; ‘Yeezus” is reffering to kanye being the new coming of jesus, or at least he compares himself to a god-like figure.

The ablum is fascinating, whether you look at his lyrics or the melody of the songs, everything is deisgned to be unique and to shock the audience. Firstly I would like to talk about some of his lyrics because they are for one word: shocking. I am an avid fan of rap music and an usually never shocked by the often crude language however kanye west goes a step further in his song “new slaves” as he talks about a very sensitive subject, race, and his lyrics depict his opinion of how the public is racist or at least the music industry is, when talking about signing a contract within the song a lyric says “you know n***as cant read”. This is highly contravertial and gives evidence to the tone that Kanye West is trying to give, possibly to prove to the media and the public that once you become famous enough, it doesn’t matter about what music you produce but only that it has your name on the front.

Having studied many review of the album I have been trying to answer the question that seems to crop up on every review, which is, is this man totally stupid? Or is he a kind of genius to realize the gap in the market and the medias power to publisice his new album with no cost to him. Personally I think that Kanye West knows exactly what he is doing ,he knows that the unusual melodys will appeal to fans as an alternative to the stereo typical chart music and mainstream Hip Hop and he knows that talking about delicate subject in such an object manner will cause a reaction which wether the comments are good or bad will inevitably drive attention towards his new release,  which ultimately is his goal.

If we are talking in the most technical sense, the album is very good. Ignoring the odd sounds used, the quality of sound and the level of production is very high. And the impact of the album on a whole is very impressive, as it is rare that I ever listen to a whole ablum more then once all the way though however I found this album to have deepness that I couldnot grasp straight away. I found myself relistening to lyrics and hearing new things with every listen, which is an impressive characteristic.

If I give my own humble opinion to the overall Album I would say that although the album has a musical theme, every song is distinct in its own way and this will often result in half the album appealing slightly more than the rest and I found that to be the case after a few listens. I fear however that Kanye West has tried to replicate the very difficult ‘style change’ that can make an artist reek of desperation to remain relevant, which could be said for snoop dogs recent change to an all loving, peace hunting reggae artist. Another thing I considered was the listen ability of the music on a wide scale of environments, and I conclude that on big powerful speakers the depth of music is incredible however on any other less impressive set up you will be left feeling unfulfilled and unimpressed.

Kanye west could well just be trying to stay in the headlines or maybe he really does want to change his musical style. The albums audience would not be a clear set demographic however it certainly is not for the older or younger generations due to the appalling language throughout.

It is an album that I would defiantly have in my collection and I think that it will become quite a classic in years to come, unless of course this musical style catches on and becomes the latest trend in Hip Hop.

Christmas is a fix....

So we all know Santa isn't real. We all know that our parents sort our presents out.

what we don't know is that this time of year is all wrong. 

Christmas is basically all about presents and getting drunk, and that means that it would fit perfectly into my summer schedule. WHY IS CHRISTMAS NOT IN JULY?

"..oh its the birth of Christ"    i hear you say.......so what? do you celebrate Jesus day? no you celebrate present giving day like everyone else.

seeing as Christianity is basically running out of people to prop it up, there is no reason why Christmas cant be in summer.....that way we could have beers and barbecues on the day and not have to endure that awful mulled wine shit.

might i direct you to this article from the guardian :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/dec/20/how-cook-christmas-turkey-barbecue

just a thought. don't hate.

oxoxo

Communism vs Democracy....an idiots guide

you work hard all day......in return, you get a bag of sweets.

one day you work, get your sweets, and then someone who has done no work, comes and takes some of your sweets.

then someone says "hey, there are people with lots of sweets, and other people with no sweets....this is not fair"

so they change the rules and decide that the state will force everyone to work, then distribute the sweets evenly......but soon people realize that the people giving out the sweets are taking more sweets for themselves.....so they decide to illegally sell sweets in secret.

the moral of the story is : work hard and rake in those sweets, and if you dont work hard then dont expect to have any of other peoples sweets.....because you will never find a place where everyone has an equal share of sweets due to the natural greed of humanity and so it is your job to make sure you have the most sweets.

for the record, i am aware what a load of bullshit i have just written.

yolo.

World War 3

A world war is a near impossibility. How can the whole world fall out over the same thing?

Well they cant. A world war is when two world powers fall out and then the rest takes sides or hide under a rock. World war II was between Britain and Germany, the reason is not important.

