It is not only athletes and competitors who dream of making it to an Olympics and pitting their wits against the best, coaches can too.

Jason Gledhill of Leeds has been around boxing since he was 10, first as a have-a-go fighter then as an accidental coach and amateur club owner who realised his calling in the game he loved was to pass on wisdom and lead.

Now, aged 53, Gledhill has been appointed to a full-time position on the coaching staff of the GB Boxing squad at the English Institute of Sport, the medal factory that turned Nicola Adams, Anthony Joshua and Amir Khan into household names.

“I’d applied here for a couple of jobs and got knocked back, but to be honest I wasn’t really ready,” beams Gledhill from ringside.

Late developer: Jason Gledhill is a famous face around Leeds boxing circles but he's spread his wings to the GB Boxing squad at the EIS in Sheffield.

placeholder image — Late developer: Jason Gledhill is a famous face around Leeds boxing circles but he's spread his wings to the GB Boxing squad at the EIS in Sheffield.

“This was my goal, and the knockbacks didn’t deter me, they helped me. Luckily enough I finally got the gig earlier this year. That saying, if you get a job you love then you won’t feel like you’ve worked a day in your life. That applies to me. Every day is different, but hugely enjoyable.”

Chances are, if you’ve boxed in Leeds over the last four decades you’ll have come across Gledhill.

He first walked into St Patrick’s gym under the church in Burmantofts aged 10.

“I knew nothing about it,” he remembers, having had his interest piqued watching boxing on the television, and the good fortune to have a grandad who knew the game from his time in Ireland and his connections in Leeds.

Jason Gledhill, right, with Ben Stewart, left, two coaches who were promoted to the position of full-time Podium Coaches. The duo will primarily focus on leading GB Boxing’s Academy squad but will also support the senior squad as part of the World Class Programme (WCP) for boxing, which is based at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

“It was a bit daunting, wondering what I’d let myself in for, thought they’d all be big lads, not expecting to see like-minded young kids like me. It was better than any youth club. I got hooked straight away, and that’s where I was three nights a week up until I was about 17/18.”

He never reached a high standard, he was “playing at it” in his words, often the spare boxer that coaches would take to shows and match up with a bout on the night.

Life took him away from boxing at around 18 and it was a decade before he was lured back.

“As soon as I walked through the door, that smell of old leather, bags, sweat; it’s almost like a bottled scent. I’d never forgotten it from my St Patrick’s days,” he smiles.

That was Kelly’s ABC in Meanwood. He started in fights again but circumstances conspired to leave him on some nights as the most senior figure in the gym.

“I found myself some nights wondering who’s taking the class? I realised I could be the one to lead the coaching. I enjoyed passing on that knowledge I’d gained.

“And it was pretty much straight away that I thought I want to be an Olympic coach.”

So began the journey he hopes will take him to a corner in Los Angeles in 2028.

“We started to build a good stable of kids and we were producing regional and then national champions. We got a world amateur champion out of the club in Oliver Simpson,” he says of an ABC that became known at Tigers. “And you start getting recognised as a decent coach.”

Gledhill did his qualifications and was soon working with the Yorkshire squad, and then England.

Each time, just as he did when he first came to the attention of the GB performance squad, he spent countless hours just watching, listening and learning.

“Shadowing coaches at all levels made me realise I was on the right path, that I could do this,” he says. “I was like a little magpie, stealing ideas here and there.

“It’s a thankless task, you’re going away weekends at your own cost, but I loved it.

“My wife is a saint to put up with me. I missed my own kids growing up half the time because I was off to Bridlington, York or Manchester every weekend for a fight night.”

A change to the circumstances of his day job helped. Gledhill had been a greenkeeper at Cookridge Hall Golf Club for 28 years when lockdown meant his services were no longer required.

A full-time job on the GB performance squad has given him a new lease of life - and a new goal.

“Just being involved with the team here, how they prepare, how hard they work - I’m taking it all on board,” says Gledhill, for whom a career highlight was working the corner for another Leeds lad, Hopey Price, at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires in 2018.

“Whether it’s the next Olympics or the one after or not at all, I don’t know, but I’m on the right pathway with the right people.

“With a lot of the kids on the programme now, I’ve worked with them at England, I’ve got pictures with some when they’re young kids. I want to see them through to the journey’s end. As much as I want to be in the corner of a boxer at an Olympics, I just want to do my bit, a small cog in a big machine.

“And I don’t ever want to lose touch with the grassroots either. As much as high performance is where I want to be and Olympics is my goal, I still love to see a 10-year-old kid coming in the gym and not having a clue and then teaching them from scratch.”