Stroke can’t keep Frank out of gym (From Echo)

Stroke can’t keep Frank out of gym

5:10pm Thursday 19th January 2012 in Other Sport By Frazer Clark

WHEN boxing coach Frank Doyle suddenly realised that he could not move his leg or even speak he knew that there was something very wrong.

The Vange & Pitsea Amateur Boxing Club stalwart was at the top of his stairs at home on Father’s Day last year when he suffered a stroke.

And it knocked the 67-year-old trainer for six, forcing him to spend four weeks in hospital.

But after months of recuperation he is back at the gym he loves, although he still admits that he is expected to take it easy rather than run around holding punch bags or demonstrating jabs.

Doyle said: “As soon as I got out of hospital I was gagging to get straight back down to the gym.

“But I soon found out that it was not going to be like that.

“I’ve had to take it quite easy although I’m back down there a lot now, even though I’ve got my stick and my role is more about spotting talent and advising rather than hitting bags or doing the pads.”

Doyle admits that his stroke came completely out of the blue — and it knocked him for six.

He said: “I got to the top of the stairs and realised that I couldn’t move or speak.

“I knew that there was something very wrong and a spent the next few weeks in hospital “They can’t do too much for you rather than give you asprin, but they looked after me very well.

“When I got out I was so keen to get back down to the club. But I also had the chance to read some of the messages which had been sent to me during my illness, many of them on the internet.

“People I had trained over the years had heard I was ill and sent messages hoping that I would get better.

“Messages came from all over the country and from other boxing clubs. It was really nice to think that so many people wished me well,” he added.

During his absence, family members and club trainers had kept the boxing club, which meets at the Glenmere Centre in Vange, ticking over.

Trainers who helped out included Frank’s 40-year-old son Perry Doyle, Stevie Boser, Sean O’Brien, Ricky Borough, Frank’s daughter Sharon Doyle, 42, and Frank’s grandaughter Sian, 21 — who now runs boxercise classes at the gym.