Stephen Ng - Head Boxing Coach
Stephen has been working in the fitness industry and specifically in boxing for over 40+ years. Stephen holds a certificate 4 in training and assessment. As a Level 1 Boxing Coach Stephen has specialized and built his business around the art of boxing. Having established Matrix Boxing Gym in 2005, Stephen has created an environment where anyone can come to learn about boxing, feel the benefits of the fitness it creates and the accomplishment of learning the technical aspects as well.
Stephen’s passion for boxing is built on his belief that learning the true art of boxing will benefit you in all aspects of your life. This can be achieved through building the mental fortitude needed to overcome the adversities of just the physical training of a boxer or taking it to the next level by preparing for a controlled physical battle.
Throughout his career in boxing which yielded an Australian Title, Oceania Silver, Arafura Games Bronze, National Golden Gloves as an amateur and a Queensland title as a professional, Stephen has trained alongside Australia’s top boxing coaches. The lessons and techniques he has learnt over the years, along with Stephen’s quest to always learn new and improved training methods, keeps you the student always learning. Stephen is consistently looking for ways to challenge himself and those around him, having competed in a Kickboxing Tournament in 2007 in Noumea, making his Professional MMA Debut in 2008 (knocking his opponent out cold!) and completing the grueling Kokoda Challenge in 2009.
Most people don’t realise how technical boxing actually is. We try and teach the ‘Art of Boxing’ by breaking down each technique….bringing it back to its simplest, most efficient and effective movement. There are the basic fundamentals that everyone must learn….but from there, once you have that foundation, we strive to not only find a style that suits you, but teach you how to combat all styles that are put in front of you. -Stephen Ng
Warren Cootes - Boxing Coach
Coach Warren first entered a boxing gym in 2003 back in his hometown of Grafton NSW, looking to learn self-defense while still playing representative basketball and Saturday soccer.
After a period of juggling all three sports, he made the decision to focus all his energy on boxing so he could box competitively in the ring. After 19 fights under the G.A.B.C banner and receiving a silver medal at States in the Junior 69kg Division, Warren moved to Ballina in 2008 where he continued training and fighting before coming up to the Gold Coast in 2011, where he found Matrix Boxing Gym and began training under Stephen Ng.
In 2016 he was approached by Stephen to assist training the Novice Boxing Classes while still competing as an amateur boxer. After finishing his competitive boxing career at the end of 2017, Warren has now moved into a full-time role, coaching the Youth Boxing, Novice Boxing, Competition Boxing, Boxing Circuits and some of the Strength classes at Matrix.
“I was hesitant at first taking on a coaching role, but now I look back at it as one of the best challenges I’ve taken on in life”. – Coach Warren
“Since 2018 Coach Warren has stepped up and become a true teacher of boxing. He keeps learning his craft, by firstly being hands on, coaching all the novice classes, the amateur boxers and helping me with the pro’s, this, together with his willingness to keep learning and improving as a coach is why he has trained multiple champions, with many more championships for the team to come!” – Coach Stephen
Book in directly for Personal training with Warren Cootes on: 0488 005 319
Jacob Ng - Boxing Coach
Jacob ‘The Flamingo’ Ng
As a professional boxer Jacob was world rated at no.6 with the WBO and no.8 with the IBF in the lightweight division and amassed a record of 15 wins (11KO) and 1 loss(DQ).
His fight career started at age 10 when he trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. As a junior he competed and won the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australian, Pan Pacific Championships and won many local tournaments. He was awarded his blue belt at age 16 and as an adult won the Gold Coast and Queensland Championships. He also competed in Japan twice at the Rickson Gracie Cup, where he received a Bronze Medal. Jacob would regularly compete in the open weight division and wrestle and beat opponents who were sometimes up to 50kg heavier than him.
At age 15 he started boxing as an amateur and had 28 fights with 2 exhibitions bouts. He won the golden gloves, Queensland Novice Title, Southeast Queensland Title. He went to the Commonwealth Games trials and made it to the semi-finals and was beaten in a close fight against Jason Moloney, who has since gone on to win a professional world title. At 21 Jacob moved to Thailand for a year to train and compete in Muay Thai. He had his first fight 3weeks into training and got a 1st round TKO win. In that year he had 9 fights for 8 wins all by KO and 1 draw. He also was lucky enough to fight on national television twice. His experience in Thailand of training twice a day six days a week, living and training fulltime with other fighters really solidified his desire to be a professional fighter. It was in Thailand that he learnt to appreciate what you have and the importance of hard work to achieve your dreams and goals. Jacob is also a coach at Matrix Boxing Gym. He is an accredited boxing coach, with years of experience training people. If you’re looking to get fit and healthy, learn the art of boxing, or work your way up to sparring or a fight, Jacob can help you achieve those dreams.