I am going to bet that in under 10 years time, there is going to be another world war, this will be between America and China.

As most already know, America is in huge debt. What most people don't know, is that America owe most of that debt to China. China is going to pretty soon overtake America as the new world super power and they want what is owed to them. America knows that they cant afford to pay China back in full, so what they are doing is rather clever; America is printing money like there is no tomorrow. Billions and billions have already been printed, all in high domination bills. The money is so vast that it cant be introduced into circulation or else it would cause hyper inflation like you wouldn't believe  Printing the money is fine, as long as you have the gold reserves to match the papers worth. The problem is that America now has far more paper currency then it has gold and this is driving the worth of their currency down. As the american currency becomes weaker, the overall debt to China goes down due to the fact that the world trading currency is dollars. 

If america owed $1 billion for example, and they print large amounts of paper currency without gold counterpart, then the debt might reduce to $800 million if you measure it by the original worth of the money. 

China has worked this out, and they are now doing all they can to change the world trading currency into Chinese currency to thwart Americas attempts to dilute the debt. This however is not working, and i reckon that it will result in war. 

Time will tell, but as it stands, China hold the better hand and america knows it.

Akala - Fire in the booth lyrics....

these are the lyrics of a rapper called akala...read and think, he seems to know a thing or two....

Yes, I grew up on the dole in a single parent family

Been through a little bit of tragedy

Yes I was around drugs and violence

Before the day that I started secondary

And that’s part of it

Not half of it

Get the picture, the rest ain’t necessary

Growin’ up, got a little caught up

But that ain’t even half of my life

I was also given the knowledge of self

That is all we actually need to survive

If you saw me aged 9, reading Malcolm just fine

Teachers still treated me stupid

Students that couldn’t speak English, they put me in groups with

And the irony is

Some of the first man to give me schoolin’

You would call gangsters

But I already explained, we know what the truth is

They used to say ‘Don’t be like me’

Yeah I got a name and dough on the street

Night time comes, I can’t sleep

And that’s the part that rappers don’t speak

We don’t hit the road cos we are thugs

Don’t come out the womb, wanting to sell drugs

If we got the right guidance and love

Would we fight people just like us?

How could I knock the hustle to get by?

How do you think I ate as a child?

Judge no one, done many things wrong

I just don’t boast about it songs

But listen to my older bars

I was just as confused as you probably are

But you grow and you learn

Travel and f*** up,

One too many man you know get cut up

One too many man that could’ve been doctors

End up spending their whole life boxed up

You learn, if you study

Its all set out just to make them money

No cover, it’s all about getting poor people to fight with one another

So its logical that us killing our brothers,

Dissin’ our mothers

Is right in line with the dominant philosophy of our time

But time is a cycle, not a line

Comes back around you regain your mind

You be ready for the energy I channel in my rhymes

Remedy the pedigree, the jeopardy of mine

When the world’s this f***ed up, lethargy’s a crime

We can all fight with our brothers over crumbs,

Far harder to fight the one who makes guns

We can all talk sh** and get two dollars

Far harder to be the one who seeks knowledge

If we understood economics

We’d know money’s nothin’

Think nothing of it

Money is a means to get wealth, not the wealth itself

Don’t get confused, I’m far from broke

All that you see me do I own

But I wont hang what I make around my neck

I know from where that the diamonds came

But I do quite literally own a library,

That definitely costs more than your chain

And businesses, and properties

Far from starvin’, I eat quite properly

And I don’t care, just said it for the kids

Who need to know that you’re not broke to listen

Don’t know an asset from a liability

They’ve never been shown or told the difference

So they don’t change situations

Richest man in Britain is Asian

That’s significant, not coincidence,

Asian people build businesses,

Not by flossin/going out shoppin’

Giving out their culture for everyone’s profit

Who run’s Bollywood? Indian people

Who owns our shit?

So we shake our arse and dance

As if racism just upped and vanished

But has it? No its right on course

You’re beaten so bad, you’re trained to ignore

Let me not just make sweeping statements

Gimme a second, I’ll explain it

For small amounts of drug possession there’s more black people in jail in America than there is for rape and armed robbery and murder all put together

You can say they’re just locking up thugs,

Imagine if they locked up every middle class kid that had ever held drugs,

Oh that’s right, that’d be your kids!

