This KiD Can is focusing on getting teens into the gym and off the streets with free kickboxing sessions in association with Get Hyped. This small move is just the start of an ongoing program we will be rolling out in the coming months. Why kickboxing? Kickboxing is a lifestyle sport, you don’t just train an hour a week and turn up for a match on a Sunday. It relies on physical fitness, technical skill and healthy eating to be able to compete. It’s the ideal way to prove your mental and physical toughness to yourself and others in a safe and controlled environment. Young adults who develop confidence, self worth, focus and discipline in the ring are better equipped to make the correct decisions in life, rather than running with the crowd. This is just the beginning, there are BIG things coming that we can’t wait to tell you about, so stay tuned!
Knife crime is at epidemic proportions in the UK at present. Whilst it has always been a problem, social media has whipped up a frenzy and is partly to blame for making ‘knife culture’ seem so attractive to teens. This has created a self fulfilling prophecy with those who would never usually consider ‘carrying’ becoming caught up in it. Suddenly it’s not even a choice anymore, you ‘need’ to carry a knife because everyone else does, how else will you defend yourself?
Let’s not forget most of those constantly criticising ‘the youth of today’ were part of the generation where mods and rockers fought pitch battles on our beaches during the early 70’s! There isn’t anything in the world that will make something more attractive than a hypocritical older generation constantly spouting about how ‘it wasn’t like that in my day’ – yes, it was and if they say otherwise they either led a very sheltered life, have a selective memory or are a compulsive liar!These are also the same generation that stood by and let youth services be cut, year on year out, to the point where they barely exist anymore in most areas. Church run youth services whilst admirable, are not the answer! They are not attractive to those that desperately need them and, like it or not, any service provided by a religious organisation is, by it’s very nature, highly divisive however inclusive it sets out to be.
There is no definitive answer to what the root of the problem is, so many different circumstances can lead to people making the wrong choices, some we as a society can change, most rely on government policy. some of the issues that we feel need addressing are listed below.
If you are not ‘academic’ the way our education system is set up will fail you. You are judged on your performance in exams. Let’s be honest, if you have a good memory for mundane facts and figures you will be deemed intelligent, where as practical, creative and physical skills and not honoured in anything like the same way.
The campaign for gender equality has featured massively over the last 20 years and that’s undoubtedly a good thing. Unfortunately in schools the balance has swung too far in the other direction. Male teachers in primary schools are now so rare that in many cases boys are going through there entire early years education with no male role model. The fact that girls are outperforming boys in GCSE’s by an alarming amount is something that cannot be ignored for much longer. Social pressure on boys at the moment is unprecedented, terms such as ‘man up’ are no longer acceptable, any indication of what the older generation class as the normal attributes of a ‘real man’ are now mostly termed as ‘toxic masculinity’ and must be avoided at all costs. If you cry you are weak, if you don’t then you are ‘failing to express your emotions’. At the moment, however boys behave they are criticised, it is a very, v-e-r-y difficult and confusing time to be a boy!
1960’s prefabs, people living in overcrowded conditions in rat run estates, ‘updated’ with ‘tinder box’ cladding – Grenfell, need we say more!
Drugs, gangs and knife crime go hand in hand, until the problems above are solved they will always exist!
Come and train at Get Hyped during half term. Sessions will run as an open gym format, meaning you can come along anytime during 10:00am and 12:00pm and stay for as long as you want. We will be open our doors for two hours every day of the half term break, FREE of charge, but any donation however small is would be greatly appreciated to help us reach our long term goals.
27th to 31st May 2019
10:00am to 12:00pm (turn up / leave anytime)
Age 12+
© 2023 This KiD Can, Get Hyped Studio, Unit 12, The Triangle, Frinton-On-Sea, Essex CO13 0AU