Newark and Sherwood District Council presents Newark Amateur Boxing Club with £7,900 in community grant funding for behaviour sessions as schools including Newark Academy
A sports club has received a welcome boost of funding as they aim to provide an outlet for young people and prevent anti-social behaviour.
Newark and Sherwood District Council have presented Newark Amateur Boxing Club with £7,900 in community grant funding.
For over 20 years the club has been providing a space at Suggy’s Gym for young people in town to grow and develop, both physically and mentally through boxing.
As part of this, coaches also work with school to run 10 week blocks of sessions for young people who struggle with their behaviour, or to help boost the confidence of others.
Newark Academy is one such school to benefit from these services, with around a dozen students being referred to take part.
Nicki Peters-Bayford, chairman of Newark Amateur Boxing Club, said: “This funding means that we can continue to provide support to the community, and become more than just a boxing club.
“By helping the behaviour here, for example, that then impacts the rest of the community because it filters down and helps tackle the anti-social behaviour outside of school.
“Here they learn discipline, they learn respect, they learn resilience, and then go out into the world with a positive change — and we’ve had some real successes.”
Sessions are led by professionals, including Newark Boxer and instructor Jade Grierson, and Dean Sugden who is a GB and England Development Coach.
The cheque was presented by council leader Paul Peacock, who said: “We invest an awful lot of money in the response to anti-social behaviour, but as a council be really believe that it should be being spent on prevention.
“The club does a lot of work in the community already, the school and kids benefit and it’s only a good thing to show our support.”
Nicki added: “We’re really proud of everything we have achieved.
“We want to try and give these young people an aspiration, some hope and a drive for something bigger. Confidence for something beyond what they thought was possible.”
“The motto is, ‘we win together, we learn together’. It may be an individual sport, but we do everything as a team and that is very important.”
Anyone interested in learning to box can give it a go with a free session at the club, or sign up on a monthly or session by session basis.
The club also runs school sessions at King’s Church of England Primary Academy and Mount Primary School in Newark.