Father Dave's Old School Boxing Academy

Father Dave’s Old School Boxing Academy trained out of the church hall of Holy Trinity, Dulwich Hill from 1991 to 2021. We trained many champions. More importantly, we saw a great many crazy kids grow into confident adults, and, in a lot of cases, we played a significant role in that process.

December 31, 2021, was where it ended. We had over 3,000 people sign the community petition, asking the church for a stay of execution. None was given. Even so, as my dad used to say, when the work of God is like a flowing stream, and when someone drops a rock in the stream, the water will find a way around it. Our work will continue. We are currently training at the Fight Lab in Tempe with my old friend, Kon Pappy, and we continue to train at Binacrombi bush camp on the weekends. Join us.

Featured below is some footage taken from our last training session.

Hi team. Father Dave here. It’s been a painfully long time since we met and trained together. Many are calling and asking when we are opening up again. I have good news and bad news (but I’m afraid it’s mostly bad). ☹

Gyms can open again from this week onwards, but only for fully vaccinated people. Your trainers refuse to discriminate against unvaccinated people. We will therefore not be training again at our regular gym location until everybody is welcome. Besides that, the current social distancing and mask-wearing requirements make boxing-training near impossible. That means the Dulwich Hill gym will not officially be open again until Thursday, December 2^nd.

Further, the church of the Holy Trinity in Dulwich Hill has given me notice that they intend to evict us at the end of December when our lease runs out. I appealed for a six-month extension but received an email today telling me that this request has been refused. I am not sure what to do about this. We have no alternative location at the moment. Our immediate plan is to protest the decision though I’m not exactly sure what form that will take. Expect a petition, picketing and public protests. Stay tuned. I’ll be posting updates on the Boxing Academy Facebook page and on this webpage.

I did promise some good news: 😊

• Firstly, for those who wish to do some open-air training between now and December 2^nd, I will be at Marrickville Oval tonight, and intend to be there every Tuesday and Thursday night from 6.30 pm. I’m expecting Mike to be with me on Thursday and expect that the other trainers may join me too. We can certainly go for a run, and I can fill my ute-tray with gloves and pads. Turn up and we can work it out.
• Secondly, there will be no charge for anybody between now and the end of the year – not for training in the park and not for training in the gym when we get back there. Let’s get as many involved as we can for the last part of this year and, if this is our last hurrah, let’s make it a great one!

yours in the Good Fight

Dave
www.fatherdave.org
www.dulwichhillgym.com