Overview and summary of ModBox in India

With support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
(DFAT), a sport-based development initiative known as ModBox – short for
modified boxing is currently
operating in 10 schools across
the northern Indian states of
Uttarakhand and Uttar
Pradesh. The project is serving
as a vehicle for reaching young
people from some of the most
disadvantaged sectors of the
Indian community and is aimed
at facilitating their personal
development.
ModBox differs substantially
from conventional boxing. It makes use of specially developed gloves that
decrease impact forces, and impacts to the head and neck are prohibited.
Protective vests and head guards are worn. Participants prepare for ‘public
performances’ rather than competitions. In the public performances, contestants
within a ‘bout’ work together to put on an attractive and entertaining display of
skill, rather than seeking individual victory. They vow to avoid causing any harm
to each other. At the end of a bout, no winner is declared but instead the
participants rate their own performance and that of their opponent according to
several set criteria. The ratings are checked against those of a Performance
Director. The collated information is then used to provide each participant with
feedback on strengths and areas of possible improvement. This approach is
intended foster progressive skill improvement.
A key element of the program has been the training of ModBox Community
Coaches who can then work effectively in the schools and communicate the
philosophy underpinning the endeavour.
During the second half of 2016, Boxing Australia Participation Manager and  
current University of Canberra PhD scholar Paul Perkins, who is also a former
Australian Institute of Sport Boxing Coach, developed a training course that was
subsequently accredited
through the Australian
Sports Commission. In
January 2017, he
delivered the course to
33 Indian trainees
(including 17 females)
over a 6-day intensive
period.
Paul remained in India for a total of 7 weeks to provide ongoing support to the
coaches and to directly assist in the early stages of program implementation.
Ten of the coaches (4 males, 6 females) now
have either full-time or part-time employment
through the program. They are enabling the
involvement of more than 300 young people
across the 10 schools.
The program objectives extend beyond
improvement of sporting proficiency, having
broader educational and social dimensions.
For example, the program is linked with an
initiative that seeks to make the modified boxing
participants aware of and responsive to
environmental challenges affecting their region.

Tree-planting exercises are being

conducted in conjunction with a
regiment of the Indian army and
program participants are being
rewarded for advancing ideas
directed at solving environmental
problems.

An Indian company, Paramount

Enterprises, has commenced manufacture
of specialised gloves and other equipment
needed for the program. This is
contributing to the building of Australian-
Indian relationships in the sport business
sector.

A world-leading private school,

the Doon School in the Indian city
of Dehradun, is making its
facilities available three evenings
per week for running of the
ModBox program for young people
from nearby slums.
The School’s Social Service Coordinator has reported that within just a few
months participation has risen from 22 young people to over 100, the
attendance rate is always close to
100%, and the ‘enthusiasm
quotient’ is exceptional. She notes
that some young people who had
dropped out  of school have returned
purely to be part of the ModBox
community, and she considers the
program to be one of the best social
outreach activities that the school
has undertaken. The school is now
helping to meet the cost of
employing two coaches.

A DFAT official has described the modified boxing program as ‘exemplary’ in

terms of its alignment with the DFAT
vision for sport diplomacy. DFAT
originally funded the program for a
1-year period but, in recognition of
the early achievements, it recently
provided a second grant that will
assure continuation until the end of
September 2018.
The new grant has been awarded as
part of a DFAT commitment to help
achieve objectives identified in a
sports MOU signed by the Australian
and Indian Governments earlier this
year. Those objectives include ‘grassroots’ development of Indian sport.
At the beginning of October 2017, Paul spent
another 11 days in India to liaise with
colleagues there on the continuing
progression of the program. On this occasion
he was accompanied by Allan Hahn, who is
an Adjunct Professor at the University of
Canberra Research Institute for Sport &
Exercise. The trip included visits to
participant and likely new participant schools
in both urban and rural environments,
discussions with coaches and school
principals, viewing of Indian company
manufacturing facilities, and attendance of
the ‘world’s first multi-school public
performance of ModBox’.
Although the public performance concept associated with ModBox was first
developed in Australia, it has been elaborated by the Indian partners in the
program. The multi-school
public performance in India
was held outdoors on a dirt
surface in a school
quadrangle with drapes on
one side and seating for
participants and spectators
on the other sides. The
participants had used
painted stones to form a
large ModBox logo on one
side of the quadrangle.
The performance incorporated choreographed and well-rehearsed warm-up
routines, training activities and skill drills, all performed to music. This was
followed by several bouts that
conformed to the ModBox model.
At the end of the performance
there were some coach-led
activities that again had strong
musical and dance elements. The
event lasted for ~2 hours and
was visually quite spectacular. A
total of 110 young people from 5
schools took part with great joy
and excitement.

The program is opening up new

opportunities for development of
community level coaches and is
encouraging participants to extend
their career and other aspirations.
It is actively promoting the
importance of education and
community.
It emphasises inclusiveness and offers many options for participant involvement,
including: participation in training activities, assistance with preparation for
public performances and
engagement in group elements of
the public performances all valued
every bit as highly as participation
in controlled ModBox bouts.

Importantly, the Indian partners in the

program are playing a major role in refining it
to ensure that it is best able to address and
meet local needs. Very positive professional
and personal relationships already have been
built between Australian and Indian
collaborators and this outcome is ever-
advancing.

An excellent foundation now exists for

program expansion and further
development. A major challenge is to find
ways to ensure that the program can
sustained into the future without ongoing
dependence on DFAT grants.
Summary
Funding through the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade enabled the implementation of a community-focused modified boxing
program (ModBox) in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, northern India. The
project has achieved numerous positive outcomes, including:
• Achievement of public diplomacy outcomes sought by the Australian
Government.
• Develop of course recourses for the training of ModBox community
coaches and the subsequent accreditation of the course through the
Australian Sport Commission.
• An Australian coach spending seven weeks in India, during which time he
ran a 6-day intensive training course that was completed by 33
prospective Modified Boxing Community Coaches (17 of whom were
female), oversaw the introduction of the Modified Boxing program into two
schools and a Drug Rehabilitation Centre, participated in a range of
promotional activities, and built positive relationships with Indian project
partners.
• Progressive expansion of the program to a point where it is now operating
in 10 schools and catering for a total of over 300 regular participants
(more than half of whom are female) and already providing at least part-
time employment for six female and four male coaches.
• Implementation of a novel ‘public performance’ concept inherent in the
philosophy underpinning the modified boxing initiative.
• Establishment of links with an Indian company that is a potential
manufacturer of low-impact gloves and other equipment needed for
modified boxing programs, production of prototype gloves by that
company, and testing of the gloves at the University of Canberra with a
representative of the company in attendance.
• Realisation of original plans to use the modified boxing program as a
vehicle for raising participant awareness of environmental challenges
currently affecting Uttarakhand, and involvement of participants in tree-
planting exercises carried out in conjunction with a regiment of the Indian
Army.
• Successful running of a major event (the Greenstock Festival) to
showcase the modified boxing program and its connection with
environmental activities.
• Generation of considerable media publicity for DFAT and program
partners.