Combination for success
A new boxing club has been receiving positive support from the community since opening its doors in Rankin Inlet in early March.
The club is being led by Abdallah Butt, who came to Rankin Inlet after being offered employment with Legal Aid.
Butt said he wanted to continue with boxing and learn more about the sport through coaching.
He was involved in the sport previously in Toronto, and also in the United Kingdom while there attending law school.
“I was doing it a lot more when I came back to Toronto and then I was offered a job with Legal Aid in Rankin Inlet,” said Butt.
“When I was planning to move up here, I was looking at the different sports in Rankin Inlet and this community is really athletic.
“There’s ton of sports the community loves to do, such as badminton, hockey, of course, volleyball and soccer.
“I noticed they didn’t have a regular boxing program, so I thought that would be kind of interesting to get going in Rankin and volunteer my time to give back to the community.”
Butt said once he arrived in the Kivalliq, he connected with recreation director A.J. Curley, who was really helpful in getting him started with the 16-and-older club.
He said Curley wrote a proposal for him and helped the club launch on positive footing.
“It ended up working out really well and we got a lot of interest really early in the process. And it’s been really good ever since,” he said.
Butt, 29, has an established track record in both archery and boxing, actually training for the 2020 Olympics in archery while attending university. After giving up archery to concentrate full-time on his law career, he started missing not being involved with a sport and decided to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps, who grew-up boxing in Kenya, East Africa.
He decided to slow down in boxing when he started to reach the competitive level and concentrate more on coaching in the sport.
Butt said the initial reaction to the new boxing club in Rankin was one of a lot of interest and a lot of curiosity.
He said people continue to be really engaged with it and he sees a lot of interest every time he posts a notice about another session.
“We don’t have the best of times right now — 5 p.m. until 6 p.m. — which is right after work for many people. That can make it a little hard for people to get to, but other time slots will soon be opening up.
“I’m really interested in holding it outdoors during the summer. We just need flat ground to do it on. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback from the community since we first began. So far, those coming out have been young guys, mostly Inuit from the community, which I really, really like.
“We also get a lot of interest expressed from girls and young women when I post a notice online and I’d really like to see them start coming out.
“Boxing, traditionally, has a sort of masculinity associated with it, but, maybe, if we do a women-only night, that would make them feel more comfortable to come and workout. I’d really love to see that.”
The club has been averaging about eight people per session, which the coach expects to see increase over time.
Butt said it would be really cool if, in the future, the club could hold an exhibition fight between local members to raise money for charity.
He said it would be like a sparring session that people could come out and watch.
“It would be organized like a fight, where you’d have rounds, the bell, a referee and someone who wins and someone who loses.
“If I could get it to that level in the next year and a bit, that would be really amazing.
“That would be something I’d really be proud of.”
Darrell Greer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Kivalliq News
