GDF Boxing Gym aims to continue Head Coach Terrence Poole’s legacy
GDF Boxing Coach Steele Crawford
Former Head Coach of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Boxing Gym, Terrence Poole MS, passed away in October of 2024, leaving a major void not just at the gym, but in Guyana’s far-reaching Boxing fraternity.
For the first time since the renowned Coach’s death, the GDF Gym were back in action over the weekend at the Terrence Ali National Open Championships; and were so dominant over the 3-day competition that there was a 14-point difference between them and the tournament’s second-place finishers, Forgotten Youth Foundation (FYF).
Reflecting on the event, Coach Steele Crawford noted that conditioning was a big part of the GDF’s preparation for the Championships.
“Well, we needed to work on conditioning, because the time was too short. So, the boxers ain’t really got no top condition. It’s just the senior boxers, who are experienced, they used their technique and made the fights look easier,” Crawford shared with this publication.
A confident Craford told Guyana Times Sport that the GDF Gym intends to replicate its performance throughout the year 2025, but would first be focusing on introducing some new Boxing talent to the arena.
A look at the GDF boxers in action
Crawford boldly declared, “2025, we’re looking to achieve better things, because in January we’re going to start bring out new breed of boxers. We have the GDF tournament, that’s the inter-unit tournament, then we’ll go fight the National Novices. From the National Novice, we got the Intermediate, then the National Championships. For 2025, we know we’ll do good,” he confidently asserted.
This coach was later at a loss for words to describe Terrence Poole’s absence, and could only express an intention to keep his legacy going as he reflected, “Well, the gym misses him a lot. Everybody miss him! Because Terrence Poole, he was a great man to us, you know; he was very good. I can’t really explain myself.
“I will continue it. From what Terrence Poole left off, I will continue it,” Crawford vowed in dedicating the GDF’s recent win to the late coach.
The competition ended with GDF Gym amassing 23 points, while FYF Gym was second with 9 points. Best Boxer Colin Lewis, and Joshua Thomas, Orlando Norton, Aluko Bess and Zidhan Wray were among the pugilists who secured gold medals for the GDF camp.
