The boxers, members of gyms from Geelong to Mount Gambier and up to Coleraine, converged on Emmanuel College for the two-day camp on the weekend.

They completed six sessions, three on each day which built on the preceding one, receiving instruction in Boxing Australia (BA) technical content.

Nahal, the BA regional development coach for Victoria, said he was pleased with the boxers’ progress. Half were aged 18 or younger while one-third were females.

“You see a bit of progress. Initially the first session, when I lined them up and gave them the initial briefing, they were a bit nervous,” Nahal said.

“I always start with an ice-breaker activity. I’ll partner them up and we do a game. From there the camp just flows.

“The younger ones pick it up very well, particularly the ones who stick out the six sessions.

“They’re the ones who are open-minded and fertile, we can plant the seed. They’re the ones who get the most out of it.”

Nahal, who ran a similar camp in Gippsland last month and will soon head to Bendigo, said taking the camps to rural areas was a new initiative of BA.

“My goal by doing it this way and using geography and where the concentration of clubs are is to try and deliver this content to everyone,” he said.

“It’s all well and good we run four camps a year in Melbourne but to me that’s not development. You’ve got to be rolling it into different people each time.

“There’s a lot of talent in regional Victoria and it’s just not seen, it’s just not noticed because of geography, proximity.

“Running this program as the state development coach I can keep an eye on them. I’ve already picked out three or four across the two camps that could be something,” he said.