People in Nottingham have spoken out about the “fantastic” work the Pythian Club is doing to tackle anti-social behaviour among youngsters head-on.
Commissioned by NET trams, the Pythian Club’s outreach team go into different areas of Nottingham affected by anti-social behaviour, knife crime and other issues.
All staff are fully trained in safeguarding to do the outreach work.
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As a part of their work, the outreach team visit different businesses in the area that have had problems with anti-social behaviour and introduce themselves to children in well-known hotspots for offences.
Lee Bodee, the youth outreach leader for the Pythian Club, spoke about the reaction in the community the outreach work has received.
He said: “The kids like what we’re doing around here, we’re essentially their voice. Most of the time, we treat them like adults as long as they give us the same respect and they like that.”
In Clifton, the main issues faced are petty theft and acts such as kids chucking bottles on the tram tracks.
Lee went on to talk about how they’re targeting Clifton before crimes become more serious.
He said: “There’s petty thief and sometimes assaults but we’ve come out here before the violence escalates to try and reach out to the kids, maybe get them coming to the gym, which is free, or letting them know what other activities we do.
"Sometimes kids don't want to do sports or boxing and football and we can’t bully them into it. It’s about asking them what they want, we’ve got to be diverse in what we do.”
Amari’s Universe, a gym in Clifton on Varney Road, has partnered with the Pythian Club to provide free gym sessions, supervised by adults, for youths aged 10 to 16 years old.
On a Wednesday, for boys the sessions are 6pm to 7pm, and for girls it’s Saturdays at 4pm to 5pm.
Lee spoke about the misconceptions children are facing in the community and said: “People need to stop calling kids gangs. Not all kids who wear hoodies and are with their friends are gangs. We wear these hoodies to show that you can be professional and wear them.
"Straight after school you get little pockets of anti-social behaviour, kids will go home, have their dinner and then they’ll be back out again.
"All businesses will say that they get problems after school and then from around 5pm to 9pm.
“Cutbacks will affect the Clifton area but we’re passionate and we’re not going anywhere.”
Ten-year-old schoolboy Ethan Pearce said how much he likes going to the gym and training.
He said: “I like how there are lots of kids here and the staff are really nice. I like lifting weights, it’s good to come after school. I think there should be more places like this for other kids.”
Another child said: “It’s good we’ve got somewhere to come to and it’s free.
"Without it, we’d be on the streets doing nothing. I think we need more active things for young people. Now we have somewhere to come to every Wednesday, the area’s a lot better, we’d all rather be doing this than doing nothing.”
Amelia Fawzi, originally from Clifton, now lives in West Bridgford. Her son attends the gym sessions and she feels that there should be more places providing services like these.
She said: “I think it’s fantastic, my son finishes football and he can’t wait to come here after.
"It’s a good environment, it makes me want to help out and volunteer, it’s that great. My son’s been coming here for around six or eight weeks now and he loves it.
“What else are these kids meant to do? You can now see that when they’re given somewhere like this, they use it, they need it. With parental consent and adult supervision, I think this is great. I’ve told loads of people about it.
"The Government needs to provide more places like this and more places need to partner with gyms. The kids are letting off steam and they’re getting healthy.”
Jay Giles, a youth outreach worker who also specialises in boxing, spoke of how cutbacks in the community are a problem.
He said: “Cutbacks are a concern, we’ll never stop doing what we’re doing but it means we have to be creative in how we up our game.
"When you see there are such limited activities in the community in general, it’s just sad.
"We want better for our community but sometimes it feels like the Government isn’t allowing that. The more we’re out, doing this, the less resources the police have to use.
“We’re not authorities like the police so we understand that times are changing, kids act differently, they speak differently and they dress differently. I think the police need to spend more time out in the community and just speak to people.”
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