Giving kids a Fighting Chance

Empire Fighting Chance, a charity that uses sport to engage young people, has been awarded £210, 344 from The National Lottery. The Easton-based organisation that has recently moved from St Paul’s to the Mill Youth Centre, in Baptist Mills, was awarded this through the Reaching Communities England fund.

The fund hopes to use sport, predominantly non-contact boxing, to tackle academic performance, poor school attendance, anti-social behaviour, low self esteem, and increase employment opportunities for young people.

The founders of the charity are Martin Bisp and Jamie Sanigar, both of whom have been at the forefront of developing boxing opportunities in Bristol for many years.

Martin explains that with this significant funding it will enable the organisation to become sustainable and build upon its aims and objectives which is to ‘‘increase young people’s feelings of self worth, reduce anti-social behaviour and enable them to re-engage with school. This will ultimately have an impact upon career prospects for these young people”.

The charity works closely alongside the Bristol Boxing Gym which hosts fighters from the professional ranks, including world champions Lee Haskins and Lee Selby. Martin explains how having access to these strong male role models supports the project.

“The two Lees often drop into sessions. Selby is our ambassador and Haskins came through the club. It is important for credibility that the young people have access to world-class sportsmen as it shows the benefit of hard work and, most importantly, demonstrates it within a local setting.”

In recent times the impact of non-contact boxing and its various health and social benefits is being recognised for its influence on communities. With the recent re-distribution of funding from Sport England, more organisations like Empire Fighting Chance that work with disengaged young people are being seen as providing a solution to a variety of societies ills.

In particular, sport development professionals have recognised the role of sport in supporting and reducing mental health issues for decades, and in recent times government and public health departments are now placing a greater emphasis on this.

Empire Fighting chance itself see this as the key foundation to their work. Martin explained: “Mental Health is extremely important to us. We have seen first-hand and close up the problems poor mental health can bring and have been campaigning for improvements in treatment for a while. What we do offer is a massive solution.”

The charity was recently sited at the Sports Minds conference at Wembley stadium as one of the country’s leading sports-led mental health intervention programs.

There is a debate on the pros and cons of boxing. It was removed from the national curriculum in schools in 1962, after public opinion felt it fostered and re-enforced aggression and anti-social behavior. However, in recent times it is back in vogue and evidence indicates the direct opposite to this.

Bristol North MP and trustee at Empire fighting Chance, Charlotte Leslie, formed the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Boxing (APPG), and in March 2015 presented a report to government demonstrating empirical evidence that the sport, at both an individual and community level, had a huge impact on offender rehabilitation and supporting people with mental health issues.

As a result of this Martin and Jamie were invited to attend the APPG for Sport and Mental health conference to provide a presentation about the role that sport can play in tackling this.

Research demonstrates that there are frequently key social factors that influence mental health, and can be a trigger to young people demonstrating anti-social behaviour.

For young people that are drawn to gang membership, belonging to a group often provides the acceptance and belonging they may have been lacking in the home environment.

The charity works closely with individuals involved in the criminal justice system and was also recently awarded £75,000 from the Esme Fairborn Foundation to carry out such work.

At heart boxing is a working-class sport, and this charity is led by people at the heart of the inner city community. Its mission statement reads: “Inspiring champions through Courage, Unity and Respect.”

What is a champion? Whether a young person becomes a Haskins or Selby, starts to attend school, stops offending, or even gains a bit of confidence, to Martin and Jamie they are all champions.

Sport development consultant Neil Maggs presents Midweek Sportsbar on BCfm and is director of Street2Elite, promoting grassroots and community sport.