From boxing club to community hub: DC Boxing launches pioneering scholarship for young people

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Our support for community boxing clubs is helping organisations like DC Boxing grow their ambition and create new opportunities for young people, with the South Yorkshire club launching an innovative new boxing and education scholarship.

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    Dalton Smith shares the ring with a young boxer during the launch of the DC Boxing Scholarship – an example of the opportunities community boxing clubs can create for young people with the right support.

The DC Boxing Scholarship, delivered in partnership with Maltby Academy and The Sixth Form Partnership, was officially launched at a special event bringing together young people, boxing clubs from across Yorkshire, England Boxing, Matchroom Boxing and Empire Fighting Chance.

World Champion boxer Dalton Smith also joined the celebrations, meeting young people, taking part in an open workout and sharing his experiences of life in boxing with the next generation.

For Empire, the event was an opportunity to see first-hand what a community boxing club can achieve when it has the support to grow.

Why Empire Fighting Chance travelled to Nigeria

The exchange was an opportunity to explore what communities in Bristol and Abeokuta can learn from one another.

While the context in Nigeria is very different from Bristol, many of the challenges facing young people felt remarkably familiar.

Supporting clubs to create more for their communities

At Empire, we believe boxing clubs have the potential to be much more than places where people learn to box.

They can be trusted spaces at the heart of their communities. Places where young people build confidence, develop skills, find positive role models and access opportunities that can change the direction of their lives.

Through our national boxing network we work alongside boxing clubs to help them strengthen their organisations, develop their offer and increase their impact. DC Boxing is a great example of that approach in action.

The club has developed a scholarship that gives 16–19-year-olds the opportunity to combine their sporting ambitions with their education. Students will complete A Levels and/or vocational qualifications while accessing a high-quality boxing programme delivered by England Boxing-qualified coaches.

But the programme goes far beyond boxing.

Students can gain work-based qualifications, including an introduction to Level 1 coaching through England Boxing, alongside opportunities to develop leadership, communication and employability skills. The programme also provides work experience and helps students build their own professional profile through activities including social media, photography, video and CV development.

That means young people can leave the programme with more than sporting experience – they can have qualifications, skills and confidence that support their next steps into employment, further education, coaching or competitive boxing.

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    Dalton Smith takes part in a Q&A with young people at the launch of the DC Boxing Scholarship, sharing his experiences and inspiring the next generation of boxers.

Boxing clubs working together

The launch also showcased another important part of our National Network: clubs working together to create more opportunities for young people.

Young boxers from clubs across Yorkshire came together for inter-club sparring during the event, creating opportunities to test themselves, learn from one another and build relationships between clubs.

For a sport where clubs can traditionally operate independently, this kind of collaboration is significant.

It demonstrates what can happen when clubs come together around a shared purpose: giving more young people the opportunity to participate, develop and progress.

“This is a brilliant example of what can happen when a boxing club, a school and partners come together with a shared ambition for young people.

 

The DC Boxing Scholarship is about far more than developing talented boxers – it gives young people the opportunity to stay engaged in education while building confidence, leadership skills, qualifications and real-world experience that can support them well beyond the ring.

 

“DC Boxing exemplifies how our partner clubs can use the sport as a powerful vehicle for change. What we've seen here is a boxing club developing into a genuine hub of opportunity for its community, and that's exactly the kind of impact we want to see through the Boxing for Good Network.

 

We're proud to have played a part in supporting DC Boxing and excited to see how this scholarship develops.”

 

Empire's Head of Growth and Partnerships, Aaron Morton

The DC Boxing Scholarship is ultimately a story about what can happen when a community boxing club is given the opportunity to develop its ambition.

For Empire, that's the purpose of the Boxing for Good Network: supporting boxing clubs to become stronger, more sustainable organisations that can create lasting change in their communities.

And when those clubs thrive, they can go on to create opportunities that reach far beyond the boxing ring.

Find out more about our work

Whether you're looking to refer a young person, explore partnership opportunities or simply learn more about our work, we'd love to hear from you.

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