Education function goes on at Tamworth

Tamworth Boxing Club has continued to educate a host of local children during the Coronavirus pandemic – despite having to close its gym doors to the public.

Like clubs around the country, the Midlands region facility has had to cease boxing operations for the foreseeable future to comply with the government’s social distancing instructions.

That curtailed not only boxing training five nights a week but also the delivery of coaching courses and other development opportunities, as well as hosting International training squads.

However, the educational work undertaken at the facility has continued after Tamworth was asked by Staffordshire LEA if they could do so.

It means they can still offer full-time alternative provision to children most in need – and that will continue into the Easter holidays too.

“The young people we work with really thrive on the structure that attending provides them with and we were delighted to be told that we would not have to close,” said Alan Keast, Head Coach at Tamworth Boxing Club and General Manager of the Corner-Post Leisure Centre.

“Subsequently we have now also been asked if we could in fact stay open during the Easter holidays and provide desperately needed additional support which of course we are more than happy to do.”

For a large number of people in the area, the boxing club, on Orchard Road, is their point of refuge against the backdrop of varying social and economic issues, meaning when they come to the club, they can leave those cares behind.

Keast and his staff were therefore concerned about the gym closure and quickly set about alternative ways they could offer both social and emotional support.

He added: “We wanted to continue to offer support, as well as keeping them active and engaged whilst they are unable to attend gym sessions, so we immediately created a WhatsApp group to keep everyone in contact with each other and make sure that nobody would spend the isolation period on their own without any contact or support mechanism in place.

“Once we had complete that, we then designed some interactive video coaching and drill tutorials which can be used by all the members to stay active, and the drills have proven to be very popular.”

Tamworth has received a ‘tremendous’ amount of support from the local community since the Coronavirus outbreak started, regularly receiving messages and e-mails praising the efforts of the club and stating how much it is being missed whilst it is closed.

A Just Giving page which has been set up by the club as part of England Boxing’s #KOCOVID19 campaign in order for people to be able to donate to the club if they can at this difficult time and can be accessed here.

TO find out more about the #KOCOVID19 campaign – and to support your local club by making a donation – click here.