Boxer, Oliver Kitchen

Oliver Kitchen is a courageous young boxer from Exmouth, Devon, seeking to realise his dream of participating in the Olympic Games. He has been boxing since he was eight years-old. Oliver was selected to attend The Frank Bruno Boxing Academy in Orpington, Kent, where he is being groomed for Olympic Games by an ex-British Boxing Champion Boxer and Terry Edwards, a former Great Britain Coach.

December 2010

Oliver was given a new JWCT grant, increased to the value of £1,000 in recognition of his efforts and achievements throughout the previous year which included winning the Jack Petchy Award for the most outstanding student in the London Boroughs and Kent, and winning the award for the most improved boxer in the Academy. He also reached the third round of the Clubs for Young People Championships in Bristol, where he lost to Miley Cash, an England International, who was an eventual finalist.

Last year’s funding has helped Oliver buy boxing equipment, new boots, running shoes, boxing gloves and a uniform for his school, in addition to travelling expenses when we travel to shows.

Oliver said on receiving the grant “I would like to say a massive thanks to [the JWCT] for the generous grant which [has] enabled me to pursue my dreams. I felt touched that some else has realised my dreams with me and [are] supporting me.”

October 2009

Oliver was given a £750 JWCT grant in October 2009. Oliver’s parents contacted the JWCT due to the increasing financial pressure on the family for accommodation costs, boxing equipment and uniform and training camps that this entailed, including an altitude training camp in Tenerife and a trip to Las Vegas to train with boxing world champions.

17-year old Ollie explained his introduction to boxing: “I have been boxing since I was eight years-old and only started boxing to lose weight as at the time I was overweight and was getting bullied for it. . . . Then when I was ten I suddenly found myself really enjoying the boxing part of training and was starting to pick up some skills. I was going down the gym twice a week also at this point in my life I was just going into secondary school and was loosing weight due to the fitness, so my coach turned around just before my eleventh birthday and said that I was ready for my first bout. Then over the next three years . . . I only had seven bouts. This was partly due to me still being heavy for my age and partly due to suffering badly with nerves. As in each of my first seven bouts I was sick in between the bouts and I can't say I really enjoyed the experience! At the time I was told that it would get better and it did. Then when I was fifteen . . . I was asked to train with the seniors . . . I learnt more in the first six weeks than I did during the whole time I boxed before. I now loved boxing as a sport and . . . I would watch boxing at every opportunity. I was also now winning most of my bouts and no longer being sick in between rounds. So my coach decided to enter me into the National Championships which I was eventually knocked out in the semi-finals to the eventual winner. This made me rank third in the English ranking for my weight and age.” Since then he was selected for the Western Counties boxing squad, and later crowned Devon, Dorset and Cornwall champion and subsequently Western Counties champion. More recently he reached the quarter finals of the National Amateur Boxing Association Championships, winning two titles on his way – the Southern Area and the Western Counties Championships.

Ollie said “I am now six weeks into the Academy and it’s great. We train twice a day most days with a run in the morning at 6am . . . and train in the night and afternoon. Also at the academy we are doing a BTEC Sport Level Three, a personal training course, lifeguard course and ICT A-level . . . I have had 19 bouts (11 wins, 8 loses). From boxing I want to achieve as much as I can, the coaches at the Academy say that we should all aim for the Olympics and that’s what I am doing. But if I don’t I will still box to the highest level possible.”