Millie Gilmore, Tyson Adams, Ryder Ashby, Jaxon Ali, Noah Membreno, Jamie TeHuna.
Photo supplied by Mark Grech.

SIX young boxers from Jabout Gym and Bro-fit in Penrith are headed to the 2025 Australian Schools Boxing Championships, which are scheduled to take place from Monday, September 29 to Friday, October 3, 2025, at the Marrara Indoor Stadium in Darwin (NT).

This national event brings together school-aged boxers from across Australia to compete in various weight divisions, showcasing emerging talent in the sport.

Following impressive results at the recent NSW Open, the following boxers from Jabout Gym and Bro-Fit will be attending the Championships.

Ryder Ashby (Jabout / Bro-Fit) will compete in U19’s 75kg, Tyson Adams and Jaxon Ali both in U17 57kg, Noah Membreno U17 54kg, Jamie TeHuna (Bro-Fit) in U15 66kg and Millie Gilmore in Girls U17 57kg.

Mark Grech has owned Jabout Gym since 2012, having previously worked as a boxing instructor at Penrith PCYC. He said Jabout operates six days per week, with training from Monday – Friday and sparring on Saturday, with its main focus on amateur boxers.

There are currently approximately 30 amateurs and 6 professionals training at Jabout, which has featured both past and current Olympic, Commonwealth Games and World Boxing Championships boxers, including Paris Olympian Tiana Echegary, who currently works with Mark as a trainer at the Gym.

Other boxing identities who have trained at Jabout include Shelley Watts, Leah Anderton and Cameron Hammond.

Shelley competed in the Women’s Lightweight division at the 2014 Commonwealth Games (Scotland), where she won the gold medal. She was also a competitor in the 2012 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Qinhuangdao (China). Shelley qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on 31 March 2016, by making the final of the 2016 Asian and Oceania Olympic qualifying event. She is now a lawyer and began her law degree three years before starting boxing.

Leah is an 18-year-old elite amateur boxer from the Blue Mountains, who started boxing at the age of 14. In 2024, she won gold at the National Australian Youth Championships in Perth, WA and was selected as part of the Boxing Australia Youth team to compete at the 2024 World Boxing Youth World Championships in Colorado, USA. There she secured a bronze medal for Australia, ranking 3rd in the world for her age and weight. The Australian team’s performance made history for Australia at Youth Worlds, with Leah’s bronze medal contributing as Australia’s second-ever female medal at Youth Worlds. Leah was subsequently selected to be a member of Boxing Australia’s High-Performance team and is the youngest female boxer on the team. She made her international elite debut at the Independence Cup tournament in the Dominican Republic earlier this year.

Cameron is an Aboriginal professional boxer who represented Australia at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi (India) and the 2012 Summer Olympics (London) in the middleweight division.

Mark also has a close, strong working relationship with Bro-fit Penrith www.brofitpenrith.com