THE Station Gymnasium owner and boxing coach Kirsty Gregory has been in the boxing world for decades, and says star pupil Aiden Falkenberg is one of the brightest prospects she has seen.

Falkenberg, 14, picked up boxing two years ago while also dipping his toe into footy, basketball and cricket, and said it was the solo accountability that sold him on ‘the sweet science’.

“With basketball, football and cricket, it’s all about the team, and you can go for long stretches without even being involved in what’s happening, but with boxing it’s all about yourself,” he said.

“With team sports you can be not very good and still be on a really good team, but now I know it’s all about how much I want it and how hard I’m willing to work.

“It’s a lifestyle too – I’m much healthier now, I’ve been eating right and just staying ready all the time.”

Falkenberg said his goal is to eventually make the Australian Olympic team, and Gregory said that may not be too far-fetched.

“Next year we will definitely be aiming for the Youth World Games – which is that next step on that path to representing the country,” Gregory said.

“From the first time he came in he was a hard worker and was keen to learn, and that combination is actually really rare in kids his age… he’s humble, patient, and always follows instruction.

“I’ve probably trained over 1000 kids here in Gawler, and he still just stood out straight away as someone with real potential.”

Gregory pointed out that Falkenberg’s case – as a kid playing a team sport but not completely falling in love with it – is more common than parents might think, and that boxing is a great alternative with real benefits to those who start younger.

“To anyone who might really want to do something but team sports isn’t for you, this is a really great way to succeed individually, and the gym is like a family,” she said.

“Aiden said to me when he won his first boxing trophy that it was actually the first trophy he’d ever won, and because he did it himself and had to overcome obstacles to get there, it meant more.

“Kids all over the world, like in Russia or America, all start when they’re young so by the time they get to 18 or 19 years old they have hundreds of fights under their belt, where Australians at that age usually only have 20 or 30 maybe.

“When Aiden gets to that age when he’s going to be competing for spots on the Commonwealth Games team, he’s going to be right there on that level with the best, and that could be the same for any kid starting young.”

For more information about The Station Gym, call 0401 013 189 or visit its website at (www.thestationgym.com.au).