Bigger than that what is going on with this,

Prison in America’s a private business

They get paid 50k per year per inmate by the State, just wait…

Also legally are allowed to use their prison inmates as slaves

Cheap slave labour, big corporations

They come out of jail, can’t get a job

So when we celebrate going to jail,

We are LITERALLY CELEBRATING ENSLAVEMENT

Add to that, that the hood that you’re livin’

Engineered social condition that breeds crime by design

Where do you think you get your nine?

You can say that they’re just black,

But I like to deal with facts

In the 1920s you would’ve found in America

Black towns,

Prospering centres of economics and education to make you proud

But some people couldn’t bear that the former slaves would not just lie down

So the KKK and other hate groups burnt those towns to the ground

Killin hundreds,

If it ain’t understood,

You think you were always livin’ in the hood?

Shit it’s only been sixty years

Since they hung blacks and burned em’

And that was so cool

Day reel passes, picnic baskets

Even gave kids the day off school

To go see a lynchin’

Have a picnic

It’s fun to watch the little monkeys die(!)

Then people act a little dysfunctional

You wanna pretend that you don’t know why

If your colour means you can be killed

And you’re powerless to get justice about it

Is it difficult to figure out how you would then end up feelin’ about it?

And that ain’t excuses,

Just dealing with the roots of abuses that make a reality

Where a generation of young men speak of ourselves as dirt casually

That’s America,

This Britain,

Some things are similar,

Some different,

In this country the first enslaved were the working class

What’s changed?

Worst jobs, worst conditions

Worst taxed, look where you’re livin’

You go to the pub, Friday night,

You will fight with a guy,

Don’t know what for,

But won’t fight with a guy, suit and a tie,

Who sends your kids to die in a war,

They don’t sell the kids of the richer politicians,

It’s your kids, the poor british

That they send to go die in a foreign land

For these wars you don’t understand,

Yeah they say that you’re British

And that lovely patriotism they feed ya

But in reality you have more in common with immigrants

Than with your leaders

I know, both side of my family

Black and white are fed ghetto mentality

Reality in this system,

Poor people are dirt regardless of shade

But with that said,

Let’s not pretend that everything is the same

When our grandparents came here to Britain

If you had a criminal record you couldn’t get in

Yet that ain’t protect them from all the stupid, stupid abuses they would be livin’

Kicked in the teeth,

Stabbed in the street,

Many times fired bombed our houses,

Put faeces through our letter box

And of course the cops did so much about it(!)

Daily, up to the 80s

People spittin’ into my pram cos’ I was a coon baby

But of course that has had no effect on why today we are crazy

And none of this was for any good reason

They were just dark and breathing

To ease the guilt now for all of this treatment

Constant stereotypes and needed

So if I celebrate how big that my dick is,

Bricks that I’m flippin’

Clips that I’m stickin’

Chicks that I’m hittin’

I’m playing my position

But if I teach a kid to be a mathematician,

Messin’ with the schism,

How they gonna fill a prison when materialism is no longer our religion?

What do you think we got now in Britain?

Just like America, private prisons

Prisons for profit!

That mean when your kids go jail people make money off it,

So keep environments that breed crime

Build more jails at the same time

Market badness to the kids in the rhymes

As long as rich kids ain’t dying its fine!

Get em’ to the point where some are so lost

They actually believe that if they don’t celebrate killin’ themselves off

That it’s because they’re soft

Was Malcom soft?

Was Marley soft?

Tell me was Marcus Garvey soft?

Well? Was Mohammed Ali soft?

Nah, Nah I think not!

But they want us to think that the road is cool

Being on road is all we can do

We don’t control the wholesale productions

Who benefits from us movin’ the food?

Or thinking there’s no way out of road life

But Malcolm X used to hustle out on the roadside

When Marcus Garvey organised more than 6million people

With no Facebook or Twitter

Why is this something you cannot equal?

Shiiiiit!

One of my homeboys did a ten straight in the box in yard

Now what’s he doing?

Passin’ his doctorate

Don’t tell me that it’s too hard!

Who trained you to believe that you’re inferior?

Sungbo Eredo in Nigeria are the remains of an ancient moat,

Dug 1000 years ago

20 metres wide, 70 down,

Round the remains of an ancient town

That’s 400 square miles around

400 square miles around

Please, please don’t believe me,

It was a documentary on BBC!

