the letter that didnt go to print this week Feeling the “payne” of living local Touchgloves gym once again delivers a golden opportunity for a born and bred local athlete. Much like her role model julie kitchen who consistently put cornwall on the map with worldwide success both in competition and media representation,21 year old lucy payne is destined for greatness within her chosen sport of muaythai. lucy has trained at touchgloves since the age of 14 and has overcome political obstacles due to the geographics of living in cornwall away from the big cities This weekend lucy will be traveling to the united states in las vegas to co-headline a major event where she will compete with boxing, kicks, knees and elbows for the world no1 ranking.surely this kind of venture should be embraced by our community. Lucy,s opponent tiffany van soest has benefitted from huge sponsorships and funding for her training whilst lucy will have to pay train fares, hotel accommodation which seems very unjust. Much like julie and all the other 40 champions aged between 8-40 years old schooled at this world renowned gym, the cornish/st pirans flag can be viewed as a sign of pride on her shorts which have featured on bbc1, sky sports regularly and high profile media worldwide. It is therefore in my honest opinion a total discrace that the touchgloves gym after 18 years of success still receives no help or funding from cornwall authorities/sports funding groups.i could mention names but it seems that athletes who leave cornwall to excel in their sport or local teams who hardly feature any actual locals gain more support than genuine community groups. The reasons for this vary from it not being a governed sport to touchgloves being business venture, but the fact remains that fighters representing the gym at this level are schooled over 10 hours per week for free and also that touchgloves have declared more positive media for penzance/cornwall than any other sports club as well as being a much loved hobby for hundreds of community members for years. I cannot understand the constant push for funding olympic sports when promises of success are made but never excel beyond a local standard due to effort and commitment despite regular cash initiatives. Why cant the sports funding be of equal share with a regulated check on evidentual results to see exactly who is feeding the community with sporting honours.? Touchgloves have raised money for many local charities on a regular basis but never qualify for help when its needed. Amber kitchen at just 14 years old is a known athlete worldwide but was turned down for funding by known groups because she was ambitious and doing well at her sport.should children like this (and there are many) be punished for being driven and a well behaved achiever? Or do we only help naughty children nowadays? I finish by saying that its time for a shake up in who is supported and which sporting clubs are elitists in form filling and false promises.we live in a world where the internet can offer proof, so it dosent seem hard work for the sports funders to click on google and see where their money pots are being put to efficient use.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 10:17:10 +0000
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