For four years now, children with additional needs have been given the opportunity to try boxing, through a programme known as the High Five Boxing Academy.
It has been driven by Dubliner Paddy Dingle, who has coached Irish international teams and been involved with the sweet science since he was a boy of 12.

“What happened was I was in England with an international schoolboy team. I met a man over there from Bristol, he had a gym where the weigh-ins were being done. He was helping people with dementia and I had the idea that I’d love to help additional needs children,” says Paddy.

He is a father of two himself, neither of whom have additional needs, but all the impetus for High Five came from him.

“I had to get it passed by the IABA (Irish Athletic Boxing Association) because it’s a boxing academy. I went to some of the Central Council people, I gave them the programme and they backed me. I was asked what I was going to call it. The Special Olympics were on at the time, and all the guys and girls were giving high fives, and I just thought ‘High Five’.”

He says that parents of children with additional needs generally haven’t realised that boxing is an avenue open to them, but that once they arrive the sport seems to offer greater benefits than others.

“It’s not about contact; it’s about kids doing boxing techniques, hitting the bag, skipping, doing games. We have gone into many schools doing the programme and teachers have told us that for motor skills and behavioural skills, it’s one of the best things,” he says.

• Paddy Dingle, a participant and famous boxing promoter Eddie Hearn.

“I don’t want to put down the other sports; great sports like rugby and GAA and soccer do additional needs, but they reckon that for some reason the boxing seems to help these children quicker than the other sports. I don’t know why, it might be the one-to-one contact, but there is some reason for it.”
It also provides a role for young people who do not have additional needs themselves, and aids their personal development also.

“We have a kind of a buddy system, children around 16 or 17 who give a dig out and they’re learning life skills too. Some of them will be parents in years to come, they may have children with additional needs. It’s all to do with people volunteering, although you have to be vetted and do a course, you can’t just come in and start tomorrow.”

Become coaches themselves

In time he wants to provide an opportunity, for those that are able, to do a little bit of coaching themselves, and bring the programme onto more children with special needs.

“Some of them, you could hire them, let them have their first job and they could go into schools and act as coaches to other kids with additional needs. The parents would see their child with additional needs going into a boxing academy, and all of a sudden they’re in a role like an instructor, going around teaching children with additional needs,” he said.

Volunteers can make this grow

Each group that takes part in High Five is a little bit different, he has found.

“Every class is different. You are dealing with all different types of children on the spectrum, and you have to cater for all kinds of needs. Some children wouldn’t like touching, some would have to wear earphones, have a sanctuary room, things like that. It’s a project that can grow across the country, all it needs is volunteers and I have to say hats off to every person who gives their time to it across the country. It’s about the children and their parents at the end of the day.”

Parents also benefit

He likes meeting the mothers and fathers of the children, and feels it offers them some benefits also.

“You start developing a rapport with the parents too, they’re there when the classes are taking place. It’s breathing space for them, some of them have very hard stories, they can’t sleep at night with children jumping around and breaking up stuff. It’s just amazing, the boxing sort of quietens them down, and that’s what it’s all about.”

The magic of sport

One of the great joys of coaching at any level in any sport is seeing people make progress, and that’s something Paddy loves about High Five.

“You see the benefits it is having for those children. They are making friends with other children that probably would never have made friends before. They become little buddies, they form their own little group.
“You can have a really scared child coming in, they walk into a boxing club, don’t know what they’re walking into, see boxing rings, see boxers, see kids they don’t know. In four or five weeks they’re all playing together and joining in together.

“That’s the magic of it, they can’t wait to come again the following week.”

More information

More information on High Five Boxing Academy is available on: https://www.facebook.com/p/High-Five-Boxing-Academy-100076023435200/

Or visit: boxingireland.ie (formerly known as the Irish Amateur Boxing Association – it rebranded in January).