Yorkshire boxing club recognised with double award

Sanctus Academy ABC, which is based in Brighouse, serves young people across the Bradford and Calderdale districts. Since Easter, Sanctus have been operating from Woodside Village Centre, their second site and have been offering free boxing classes to the young people in the Royds area. These are fully funded for the next two years and were set up in Woodside given that Royds is an area of multiple deprivation including anti-social crime.

Sanctus founder Shane Thewlis was born and raised in Bradford and expresses how boxing taught him everything he knows about discipline and respect. Having won multiple national titles as an amateur representing the Karmand Centre, Thewlis opened Sanctus in June 2021 with the vision of imparting his years of experience and knowledge to help other young people achieve through boxing. When speaking about the award, Thewlis stated that, ‘ Boxing can be a powerful tool to create social cohesion. It was important to me when opening my own club that, as well as producing champions in the boxing ring, we use boxing to champion young people outside of the ring to give them the skills to build resilience in life. It’s an absolute privilege to have received recognition through the Cleto Reyes community award, it’s an award for all the coaches, mentors and volunteers who represent our ethos of building strong communities.’ In addition to the award, the club were donated multiple Cleto Reyes boxing bags, gloves and head guards which they are planning on using at their Woodside site.

As well as offering free boxing classes and funded school holiday provision, Thewlis believes that they were most likely nominated for the England Boxing award due to their successful SEMH youth work. In the past 12 months, Sanctus have delivered their social, emotional and mental health programme to over 709 young people who have been referred via parents, schools or youth services. Sanctus co-founder and education lead Kathryn Thewlis stated, ‘our professional youth and community service is unique. We are able to offer mental health support through boxing delivered by highly experienced and qualified individuals with backgrounds in boxing , education and mental health. Our programmes are making a difference and were accessed by 14 schools this academic year. This year we have introduced ChatterBOX Therapy which is a unique style of talk therapy incorporating boxing training and is delivered by our cognitive behaviour therapist. The young people are instantly engaged through the boxing, it removes any stigma they may have about accessing traditional support services.’

The 2024 England Boxing Annual Awards - an evening dedicated to celebrating the outstanding achievements and contributions of boxers, coaches, officials, volunteers, and clubs to amateur boxing will be hosted on Friday 12th July in Sheffield where the team ‘look forward to meeting like-minded individuals.’

For more information about the programmes Sanctus offer please visit www.sanctusfitness.co.uk or email [email protected]