Westminster Council has created a boxing scheme to give disadvantaged young people fresh impetus to eat healthily and stay fit.
The project is part of the Positive Futures programme in the borough and involves young people being trained up as boxing tutors. The tutors complete a course given by the sport's national governing body, the Amateur Boxing Association of England. Their accreditation means they are eligible to take part in initiatives aimed at steering young people away from crime and antisocial behaviour.
The trainers are working with other young people who are aged between eight and 19, to give them boxing skills. All the young people involved are at risk of turning to crime or are not in education, employment or training.
Eugene Minogue, sports development manager for partnerships at Westminster Council, says young people are keen to get involved with the scheme.
"We ran the programme over six weeks during the summer holidays," he says. "We got young people from deprived wards coming along and we training them up with boxing skills. As a result we're expanding the programme and are opening another club in south Westminster."
The programme was part of an initiative to make the existing boxing club more flexible with its opening times to allow young people who may not be working or at school to take part in structured activity.
The group of new boxing tutors means the club can move towards working officially for the local authority and carry out programmes with the council's sports unit, youth offending team and schools, enabling them to tap into funding to secure its long-term future.
