Boxer hopes his gym will lift children's confidence

A former professional boxer who set up a gym in Nottingham said the facility is helping to build children’s confidence.

The Team Valentine Boxing Bootcamp in Radford was set up five years ago, and founder Curtis Valentine said it helped him to “turn his life around”.

Valentine, 44, a former Midlands WBC champion, said combat sports and martial arts can positively impact people’s lives and keep them off the streets.

He added: “[I want to] build something for the kids and people in the community.”

“I grew up in this area, I have been on the streets, I have lived the wrong life,” he added.

“Pain has purpose. If you don’t have that pain, you are not going to get to your best self.”

After turning professional at 28, Valentine won seven of his 10 fights and was crowned the Midlands WBC champion in 2012.

But he felt choices he made at the time meant he never fulfilled his full potential as a boxer.

He said: “Just before I started this [bootcamp], I wasn’t in a good place.

“I said enough was enough and I was going to turn my life around.

“I went for a jog around the Forest Recreation Ground, I started doing some pull ups at the park bit at the bottom.”

Valentine said he started inviting people to come and train with him at the park and it “grew and grew”.

“After about two years I got a building in Forest Fields and that got busy,” he said.

“Kids were coming in with no confidence but a few months later they were confident.

“I could see what it was doing for them.”

The bootcamp moved to Radford in October 2023 after it outgrew its previous space.

Richie Richards, a coach at the gym, said: “A lot of kids that come through the door, they actually seem sort of quite angry at whatever situations are going on in their life.

“I do see a change in people’s mindset when they come here, their attitude to people around them, and in life in general.”

Tommy Gun, 39, said boxing “saved his life” after his parents died.

He said: “When I lost my dad, I went through a bad stage of mental health.

“I was looking after my mum – she passed away [and] I was ready to have a breakdown.

“I came down to the gym, spoke to Curtis, and since I came here my life has changed.”

Valentine has also launched a boxing bootcamp in Gambia and hopes to expand its reach in the coming months.

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