As you are all aware the club has grown from strength to strength and is currently holding a very succesful winning record. We have had 28 bouts and have won 14 of those. However we need your help to become a better club. Our main aim was to get chilrdren off the streets and give them something to do. I know there is rugby, football and other team sports but there is nothing like an individual sport like boxing.

Boxing is a self confidence building sport and a sport that drives an individual to do well for themselves if nothing else. Here's a little story about myself (Sean Ross) and why I set this club up.

I for one am a good example for the sport as I played rugby from the age of 9 and went on to play for a very good team at the time; East Hull, where I received the man of the match award on a good number of occassions. I also played football for St.Andrews and was the same there. I have received player of the year twice. But that wasn't enough for me as I come from a family of 6 children with not a great deal of attention. I was always in fights at primary school, I was disruptive and generally a bad lad.

I went through some very tough times at home and it effected my day to day life until I watched Rocky the boxing film. I had finally found my sport; Boxing. I decided to go to St.Mary's ABC at Eastmount Recreation Centre in 1990 where I started my boxing career at the age of 10 years old. Shortly after my friends followed and we all kept out of trouble. I went on to represent St.Mary's Boxing Club for 3 years until it was shut down. Then I was back at a loose end with nothing to do, so started hanging around in gangs and getting upto no good.

A lot of the times I would stop my friends doing stupid stuff that was too much of a crime so in a way boxing was still in my mind on the respect side. Things took a turn for worse when my mother got cancer and we all had to be fostered out and seperated twice because the cancer came back. This really affected the family.

Times were very hard for my mum and she did all she could to get our bus fairs to go to St.Pauls ABC, where we went on to represent them with a very respectful and successful head coach in Mike Bromby. He was at our side almost like a fatherly figure to me and my brother Stephen Ross as a lot of children with not so good up-bringing was to treat him in that way also.

So that's a bit of why East Hull ABC was formed for the benefit of everybody in the East Hull area, to do a sport they are interested in. The numbers through the doors have gone from 10 to almost 40 in 7 months of coaching to a high standard and safe level of boxing. We have also managed to achieve boxing in Gibraltar, Spain representing our Yorkshire division with an excellent KO win from Jackson Windas, whilst Leroy Vickers was unlucky on a split decision.

We are so proud of all our boxers, they have hearts like lions and all will go very far in life as I always stress in training. You get our what you put in and that goes for anything in life in everything you do give 100%. There id so much more I could say. I could write a book on why boxing benefits in these areas.

Sean Ross - Head Coach, East Hull ABC.

The benefits of boxing is not just to compete as a boxer, but to also help tackle the increase on obesity with today's children. We have had a very high weight loss in the chilrdren and adults that attend our boxing sessions due to the high intense training they go through. It also helps people to learn how to respect rules and to behave in a good respectable manner in and outside of the boxing gym.

On top of that, it enables you to gain the self confidence back for yourself and in particular some who may have been bullied in the past.