GUNS OPTIONAL: Senior constable Steven White and senior constable Nathan Ward in training for the Shoalhaven PCYC Charity Fight Night, with Shoalhaven PCYC manager Andrew Flint watching for foul play.
SEVEN police officers from Shoalhaven LAC will soon pull on boxing gloves and put their pride on the line in the ring for charity.
The Shoalhaven PCYC Charity Fight Night will see NSW police and firefighters go glove to glove on April 13 at Fairy Meadow.
With 22 fighters and 12 fights, the night promises plenty of action.
Notorious match ups will include battle of the heavy weights with Steve “Lightning Strike” White and William Verity, Ben Wellington and Col “Wicked Workshops” Renton, the “Battle of Gerringong” between Lloyd Bowen and Paul Winston, and the “Guns v Hoses” showdown between Georgie White and
Joel Marcue.
All proceeds from the night
will go to the Suicide Prevention Foundation, and towards buying a bus for the Shoalhaven PCYC.
“Both of us through work and our personal lives have had dealings with suicide, so the charity is close to us all,” said senior constable Stephen White.
The night is the brainchild of White and senior constable Nathan Ward.
The young team work with the youths in the Shoalhaven and design programs that target youth issues like street offences, drugs and malicious damage.
“Our core role is in youth case management, steering kids in the right direction and assisting the PCYC,” said White.
The idea came to the officers last year when they were thinking of ways to raise money to purchase
a bus.
The bus would help them carry out programs like the Breakfast Club, which identifies youths who are having difficulties at school.
“We identify those youths, bring them here (to the PCYC), they get fed some good food, maybe play some sport, then we drop them back off at school,” said Ward.
“It is run in a lot of other PCYCs in the state, with great success.”
It will be White’s first time in
the ring.
“I am more of a lover so I
have never done it before. I haven’t even had a schoolyard biff,” he admitted.
“But I have been training really hard, so I will just have to do
the best I can on the night. I am fairly confident.”
Standing at 198 centimetres tall, White has dropped 20 kilograms in the past six months in preparation for the fight. At 120 kilograms, he is sure to be an intimidating opponent for the Illawarra Mercury journalist, William Verity.
Ward has competed in and won one charity fight before.
This time he will come up against Paul Winston from the Lake Illawarra PCYC.
It will be a real master v apprentice showdown, with Winston having trained Ward in his first fight.
“But the result for me doesn’t really matter. It is more about having fun and putting on a good show for the people watching,” said Ward.
Tickets for the night are selling fast, but there are still four ringside tables for sponsors. For more
information, or to purchase tickets, contact the Shoalhaven PCYC
on 4421 8588.