This British Boxing Champion Is Teaching Kids To Fight To Help Them De-Stress
A British boxing champion who starting training kids to fight at the start of lockdown believes it could help them get through the pandemic.
Ashley Theophane, 40, who lives in London, believes teaching kids to box can help them deal with stresses caused by Covid-19. And as the UK faces a new wave of tiered restrictions, he’s urged parents to get their children exercising as much as possible to improve their mental and physical health.
Theophane – who won the British title in 2011 and trained alongside world champion Floyd Mayweather – realised young people were in need of focus and stimulation when his neighbours saw him training in his garden. They asked him if he’d consider teaching their kids.
“It’s been parents who have actually reached out to me to work with their kids,” Theophane tells HuffPost UK. “I bought different equipment as they’re young and get bored quickly, so I gave them different exercises to do.”
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A prospective study, published in March found even light activity among kids was linked to better mental health as they got older. The study, carried out by University College London and King’s College London, also found more time spent sitting still was linked to higher depression scores.
“Some young people have anger issues, particularly at the moment,” he says. “Boxing helps them to channel it and calms them down. It’s definitely a beneficial way to de-stress.”
One of the kids Theophane has taught has been a young boy with autism. “I was at the local park one day, training a different set of brothers, when a father stopped me and asked me if I could train his son,” he explains. “I didn’t know he was autistic until after. I knew nothing about autism so had to research it.
“I struggled during our first session, as I wondered why he wasn’t looking at me or...
