Boxer to revive youth club he joined as a teen

A Doncaster boxing champion is relaunching the youth club he attended as a teenager to give young people "somewhere to go to socialise".

Jason Cunningham, who won British, European and Commonwealth titles during a 12-year professional career, will relaunch the club at Brodsworth Miners Welfare, where he already runs a boxing gym.

After returning to the site while looking for a base for his gym, the 36-year-old decided to widen the scope to bring a sense of community.

He said: "The idea is to create a place where young people can hang out, make friends and try new things, whether that's playing pool, making music, recording podcasts or just having somewhere safe to spend time."

Cunningham attended the youth club in the late 1990s and early 2000s - and he believed he was one of the last visitors before it closed.

He met up with James Irwin, chair of Brodsworth Miners Welfare, and they came up with the idea of a combined gym and youth hub.

Cunningham said they had a "passion to do something" because there was "nothing for the kids to do".

The boxer co-founded The Iceman Foundation in August 2023, running free community projects for young people focused on fitness and mental health.

The foundation is this summer running a six-week programme for young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) at Brodsworth, offering boxing training as well as football, cricket and darts.

Cunningham said he was "always into sport" at school, and took up boxing from the age of 11.

"I was always a shy, quiet kid growing up with not much confidence," he said.

After he was bullied, his mum took him to a boxing gym in Doncaster - although he admitted he "didn't want to go in" when he heard the noise of "thumping bags".

But after joining he said he had "never looked back".

"You meet different kids from different backgrounds - it was good for me - it made me grow as a person," he said.

Cunningham said academic education was "not for everyone" so "we have these places [youth hub] to build confidence and social skills".

He said he hoped to open the youth club at Brodsworth in September.

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