Expert: Melanie Ley - 10/24/2009

Question
My son is turning 8 next month.  He's currently involved with Club(competitive) soccer.  Now, in soccer the U.S.A soccer federation has a Olympic Development Program that schedules soccer camps once a year, in every region, to scout soccer players for the national soccer teams according to their age.  The youngest team is 12 years old.  But in these soccer camps they allow boys 8 and up to participate so that when they get to 12 years they know exactly what they're looking for(scouts).  

Now my question is does the USA Boxing organizaton have something a program similar for Olympic Boxing Teams?  Right now my son just started boxing training at our local gym, DG BOXING in Long Beach, CA.  I would like to enroll him in a gym where he's going to have the opportunity to compete at the national level if becomes that great.

At what age do they start scouting boxers for the Olympic teams?

Answer
Boxers reach the national level by competing in advancing tournaments from the district to the national level.  The Southern California Assn. of USA Boxing offers several opportunities a year for athletes who are under the age of 17.  Coming up is the Silver Gloves tournament, with winners in the ages 10 to 15 year olds winning at the local level and advancing to the state, regional and national level.  The local tournament occurs every November.  Since your son has just started training, I wouldn't recommend that he participate until next year.  The other opportunity is the Junior Olympic tournament in May or June.  Ages 8 through 16 compete at the local level, with 13 and 14 year olds advancing to the regional level and 15-16 year olds advancing to the national tournament (must have a minimum of 5 scored bouts before entering the local tournament).  

USA Boxing does not have camps such as you describe for soccer.  Only camps available are for those boxers competing in international competition.  

I don't know how committed you are to training in Long Beach - there are other gyms in the L.A. area that afford better programs for advancing.  If you are interested in more information, please email me at mel@amateurboxing.com.