Boxing club launches charitable foundation to expand mission and empower change

A boxing club which supports, helps, and empowers young people has officially launched its foundation.

Brightstar, which has bases across the region including in Shifnal, Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton, started out as a boxing club helping six youngsters back in 2016.

In the years since the organisation has built beyond the gym and now provides education and community programmes helping young people across the region.

The progress was marked as the organisation officially launched the Brightstar Foundation at an event in Shrewsbury last week.

The foundation will now work to help groups and underused sports clubs across the country to reach and support more young people.

Speaking at the event Calvin Latham, head of the foundation, said: “We are sharing our strategy with lots of different local partners who are going to support us in our mission to have national reach with Brightstar brands, empowering young people, empowering local communities, and bringing communities together to form a lot more resilience within the communities within the United Kingdom.

“Today we have got loads of different partners, we have got lots of different funders and grant holders, local authorities who are all here to support us achieving that mission, giving every young person the opportunity to achieve something in life and hopefully Brightstar Foundation, with our strategy and with our backing, will be able to have that national reach across the United Kingdom and we are starting here locally in Shrewsbury as we grow that mission.”

Attended by members, supporters, sponsors and some of those helped by its work, the foundation’s launch event heard powerful words detailing the impact its programmes can have on people’s lives.

The organisation works to support young people at risk of being excluded from schools, suffering with challenging behaviour or mental health, and those not in education, employment or training.

Brightstar founding director Joe Lockley said the foundation would allow the organisation to expand its work, and would eventually open up access to more grant funding.

He said the move had been led by Brightstar’s development, as it has grown its delivery of education and community programmes.

He said: “Having charity status helps us get grant funding, but also to be recognised as not just a sports club but an organisation that is empowering change.”

He added: “We started Brightstar to build a place to believe for six young people and we have now supported more than 5,000 people directly.”

The event heard a testimony from the parent of one young girl, who had been struggling to cope with school and has been helped by Brightstar.

The moving statement said: “After her very first session, she came home and said ‘they understand me, mummy. I want to go back next week’.

“Those words meant everything to me. Here was a child who had spent so much of her life feeling misunderstood and after just one session, she felt that somebody finally understood her.

“She has now completed her bronze and silver awards, and gold is next. Both her and her brother look forward to their Brightstar sessions every week.

“The mentoring helps them talk about their challenges, think about their goals and build their confidence and self-belief.”

The parent added: “They have also made friendships with young people who have been through similar experiences. They are with people who know what it feels like, so they don’t have to explain themselves or pretend that everything is fine.

“Brightstar has been incredible. The coaches just get it.

“They understand that every young person is different. They don’t expect the young person to change to fit the environment; they make the environment work for them.

“They dim the lights and provide beanbags to help the young people feel comfortable and regulated. These adjustments might sound small to some people, but to our children, they are anything but small.

“At Brightstar, our children don’t have to mask. They can simply be themselves and they are accepted for who they are.”

More information about Brightstar and its work is available here.