Learning from Empire Fighting Chance
What I learnt from a visit to Empire Fighting Chance, by Phil Walters, Director of OTR BaNES
Last week I visited Empire Fighting Chance in Bristol. Massive thanks to the team there who were so welcoming, passionate and generous with their time and explanations. It’s such a great organisation doing brilliant work with young people in Bristol, using boxing to develop trusting relationships that enable greater self-awareness and personal growth and development.
I was visiting them to see what OTR could learn about engaging young people living in social and economic deprivation, and boys and young men. At OTR we know there can be barriers for young people living in deprivation to engage with our services, and we’re determined to overcome these. We also know that over 2/3 of young people using our Listening Services (including counselling) are girls and young women. Neither of these facts are unique to services like OTR, that offer 1:1 therapeutic services. However, places like Empire Fighting Chance are finding different ways to engage these communities, so I was eager to learn more.
These are my key learnings from talking to staff and ex-service users there last week:
Community matters - everyone I spoke to there was part of something special, the EFC community. They passionately talked about the work, the boxing, the therapy, the fundraising. One person introduced me to another, genuine team working right in front of our eyes. They all proudly wore branded t-shirts and hoodies. They were all part of the EFC community.
You need a hook – boxing, as the hook, was key to engagement. The team explained how they use boxing to help young people to learn more about themselves, about their resilience, their confidence.
Be person centred - it was clear that young people go at the pace that’s right for them. There was acceptance wherever they were at. Only when they were ready, they’d skip, get the gloves on, or talk. All at their own pace.
Therapy in practice - it was great to hear from therapists that helped run the boxing sessions, using their skills to build trust with young people and ensuring they were available when young people wanted to speak. Boxing wasn’t ‘separate’, it was just part of the session.
Trusting relationships through lived experience - like all good therapy and youth work, the team knew that they had to build trust to make any meaningful difference to the young people’s lives. I heard from a few of the team that it mattered to EFC that team members had their own story and had gone through something themselves. Relating to young people in different ways helps them to quickly build trust.
Partnership - I hadn’t realised this until my visit, but the Empire Boxing Gym next door/part of the same building was separate to EFC. However, they are massive supporters of one another’s work. For the young people coming the EFC, the gym next door provides aspiration, respect, and role modelling for young people. If they want to take boxing more seriously, then they can join the club. And visa-versa, the Gym are big supporters of the EFC, doing fundraisers and all sorts.
Location and venue were important - I got the impression that being in the heart of Bristol and Easton was key to engaging the young people they do. Plus having the building regularly open and available meant young people could trust and establish a stronger connection to the organisation.
Telling the story matters - as soon as you walked in, you can see on the wall the history of the club mapped out. There were case studies and stories of how young people who came to their first session and wouldn’t move from the corner of the gym with their hood up, to then being able to skip one hundred skips non-stop, and to learning that they can do something they never thought was possible. Or stories of young people boxing and training hard, and then opening up to staff as they cooled down, sharing what was happening for them at home, or how they were feeling about life.
Massive thank you to the EFC team for showing us all round today, you were brilliant. Kudos to you all for what you're doing to change young people’s lives. And thank you for opening the doors and being generous with your knowledge and expertise.