A boxing club funded by the police to help make a difference to the lives of youngsters hosted its first exhibition last week.
Members of the Sobell Boxing Club, which trains at the Sobell Leisure Centre in Hornsey Road every Wednesday, gave demonstrations of what they had learnt over the last year to a room of high profile guests.
Among those watching on were former borough commander Ch Supt Catherine Roper and the president of London Boxing ABA Keith Walters OBE.
The youngsters, aged 10 to 19, have been working with the Schools Amateur Boxing Association (SABA) and Access2Sport to achieve their SABA Awards training.
The training is a joint venture from the Met and GLL, which runs the sports centre. Police officers also had the chance to demonstrate the skills they’d picked up from SABA tutor and former England manager Luigi Leo, while the youngsters gave pad and work demos before being taken through footwork, punching and defence drills.
Potential competitors then gave the audience a glimpse of a conditioned sparring session.
Luigi Leo and Peter Fernandez, organisers of the event, said: “We are really pleased with how it event went.
“We have shown that with the right partnerships and community interactions we can make a difference to young people’s lives by providing them with a recreational alternative what’s on offer on the street.
“This is an exciting project that we will build on by expanding our project into local schools.”
The rollout across schools has already started to take shape.
Three schools in Islington have asked to receive the SABA Awards scheme.
The pair continued: “Another positive is that in addition to generating interest in the sport of boxing, we have provided opportunities for young people who may not normally have any police contact and those who have had negative experiences to engage with the police.
“We have also provided opportunities for young people to compete and take part in the sport by becoming coaches, judges and referees.
“The whole event was a resounding success and we should be proud that the Met can be seen as key stakeholders in such an important event.”
Following the event those who had completed the scheme were presented with their certificates by Ch Supt Roper and Mr Walters.
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