MXP Boxing Club is a bustling hive of activity, fuelling young men and women to be the best they can be. Every member interviewed had strong feelings about the club and how it has impacted their mental health and wellbeing. Here’s what they had to say…
“My life before I started boxing was just work Monday to Friday, go out with the boys at the weekend stuff like that. When I started boxing it gave me a new kind of purpose and meaning…When I started training it made other things kind of seem possible so that’s what the boxing sort of gave me. the discipline and the confidence to go to university and that’s what I’ve done.”
– Ryan (MXP Member for 10 Years)
“For mental health its perfect I think, and I’ve seen a million success stories through boxing as well with people. boxing can attract lost souls. It can attract people who have maybe gone down the wrong path at times. then they’ve come to boxing and it’s maybe given them that focus, that direction, and they’ve went on and once they’ve found the discipline in the boxing gym it has kind of gave them the discipline to go and find jobs and keep away from the bad roads.”
– Ryan
“What we do here is bring people in who want to get fitter, stronger, mentally fitter, physically stronger…
We found that boxing is a bit different for people instead of just heading in the gym. I was actually talking to Dax about that… it’s like you could come in here with the weight of the world on your shoulders man but you can leave here feeling amazing.”
– Craig (Assistant Coach)
“So that’s what we try and do man, we try and bring the lessons of boxing into life. Life’s gonna hit you quite hard, but just get back up…stick your hands up man, stick your chest out and fucking go for it basically.”
– Craig
“We do a lot of work with kids from deprived areas and deprived backgrounds as well, so we do that during the day. We have a kind of academy built up for that. We bring in younger kids and teach them how to deal with their emotions and how to actually be disciplined and focused in here and how they can take that into their lives.”
– Craig
“I’ve always been quite cool but just like anybody else I’ve had wee bluesy moments, but boxing for mental health is just perfect. It’s I don’t know, it’s just to put it in black and white it just makes you feel better and more confident.”
– Ryan
“I’d recommend it to everybody. There’s loads of folk here from different walks in life even folk that don’t want to fight. You see folk here to lose weight and some folk just want to clear their head. Not everybody here is a fighter, it’s just good for being part of a team.”
– Ryan
“It destroys you physically but builds up mentally. So, there’s a lot of benefits to anyone that comes to do it.”
– Dax (New member)
“There’s a whole host of different people. But we feel like we can help everyone. There’s no right or wrong way of doing things man, you can bring people in and really, hopefully help them and elevate their lives outside and not just in here.”
– Craig
“So aye, it’s more than just a fitness class man. It’s a good community here as well, that’s what we have got. That’s what we are trying to build man. Trying to build a good community.
– Craig
With Thanks to MXP Boxing Club Members and Staff
Third-year Journalism student at the University of Stirling.
