Rising boxing star has Teesside University in his corner

Academic boxing star Louis Cunningham is looking to deliver the knockout blow in a national competition after receiving specialist strength and conditioning support from experts at Teesside University.

Louis Cunningham has made it through to the quarter finals of the Amateur Boxing Association National Championships.

The light middle weight fighter is in a unique position as his studies have enabled him to benefit from Teesside University’s elite athlete scheme.

Through the scheme Louis, who is studying MSc Strength and Conditioning, is able to access state of the art facilities and equipment and benefit from a comprehensive support package at the University, including physiological and biomechanical assessment and training support, monitoring of training loads, strength and conditioning, physiotherapy and sports psychology support.

The elite athlete scheme is open to athletes at international level, or with exceptional international potential. As well as access to all the facilities, it also offers specialist coaching and mentoring from experts at the University.

'It’s a holistic approach and covers all aspects of sport science – nutrition, psychology, biomechanics, physiology and strength and conditioning,” explained Louis.

'Teesside University has fantastic facilities. The Olympia building has all the physiology and biomechanical equipment and over in the Centuria South building there is the state of the art gym equipment. Having access to all of this helps me to maximise my training.

'The scheme has really enhanced my development and enabled me to mature from a junior athlete into a senior athlete. I am fitter, stronger and mentally more mature. The course at Teesside University is also educating me a lot and I really do feel that the course is helping me with my sport and my sport is helping with my course.'

Louis, who started boxing when he was 13 and is a member of Wellington Amateur Boxing Club, is due to fight in the quarter finals of the Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) National Championships on Sunday 24 March and has a clear vision for how he wants his boxing career to progress.

He said: 'My aim is to win these ABAs which will put me in a good position to go to the Commonwealth Games and get into the Great Britain squad. I will hopefully get to the Olympics in Rio in 2016 – that is my main aim.'

Matthew Wright, Sports Development Officer (Elite Sport) at Teesside University has been working with Louis for four years, ever since he started his undergraduate degree.

'Louis has all the traits of a top class international athlete,” said Matthew.

'With the dedication he has to his training, there is no reason why he can’t get to the very top of his sport.

'We put a support package in place for our elite athletes that would be similar to what they would receive if they were contracted with Team GB. Louis really has advanced as an athlete since he has been at Teesside University. We have physiological markers that show tremendous improvement physically over the four years, both in terms of his aerobic capacity and with regard to his strength and power and we think that really does transfer into his boxing. He has done very well academically too, studying at master’s level.

'We are really lucky at Teesside University to have some great expertise within the sport science department to monitor physiological and biomechanical variables. In particular we are able to track Louis’ physical status daily so we can manipulate his training to optimise his physical condition going into a fight. That gives him a lot of confidence if he is somewhere near his peak.'

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