Q
|COMMUNITY INSPIRATION| COACHING EDGE
23
TIPS
Looking for inspiration in sport or coaching? Look no further than Q Shillingford.
Caroline Roberts caught up with the Gillette Community Coach of the Year.
T
here can be few places that
better epitomise the
transformative power of sport
than the Heart of Portsmouth
Boxing Academy (HOP).
Since its launch in 2008, it has been steadily
pumping new life into the local community and
helping revitalise one of the most deprived
areas of the city.
At its centre is the human dynamo that is Quinton
‘Q’ Shillingford, former champion boxer,
originator of the GB National Boxing Awards,
and winner of the Gillette Community Coach of
the Year Award 2012.
With his ‘can do’ approach – and a motto of
‘Don’t think you can… know you can’ – and the
support of a team of dedicated volunteers, he
has created not only a place where boxing
talent can be nurtured, but also a haven for the
often disadvantaged youth of the area.
Shillingford’s coaching philosophy is very much
shaped by his own background and experience.
It was hard growing up as a mixed-race child of
a single mother in the almost exclusively white
Hampshire town of Andover, he says. The only
male role model he had to look up to was his
coach at Andover Boxing Club, which he joined
aged nine in 1978. Head coach, Billy Pike, was
from the traveller community and the young Q
found a sense of belonging among a group of
traveller children at the club. ‘They knew all
about being different and being excluded,’ he
says. ‘I learned a lot of life skills at that gym.
That’s why I love boxing so much – because it
didn’t just teach me how to compete; it taught
me dedication, commitment, respect and mental
toughness. I was never running around on the
estate as I was always down the gym or at my
coach’s house.’
Shillingford now wants to provide the same level
of guidance for his charges at HOP. The club
has already produced 11 national and three
international champions and there is currently
much excitement surrounding the 15-year-old
Ebonie Jones who won the junior 50kg gold at
the European Union Amateur Championships in
July and is now looking towards the World
Championships (there are currently 25 girls at
the club, 15 with competitive boxing cards, and
three female coaches). But there’s also a huge
emphasis on developing less competitive
members to their full potential by not only
building physical fitness but by also teaching
them important life skills.
He still keeps in contact with Pike, who is now
in his late 80s. ‘He’s the person who inspires
me and reminds me of what I’m here for.’
‘If you create the right environment, the stars will
rise to the top. I tell my coaches not to go into
a school or a gym looking for the next Amir
‘Some coaches are so hell-bent on winning
and getting champions, they don’t realise that
you have to take the champion out of the
person,’ he explains.