WHEN Ben Sheedy started learning to box and going for regular training he didn’t tell any of his mates.

“I was 16 and I didn’t want people to know that I was a handy lad,” explains Ben, now 25 and a talented national prospect.

Ben was always sporty as a youngster, playing football for Ashton on Mersey Secondary School, which was near his boyhood home in Sale.

He had originally wanted to learn boxing to help defend himself, but was quickly hooked on the discipline and skills involved.

“My dad took me along originally to a club in Sale,” says Ben.

“He’s always played football and is still pretty fit at 50 so he started training with me.

"Then the club closed but my dad knew John Hart from Castle Hill Police Boxing Club in Bolton, so he started taking me there.”

This kick-started not only Ben’s boxing career but also introduced him to the coach who would become a major influence.

“John is an incredible man,” states Ben.

“Boxing is his life and he shares this with lads like me. He’s very important in my life.”

Under John’s coaching, Ben quickly developed as a boxer.

He won his first competitive bout at an inter-club event in Scotland and remained unbeaten in his next six fights.

The orthordox hard-hitter fought then at 57kg and competed early in the Junior ABA Championships, winning and losing some.

“I didn’t realise the magnitude of this achievement at the time, though,” he recalls.

He started working as a bricklayer after leaving school and the work often took him away from home – and his weekly training regime.

After a six-months break, though, he returned to compete in a national event for novices and got to the quarter-finals.

Unfortunately, work in the Lake District intervened, forcing a five-year break from the sport.

Although Ben added: "I always kept fit and the job is quite physically demanding anyway.”

He returned to boxing and the Castle Hill club last August and competed in the English Boxing Development Championships in November.

Ben progressed through the local and regional quarter-finals and semi-finals to reach the final, and won.

Injury has forced him to abandon plans to compete in the senior ABAs, but he’s got his sights firmly set on a tournament in Slovakia in June.

He has risen through the weigh divisions and now competes around the 78kg mark and keeps strictly to the boxer’s daily diet, combined with rigorous training sessions at the gym three times a week.

"Definitely get involved in boxing for the discipline and as a way of keeping fit,” advised Ben, for any youngsters looking for a sport to get into.

"I am self-employed and whenever I am looking to employ a youngster, it is vital for me that they are into a sport that gives them a strong work ethic."

He’s a great role model himself, promoting sponsorship in the gym to help other young boxers, and determined to do well.

“When I get in the ring, I always think I’ll win anyway,” he said.

For more information about Castle Hill Police Boxing Club call John Hart on 07401 900019.