Boxing pilot project success for youngsters

A GROUP of seven children received medals and certificates in North Clondalkin Library last month, in recognition of them completing an innovative boxing pilot project, reports Aideen O’Flaherty.

Jesse Costello, Fionn Disney, Zoey Gissane, Tori Gissane, Leah Rafferty, Jayme Lee Perry and Brooklyn Brown all proudly received their medals at the conclusion of JumpStart Boxing Academy.

The children, aged between eight- and ten-years-old, are the first tranche of students to graduate from the six-week pilot project.

The JumpStart Boxing Academy was devised by Andre Roode from North Clondalkin Library and local boxing coach Paddy Jennings.

The youngsters were put through their paces during the six-week programme, which has been a resounding success for both the library and the participants.

Rosena Hand from North Clondalkin Library, who helped to facilitate the programme, told The Echo: “We’re a new library in the locality so we’re always trying to come up with something different to embed ourselves in the community.

“We do quite a lot of work with children and with Healthy Ireland.”

Andre Roode from the library was having a chat with Paddy Jennings when they were trying to come up with a way to improve the fitness of young people in the area, which marked the beginning of the JumpStart Boxing Academy.

“Because the library is seen as a community hub, they thought it’d be a good place to have it,” explained Ms Hand.

The weekly training sessions have had positive results for many of the young people, whose confidence and fitness has soared as a result.

“One of the guys who came in had been bullied,” said Ms Hand.

“His mother told us. At the first session, he didn’t want to go in, he was outside crying.

“But I’d be going in every week, and I could see that he had lost a bit of weight, his confidence had improved and he was very agile – he loved it.

“The kids all loved it. They didn’t know each other going into it, but they were really friendly with each other.”

The second round of the pilot project is already fully subscribed and is set to commence this week.

However, any parents who want to sign their kids up for the boxing academy can contact the library on (01) 414 9269 to be added to a waiting list for future rounds of the JumpStart Boxing Academy.