\n WBC Cares uses boxing’s principles to create positive change, especially for disadvantaged young people, through community programs and mentoring.\n<\/p>\n
\n Former champion and WBC Cares chairman Scott Welch (Image: The Argus)\n<\/p>\n
\n Chairman of WBC Cares UK Scott Welch is a former British and Commonwealth champion, and is known for his fight with Brad Pitt in Guy Ritchie’s film Snatch.\n<\/p>\n
\n He has run Brighton and Hove ABC for 25 years and has been instrumental in changing the lives of many young people over the years.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe work in various areas and connect with young kids who are going wrong and have nothing in their lives,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cMaybe they\u2019ve come from broken families or been out on the street and we help mentor them and change their lives.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was exactly the same kid and became a champion and earned a lifetime\u2019s worth of money by 28.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cBoxing teaches the fundamentals we need to be successful in life. It made me understand that hard work pays off, that hard work in the gym is hard work out the gym.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe change their mindset on life \u2013 we help them, talk to them, nurture them and teach them there\u2019s more to life than running round on the street.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The gym facilitates WBC Cares programmes (Image: The Argus)\n<\/p>\n
\n Katie Hopkins is partnership lead at the VRP.\n<\/p>\n
\n It aims to tackle the root causes of serious violence in the county, especially among young people under 25.\n<\/p>\n
\n The unit works with a number of stakeholders including the police, councils and the NHS, to identify high-risk young people and to use targeted, evidence-based methods.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe love working with WBC Cares; they\u2019re brilliant at what they do in engaging young people,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019re very evidence based about what is effective in terms of intervention and sport programmes which include mentoring score really highly.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n \u00a0Kiarn Wontumi, 19, is from Bognor and has been training at Brighton and Hove ABC for three years, having gone through the WBC Cares programme.\n<\/p>\n
\n After his brother began attending the gym through a youth offending programme, he suggested Kiarn come along too.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAt that time, I was overweight, not confident and he said to come down,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAt first, I didn\u2019t like it, and I was gone for three months but then I came back and started training.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cBefore I was hanging round town, doing nothing good, doing nothing with my life and not knowing what I wanted to do. I weighed 150kg and felt insecure.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI had never boxed in my life. I wasn\u2019t good at any sport, and I was the last to be picked in the teams, but when I started boxing, I was actually good at it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Kiarn Wontumi (Image: The Argus)\n<\/p>\n
\n Kiarn, who has lost 50kg since he started training at the gym, won his first fight in 2023 and went on to win the southern county championships and later the national championships.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cFor me, being overweight and winning that was something I never thought I would do. I\u2019m not an aggressive person; I don\u2019t like fighting. It has been a good journey.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Through the gym, Kiarn found about a boxing college and has now attained a diploma in sporting excellence.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI don\u2019t know where I would be without this gym; it has changed my life.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cFrom where I was: 150kg, at home hanging round with my friends on the street up to no good.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Now I\u2019m going to the gym, I\u2019ve got a college diploma, and I\u2019m ranked one of the best in the country.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Programme director Matthew Etherington has been running WBC Cares UK youth programmes for over 10 years.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cBoxing has always been a magnet for people in violence or in trouble; it\u2019s always had a bit of a reputation. What people don\u2019t realise is that it\u2019s controlled violence, it\u2019s helping understand violence and giving it a direction and release instead of releasing it into anti-social situations and crime.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt gives young people the opportunity to have that release with some safe, trusted people around who are trained to help them and safeguard them.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019ve worked with many young people who I\u2019ve known since they were a little child. I\u2019ve seen them grow up, I\u2019ve helped them in their family life, helped them in their understanding of education and work. We still have people from the very first programmes who come back to see us.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Programme director Matthew Etherington (Image: The Argus)\n<\/p>\n
\n WBC Cares is currently working on a pilot with the VRP for a pan-Sussex programme to deliver the blueprint they have been creating over the years. The programme is \u201cnot just about boxing\u201d but is multi-sport, including football, table tennis, badminton, chess \u2013 the latter of which has proven very popular.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cJust because they come into a boxing gym, it doesn\u2019t mean I want them in a boxing gym,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI want them to be where\u2019s best for them. Our philosophy is using boxing as a vehicle to help young people better themselves in the future.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019re creating that blueprint so that any club can pick it up, take it with them and help their community.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Deputy Chief Constable Paul Court get stuck into a game of table tennis (Image: The Argus)\n<\/p>\n
\n Part of the programme is \u201cupskilling\u201d sport coaches to \u201cunderstand youth work\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019re upskilling them to understand what children go through these days and what adverse experiences they\u2019ve been having.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019re teaching coaches to approach sport not just as competition, but how does sport help young people and how do I get young people to listen to me when they don\u2019t want to listen to me about sport.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhen you\u2019ve got that young person that doesn\u2019t want to engage, that doesn\u2019t trust adults \u2013 how do we get past that barrier to get them to be a focussed and energetic young person.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brighton and Hove Amateur Boxing Gym (ABC) along Hove seafront facilitates programmes to support young people at risk…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-377046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}