THE IRISH ATHLETIC Boxing Association has announced the appointment of Damian Kennedy as Interim High Performance Head Coach.
Hailing from County Antrim, Kennedy has three decades of coaching experience at all levels of the IABA. He was TeamNI Boxing Head Coach for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, when the team topped the medals table with a record number of podium finishes.
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An Olympic coach, Kennedy has also held event-specific leadership roles at National level, including as Head Coach of Team Ireland at the 2nd Olympic Qualifier in Bangkok, when four boxers booked their seats on the plane to Paris in addition to coaching at the Games.
Kennedy has been honoured for his coaching and leadership abilities by Sport NI in its 2023 Sportmaker Awards, and was named a “Game Changer” by the UK National Lottery Good Causes in 2024 as having made a pivotal contribution to boxing and to his community.
Speaking on the new role, Kennedy said: “It’s an honour to lead the National programme on an interim basis, to build on the legacy of boxing technical excellence learned from and with Zauri. He and I worked hand-in-glove to prepare boxers for the highest levels of competition across many years, ably assisted by High Performance coaches in Dublin and in Ulster. There’s an exciting and challenging competition period just around the corner, and I look forward to further supporting IABA boxers in achieving their goals.”
As stated at the occasion of Zauri’s retirement from Irish Boxing, IABA intends to begin recruitment for the High Performance Head Coach in the New Year.
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Damian Kennedy named IABA interim high performance head coach after Zauri Antia retirement
THE IRISH ATHLETIC Boxing Association has announced the appointment of Damian Kennedy as Interim High Performance Head Coach.
Hailing from County Antrim, Kennedy has three decades of coaching experience at all levels of the IABA. He was TeamNI Boxing Head Coach for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, when the team topped the medals table with a record number of podium finishes.
An Olympic coach, Kennedy has also held event-specific leadership roles at National level, including as Head Coach of Team Ireland at the 2nd Olympic Qualifier in Bangkok, when four boxers booked their seats on the plane to Paris in addition to coaching at the Games.
Kennedy has been honoured for his coaching and leadership abilities by Sport NI in its 2023 Sportmaker Awards, and was named a “Game Changer” by the UK National Lottery Good Causes in 2024 as having made a pivotal contribution to boxing and to his community.
Speaking on the new role, Kennedy said: “It’s an honour to lead the National programme on an interim basis, to build on the legacy of boxing technical excellence learned from and with Zauri. He and I worked hand-in-glove to prepare boxers for the highest levels of competition across many years, ably assisted by High Performance coaches in Dublin and in Ulster. There’s an exciting and challenging competition period just around the corner, and I look forward to further supporting IABA boxers in achieving their goals.”
As stated at the occasion of Zauri’s retirement from Irish Boxing, IABA intends to begin recruitment for the High Performance Head Coach in the New Year.
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Boxing Damian Kennedy IABA Irish Boxing Zauri Antia