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A new boxing club has opened its doors in Penyrheol with the aim of keeping kids off the street and out of trouble.
“There’s nothing in Penyrheol for kids to do. There’s a need for this here,” Geraint Coombes told Caerphilly Observer as he finally opened Hari’s Boxing Club on November 7.
The club, named after Geraint’s 12-year-old son, attracted 38 children aged between six and 14 for its first session.
The club has opened behind the Aneurin Sports Bar, in the building which was originally a concert hall behind the former Labour Club.
“I used to box here years ago,” Geraint said. “But it was an empty building which had been vandalised, so we did it up.”
A passionate boxer trained by the late great Don Braithwaite, Geraint, who lives in Bedwas, took up the sport aged nine.
“Don was like a father to me. He made me love boxing.”
A memorial bench dedicated to Braithwaite takes pride of place at the boxing club.
In his day job, Geraint works as a sales director at Creditsafe in Caerphilly. But it is boxing where Geraint’s passions lie.
“I’ve always enjoyed the training aspect of boxing,” he explained.
“A year ago, I decided I wanted my own gym. I wanted to do it myself. If I get something in my mind, I run away with it – two weeks later I was setting it up.”
However, Geraint has set the club up without receiving a single grant – relying on his own money and donations from local businesses.
“I had to do all this myself. I didn’t realise how hard it would be to get the gym up and running.”
Learning about Geraint’s plans, a number of local businesses made donations to help get the club off the ground.
Geraint thanked Chris Robertson of Creditsafe, Jonny Harris of the Fisherman’s Rest pub in Bedwas, Lee Cowdmeadow of Tidy Comps and Moggy Raffle’s Stephen Morris for their support.
The process of setting up the club was made all the more difficult due to a number of setbacks. The club was originally meant to open in the upstairs area of the old Labour Club, but just two weeks prior to the opening, its ceiling collapsed.
“So much money and effort had gone into this. I just wanted to give up,” Geraint admitted.
“But as the old boxing saying goes, you can’t give up if you get knocked down. I couldn’t let the kids down and not open.”
Now the club is open, it is aiming to become a community interest company (CIC) – as well as becoming accredited by Welsh Boxing within the coming weeks.
“Once we’re accredited, we can access grants and funding, which means we can fund more equipment, such as more mats and pads,” said Geraint.
“I want to hand this gym over to Hari one day – it’s a long-term project.”
He praised the “unreal” turnout at the first session – which was nearly double the numbers he had originally hoped for.
“I can’t believe how many kids have come here, especially girls – the sport is changing massively.”
But the club isn’t necessarily all about boxing. Looking forward, Geraint wants to create a mental health café at the club, as well as run homework nights for children.
Currently, there is a PlayStation set up which children can play if they don’t want to do boxing, or need a breather.
The children’s classes run on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays between 5.30pm and 6.30pm, with hour-long adults sessions running immediately after. Visit the club’s Facebook page for more details.
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