Book in directly for training with Jacob Ng on: 0403 264 910
Amanda Cootes - Coach
Amanda first entered Matrix Boxing gym at the end of 2014 looking for something that she wasn’t finding training in your “typical” gyms. She had no combat fight experience, had absolutely no clue how to throw a punch and was not keen on being punched in the face. Over the next year she became intrigued in the techniques and skills involved in boxing which led her to participate in the Novice Boxing classes. From here she developed a passion for the sport which motivated her to train to a level to be selected for the Competition Boxing Fighters class. Amanda boxed as an amateur fromNovember 2017 until the end of 2023 winning multiple titles, including state titles, two silver medals at the Australian titles and many interstate fights. Amanda coaches the Youth Boxing, Novice Boxing, Competition Boxing and some of the Strength classes.
Amanda is a strong believer in goal setting which can be seen through her progression of winning all her medals. Amanda is an accredited Level 1 Boxing Coach and is also available for one-on-one coaching.
Book in directly for Personal training with Amanda Cootes on: 0432 216 866
Ellie Camilleri - Strength Coach
Ellie has been a Matrix Boxing Gym member for over 2.5 years and it is great to have her as a coach now. Ellie has her Cert 3 & 4 in Fitness, her Strength and Conditioning Level 1 certification. Ellie is also in her 5th Year of a Dual degree in Exercise Science and Psychology.
She has multiple swimming credits along with her current CPR & First Aid certs.
Ellie has been coaching for the past 7 years now, from Olympic level athletes and para sports athletes to general health and fitness clients.
Ellie started in the gym, lifting weights to get strong for swimming, as she was a national level swimmer.
She loves all sports and any type of training as long as its a challenge, she loves learning new exercises and skills in the gym and loves to push the limits both physically and mentally.
Her favourite exercises are Dead Lifts and Pull Ups!
Teeny Aiken - Strength Coach
Teeny first joined Matrix Boxing Gym back in 2011. She represented the club as an amateur boxer and also fought an international bout in Dubai.
Teeny grew up in California, has competed in soccer and swimming, and was a collegiate boxer at the University of California, Berkeley. Teeny is a former soccer and swim coach and in recent years has been a junior girls cricket coach at Helensvale Cricket Club.
Teeny has a Masters and PhD in Sports Management and has worked in community, state, and international sport organizations. She is an accredited S&C Level 1 Coach and loves to support people in leading active lifestyles.
Teeny currently works full-time in sport development across the Pacific as the Head of Social Responsibility at Oceania Football Confederation. With a wealth of training experience and a passion for functional strength, Teeny is a welcomed addition to the team.
Lachlan O’Shea - Boxing Coach
Lachlan started his boxing journey in 2015 he was initially going to do MMA but had shattered his left tibia and fibula in 5 places; while using boxing to rebuild his leg and fitness he fell in love with the sport and art of boxing and decided boxing was the path for him.
Lachlan in just over two years in the amateurs had won 1 x Gold North Queensland games medal, 1 x Gold, 1 x Silver golden gloves medal, 1 x Queensland championship belt and 1 x bronze Australian title medal. He is now boxing as a professional, out of Matrix Boxing Gym. In his 13 fights so far, Lachlan has won two Qld titles and lost a points decision for an Australian title.
Part of the reason Lachlan admires boxing so much is if something seems impossible and frustrating to learn at first, through persistence and practice you’re able to master these things that seemed impossible to learn and therefore these lessons can be used for all areas of life.
“You may not pick things up easily the first time but if you keep at it and stay focused you can achieve what you set your mind to”
Book in directly for training with Lachlan O’Shea on: 0484 288 593
Adam Hollioake - Boxing Coach
Adam Hollioake has been a professional athlete in three different sports. Cricket, Professional Boxing & MMA.
In Cricket, Adam captained Surrey for 7yrs winning 3 championships. He played 40 games for England, captaining the English One Day Team from 1997-1999.
Adam was also the creator and producer of the very successful tv series, ‘Rexona Australia’s Greatest Athlete’, he has been a feature writer with Ocean Road Magazine, is highly sort after as an ‘After Dinner Speaker’, and is a regular on ‘Talk Sport’, ‘Sky UK’ and ‘Beyond the Ropes’.
Adam walked into Matrix Boxing Gym in 2010 and formed an immediate friendship with Coach Stephen, which saw him train under him for multiple “celebrity boxing” matches, 5 x professional boxing matches and 2 x cage fights over the following 5yrs.
Adam now helps train and mentor the Competition team and his wealth of knowledge from competing and coaching at the highest level across 3 x professional sports is a priceless addition to Team Matrix!