Bantamweight boxer Matthew McHale left the tiles behind as he took his place with Team Scotland at this year’s Commonwealth Games being in Birmingham. Matthew reached the semi-finals and secured a Bronze Medal win for himself and Team Scotland.
McHale’s day job involves helping people start careers in tiling with Edinburgh-based Trades Training School, while most of his spare time is taken up with another sort of training: boxing at Lochend Gym.
Recently McHale’s career has taken off under the close watch of head coach Terry McCormack. A member of Boxing Scotland’s team, Matty competed at the World Championships in October last year, and at the European Championships in May.
Trades Training owner Antony O’Neil also has a passion for boxing, and the pair first met in 2016 at Lochend Gym. O’Neil went on to become one of Matty’s local business sponsors, and in 2018 Matty joined Trades Training School as a training assistant. Since then, McHale has become a qualified tiling instructor while continuing his boxing training with the support of his work colleagues.
Antony says: “Recruiting Matty has been one of the best decisions I’ve made. Matty has managed to balance his boxing training with his teaching career and has excelled in both. He’s a respected instructor at the school, however, we’re delighted to see his boxing career take off. We couldn’t be prouder of his performance at the games!”
The team at Trades Training School – including the students – have been rooting for Matty over the last year as his boxing career has taken off. Staff and students “stop everything” to watch his matches live, and four members of staff travelled to Birmingham to support him at the games.
Matty says: “I’d like to give a massive thanks to Antony for everything he’s done for me. I work with supportive people who want to see each other do well, and I take great pleasure in teaching and passing on the skills Antony taught me. It’s really hard juggling my boxing with work, but this is made a hundred times easier with the supportive team around me.”
www.tradestraining.co.uk
