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Girls in Year 7 and 8 at Harris Academy Bermondsey have been participating in non-contact boxing after school on Mondays.

Through the sessions at Afewee Boxing Club in Brixton, students are learning transferrable life skills such as discipline, resilience, leadership and team work, as well as specific boxing skills (footwork, stance, guard, nutrition and circuit training), taught by an England boxing coach.

"The boxing awards course also promotes leadership skills," says PE teacher Keishana Kelly, who has been involved in the club for some time and is also their welfare officer. "Afewee Boxing Club has recently produce a national female Under 15 champion and I hope that we could possible find the next junior boxing champion from among our HAB students."

We currently run the Boxing Awards programme for our year 10s within their PE lesson and have 27 participants.

“All girls are very engaged,” said Bobby Miltiadous, Head Coach, Afewee Boxing Club. "They have taken instruction well and seem keen in learning a new skill. I look forward to helping them continue to develop and pass their preliminary boxing award assessment in a few weeks’ time."

“This programme helped me feel more confidence in myself, and I found that there was a lot of technical and graceful aspects of boxing that you would not really expect to see in these kind of sports," said Niloufar, Year 8. "I believe that if I carry on with boxing, I’ll be able to make a very good impression at future interviewers, as I worked on my tenacity and sportsmanship”.

The six weeks programme has now finished, however already students are asking if it can continue and we hope this might be possible.

Football elite training

Other Year 8 girls have been participating in football sessions, training alongside elite youngsters, some of whom play for professional football academies. By playing and training at this level we hope to  inspire and challenge HAB girls to become even more passionate about the sport.

"Doing extra training has made me realise how much more I love football," said Nabila, Year 7. "Our coach is strict but for the better. Playing with the boys makes us feel even more competitive and confident since HAB is a girls-only school. The drills also help with our control. Monday football has been a real eye opener and I can't wait to continue”.

Thanks to Afewee Training at Brixton Recreation Centre for making these sessions possible.