My School Sport: Olympic bantamweight gold medallist Luke Campbell on what it takes to reach the top
Where did you go to school? My primary school was St Thomas More
Catholic Primary School and I went on to Pickering High School, which became
Sirius Academy in 2009. Both are in Hull.
Was sport an important part of school life there? Everybody looked
forward to PE. It was my favourite lesson.
Was sport in the school strong? We had a good PE department. I played
in the school football team, as a striker, and in year 7 and 8 I was one of
the leading goalscorers. I played in the rugby team years 9, 10, 11 –
centre, full-back, scrum-half, I even played as second row as well, I was a
chubby little kid then – that’s all there was really. I did that all the way
from year 7 onwards. There was no future for me in those sports. I didn’t
have the raw talent. I got there in boxing because of both talent and real
determination.
Have the sports facilities improved? There was no such sport as
athletics, water polo, cricket and so on, in school. None of that. It was
very limited. Even boxing has become bigger in schools and there was none of
that. Now, the opportunities to take part in sport in my old school have
tripled to what it was eight years ago when I was there. There is no reason
why anyone can’t excel in sports now because the facilities they’ve got are
fantastic.
What is your vision for improving sport and PE in schools? I would love
to go and do something in schools with boxing, where they have their own
competition in school with other schools involved, like you’d play other
schools at football. I think it would be great, to get boxing inside the
schools. It’s great for fitness, it keeps you healthy, it focuses that
person’s mind and gives them discipline, and I think that carries through to
the classroom as well. It’s one of my aims to be able go out and do
that in the area I am from. I’d even like to do it as a job and inspire the
young kids.
You are now a 6ft tall bantamweight, boxing at just under 9st. You said you
were ‘a chubby little kid’? Yes, I was then. I had a lot of
weight on me at the age of 13. I was stocky, small and chubby. When I
started boxing I just lost loads of weight. Then I started growing taller. I
was heavier when I was 13 than I was when I was 15. I started boxing at just
over seven and a half stone when I was 13 years old, and I was only small.
Pretty soon, I went down to just under six and a half stone, just through
training. Then I grew tall.
How did the boxing start? No one in my family had done it, so there was no one to influence me. I was 13. My brother Kane – who’s now a fisherman – and I went boxing. I thought it was cool. I just wanted a couple of trophies at home. We both lost our first two fights. We were over-matched against better opponents. He stopped, but I carried on, won my third fight, and that win inspired me to want to better myself.
You were boxing for England aged 16. Was it celebrated in the school? Once, they celebrated my success. But I kept it quiet. I’m quite a shy person really. It wasn’t really recognised in school what I was doing. But I continued playing rugby and football. My dad suggested I stay with one sport and put 100 per cent in.
Did sport interfere with your schoolwork? No, it helped it. I left school at 16, with GCSEs, and went boxing full-time. I worked as a butcher, did paving, packed bags at Asda, because I felt that I had to put everything into my boxing. But once I started training, going to the gym, I put more into my schoolwork. The two things go hand in hand.
Who were your heroes when you were growing up? I was that hyperactive when I was growing up, I rarely sat still to watch sport. I was always out there ‘‘doing’’. Later on, it was Muhammad Ali, for what he achieved in and out of the ring, Roy Jones Jr, and Sugar Ray Leonard.
What advice would you give to schoolchildren interested in pursuing a career in sport? It was a long, hard road, and there were lots of difficult days along the way. But having the gold medal, and being the most decorated amateur in British boxing history was all down to hard work, and believing in myself. Last week, 18,000 people turned out for a reception in Hull. It seems unreal, something I’ve always dreamt about, daydreamed about, thought about. It’s been a lifelong dream, and to have that medal and the Olympic title is breathtaking. It has taken a while to sink in. It seems incredible that in Hull, they are calling the gold phone box near St Paul’s Boxing Club my phone box, and the post box near Hessle Road where I was brought up, my post box. So I’d say have the dream, nurture the dream, know that there will be hard, even dark, days you have to come through, but keep believing. One day it will be yours.
Interview by Gareth A Davies
How did the boxing start? No one in my family had done it, so there was no one to influence me. I was 13. My brother Kane – who’s now a fisherman – and I went boxing. I thought it was cool. I just wanted a couple of trophies at home. We both lost our first two fights. We were over-matched against better opponents. He stopped, but I carried on, won my third fight, and that win inspired me to want to better myself.
You were boxing for England aged 16. Was it celebrated in the school? Once, they celebrated my success. But I kept it quiet. I’m quite a shy person really. It wasn’t really recognised in school what I was doing. But I continued playing rugby and football. My dad suggested I stay with one sport and put 100 per cent in.
Did sport interfere with your schoolwork? No, it helped it. I left school at 16, with GCSEs, and went boxing full-time. I worked as a butcher, did paving, packed bags at Asda, because I felt that I had to put everything into my boxing. But once I started training, going to the gym, I put more into my schoolwork. The two things go hand in hand.
Who were your heroes when you were growing up? I was that hyperactive when I was growing up, I rarely sat still to watch sport. I was always out there ‘‘doing’’. Later on, it was Muhammad Ali, for what he achieved in and out of the ring, Roy Jones Jr, and Sugar Ray Leonard.
What advice would you give to schoolchildren interested in pursuing a career in sport? It was a long, hard road, and there were lots of difficult days along the way. But having the gold medal, and being the most decorated amateur in British boxing history was all down to hard work, and believing in myself. Last week, 18,000 people turned out for a reception in Hull. It seems unreal, something I’ve always dreamt about, daydreamed about, thought about. It’s been a lifelong dream, and to have that medal and the Olympic title is breathtaking. It has taken a while to sink in. It seems incredible that in Hull, they are calling the gold phone box near St Paul’s Boxing Club my phone box, and the post box near Hessle Road where I was brought up, my post box. So I’d say have the dream, nurture the dream, know that there will be hard, even dark, days you have to come through, but keep believing. One day it will be yours.
Interview by Gareth A Davies
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