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National Junior Olympics boxing tournament taking place in Charleston for the third year

CHARLESTON, W.Va.– The kids boxing in Charleston this week for the 2018 National Junior Olympics, Prep Nationals and Youth Open you might see at the Olympics in just a few years.

Rings set up in the coliseum of the Civic Center in Charleston

USA Boxing has held the National Junior Olympics boxing tournament in Charleston at the Civic Center for the past three years, and all the greats, such as Muhammad Ali and Floyd Mayweather, have been in the ring at this tournament.

Almost 700 youth boxers signed up to attend the event from around the country. To qualify for the tournament boxers must win in their home states, in their region out of 14 and then they head to the National Junior Olympics to represent their region.

“The good part about this is they get ranking points which will help them come our national championships in December in Salt Lake City,” Mike McAtee, executive director of USA boxing, said about what the tournament has to offer young boxers.

McAtee said that boxing has been becoming more popular in recent years among young kids.

“For our boxers, boxing is kind of on an uptick. MMA, a lot of people like that, and that’s actually helped us in our numbers, because kids may start off thinking they want to do MMA but find they like boxing better,” he said.

According to McAtee, boxing is a great individual sport, because it’s relatively cheap. He said most gyms have low fees and most coaches are volunteers.

Many of the boxers are working towards going to the Olympics or becoming a pro.

“Americans, we think, ‘Hey you can be the champion of America– 300 million people’. To be an Olympic champion, you’re the champion of seven billion,” McAtee said. “We sometimes forget that it’s a big world out there, and with the success of the Olympics, and with our current high-performance athletes, they’re seeing a lot of success.”

There are five different age divisions competing at this tournament starting with eight-year-olds and ending with 18-year-olds. Elite boxers, or those over the age of 18, are not allowed to compete in this tournament; however, McAtee said young elite boxers will be the ones to become Olympians.

“If traditional holds, our average male Olympian is 19-and-a-half years old,” he said.

The talent that is shown at this event is amazing according to McAtee, and there are stand out kids every time. USA Boxing is already preparing for the 2020, 24 and 28 Olympic Games, and kids from this tournament could be the athletes to attend one of the games.

“Some of these kids will be our Olympians in 2028 in L.A.,” McAtee added.

USA Boxing has been receiving more membership and seeing more kids participating in tournaments like the National Junior Olympics.

“We’re doing more to recruit. I think we we’re a little bit behind the times, so we have great communications people who reach out to younger people and try to do things better,” McAtee said.

The tournament will continue throughout the week with competitions at 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. Thursday and 12 p.m. both Friday and Saturday. McAtee said he encourages people to come out and see the talent filling the Civic Center’s coliseum; admission is free to the public.

Story by Jordyn Johnson





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