But we ain’t studyin’ history,

Too busy watching MTV

And MTV said wear platinum,

Now everybody wanna go and wear platinum,

And MTV said pop magnums,

Now everybody wanna go and pop magnums

If MTV said drink prune juice

You would start hearing that in tunes soon,

‘Hey! Today I wore my Cartier,

Is it now more important what I got to say?’

Oh and I drive a Mercedes by the way

So everybody listen to what I got to say

Huh, does that make you all happy?

Ahh but shit my head’s still nappy

Think for myself, still some mad at me

But on the mic ain’t not one bad as me

All of this here’s good for the rhymes

Put us in the same place at the same time

And it’s clear to everybody that I’m out of my mind

Some of these guys are runnin’ out of their rhymes

Clear to everybody that has got ears

I’m the guy that they just might fear

They wanna get near but they can’t have a peer

Ah dear I’m hard liquor you’re just like beer

Front on the kid for another five years

Come to my shows and some cry tears

It mean that much to em’, it’s a movement!

I don’t speak for myself but a unit,

Black, white, man, woman, anyone that respects truth we put in

Dudes are like dinner with no puddin’

Yeah you’re sweet but no substance puddin’

You could never ever be with a level on

Our songs get out played out there in Lebanon

We speak for the people properly

Not for the old fat guys in offices

And the girls love him, it ain’t fair

He can’t even be bothered to comb his hair

Anyway that’s enough kissin’ my own arse

Back to the more important task of being so shower

I got half the hood screaming “KNOWLEDGE IS POWER”

And I ain’t saying that will change rap

But I do know this for a fact

Right now there’s a yout’ on your block

With his hands on his balls, face screwed up

Swear he don’t care, don’t give a fuck

That he won’t let nobody caught his block

But the words go in

Open your shackles

Because once that’s happened there’s no going back

Once you start to see what is really happening

Who the enemy you should be attackin’ is

So READ, READ, READ!

Stuck on the block, READ, READ!

Sittin’ in the box, READ, READ!

Don’t let them say what you can achieve

Cos when people are enslaved

One of the first things they do is stop them reading

Cos’ it is well understood that intelligent people will take their freedom

Cos’ if we knew our power we would understand that we can’t be held down

If we knew our power, we would not elevate not one of these clowns

If we knew our power, we wouldn’t get arrogant when we get two pennies

If we knew our power, we would see what everybody sees, that we’re rich already!

But never mind MCs go run for your mummy

I’m hungry, I run for my tummy

That’s enough back to worshipping money

I’m off, back to the study!

Hurricane Sandy

As all of you reading this will be aware, America is undergoing a huge storm. The east coast of america is going to be in ruins if the storms reaches its maximum potential, the worrying thing about this is not the deaths (however, all deaths are tragedy's in their own right), the problem is this:

Obama held talks the other day with the Global Insurance conglomerate and they basically said that they have financial reserves of roughly 200 billion (USD). This is a large amount of money right?

Well no, it isn't  If New York gets the same treatment from mother nature as Hati, then the Insurance big wigs reckon that not only will they not have enough money to cover it, but they doubt that it is possible to raise enough funds to EVER cover it. Simply put, if NY gets totally wrecked, then it will be 10 years before it resembles anything like how it is now. This is not good news.

Another thing to consider while sitting at home, is that there is an Election soon, right?
Im not a historian but i cant recall a US election ever having been called off?

This is an issue more for Romney because at the end of the day, in an emergency, who cares about  voting when people are dying? If the US declares a state of national emergency then the President can become Commander and Chief (a role he always fills, but does not always employ) if he becomes commander and chief then he is in total control until he declares the state of emergency passed, again, a bad thing for Romney.

I do not subscribe to the latter theory  but it has been claimed that the Americans have developed a electro-magnetic device, that fired into the atmosphere can create storms such as the one being seen now in American itself. Some people also claim that by creating a state of national emergeny, they can close the stock market, employ a dictatorship under the guise of a emergency council and implement FEMA (rehabilitation camps, some argue to be prisons). Is this the Illuminati? is this storm the start of the new world order, IS THIS '2012?!

I am not claiming any of the previous to be true, but it has crossed my mind.

Thoughts to all those affected by Hurricane Sandy. xox