No Limits Amateur Boxing Club is opening its doors to provide healthy food and somewhere for young people to go during the half-term break.
Schools in Liverpool are closed this week (Oct 30 – Nov 3) and the New Bird Street gym is inviting anyone aged 8-16 to come along for a ‘time out’ at its Eat to Meet programme. Entry is free for those eligible for free school meals.
Boxing coach and Danny Withington has seen first hand how youngsters can benefit from the atmosphere at No Limits. He said: “Clubs like ours are of massive benefit. There are no youth clubs anymore, so we are a pillar of the community, we are a safe haven. I hate saying that, but I suppose it’s true.”
The meals the children will be given each day are provided by Macro Chef, a health food company that prepares fresh and nutritious meals. Macrochef also serves some of the top fighters from Liverpool, something Withington says can have he positive effect on the kids.
He said: “It’s a really nutritious meal, they provide meals for a few of the superstars so the kids get to see and eat what they eat, which is lovely. In some cases, that could be their only healthy nutritious meal of the day.”
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Added Withington: “I’d always say the best thing for us is a smile, sometimes you get a shy kid who’s never done anything before, and they come in and at first they don’t want to talk. The next minute, you see them playing the games and doing the activities and they’re smiling their head off and they’re saying ‘I can’t wait till tomorrow.’”
The 38-year-old provided multiple reasons how a child can benefit from attending the gym this week. He said: “It gives them time out. They might not see much of their parents/guardians throughout the day, you never really know do you?
“They come here for various reasons. Is it to find a bit of warmth? A smile? They might not get talked to at home or at school, but they come here, where everyone’s the same, where no one’s better than anyone else. That’s a reason they come as well as to train.”
Added Withington: “The healthy meals are important, the coaches as role models are important, the warmth of the gym helps. We bring all those benefits together.
“The programmes we’ve ran in the past have had a massive impact on the club. It’s lovely to have another string to the bow in terms of what we can offer to kids and kids that might be harder to reach, kids who are on free school meals.”
The coaches are also laying in fun activities this week for children to get involved with. Withington said: “We’ve got another athletics day planned where we will set up an assault course, shot putt accuracy games, a bit off a No Limits Olympics.”
Withington believes cities like Liverpool need clubs and programmes like the one at No Limits this week more than ever. He said: “We were lucky when we grew up, we had youth clubs. When you went out with your mates on the street it was safe whereas now it isn’t safe to hang round on the street and a lot of the youth clubs have closed down.
“The club’s the last of a dying breed of community pillars, an integral cog. We can have 100 kids through the door each day. We had 72 kids on Tuesday. We’ll at least have another 60 tonight. We had 110 last night when Matchroom were here for a special event with Tony Bellew recently. What would the kids be doing for that hour and a half?”
The potential the club can bring out of the children who attend was something Withington was keen to highlight. It is in venues like No Limits where stars can be born: “We’re a boxing club whose doors are open to any and every one, but we want the kids who have the interest or passion to box to learn here.
“There’s no reason why the next big star couldn’t walk through the door, there’s no reason why that big star couldn’t come from Dingle or Park Lane or anywhere in the area.”
For more information please contact No Limits ABC at [email protected] / 07843 480 659 / New Bird Street L1 0DN
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