Who are we?
Established in 2020, our club is located in Newry. We train four evenings per week and travel all over Ireland for competitions. Over 40 children attend a variety of classes each night, and we recently started an adult programme.
The Club was established to help the community within our catchment to access positive community initiatives through sport, health and wellbeing. Many of our members are from Minority Ethnic Groups, and we are a fully cross-community club open to all. Our club is one of the most diverse around with children from all over the world involved. We have kids from China, Poland, Africa, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Turkey, members of the Traveling Community. We've members from both sides of the divide Catholics and Protestants that come to our club and train.
There are a broad range of classes at Craigmore ABC, Monday, Wednesday and Friday sees the fundamental under 11's class (from age 7 to 11) from 6 till 6.50pm. Then we have our 11 to 17 year old competition class from 7 to 8.15pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Our senior program is from 7 to 8pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays and weopen up the gym on Saturdays for kids that take part in special development training and one on one and competition preparation.
We also have started training with our first adult programme.
Why are we crowdfunding?
We are fundraising to deliver a new girls' boxing programme from February to March that will create new opportunities for our community to try out boxing, get fit, get away from screens, and develop new skills.
We currently only have 2 female members, and no dedicated female section to our Club. This Crowdfunding is focused on expanding our female section and getting more girls into boxing.
Our project is a new innovative initiative that will also focus on getting more female volunteers into coaching and leadership roles within our Club (such as on the Committee).
This project will allow us to promote our Club to more people across the Newry community who maybe haven't tried boxing before.
We will work with local community groups to encourage more girls to take up boxing in a fun and welcoming way at our Club.
We will deliver a "boxercise" introduction to boxing programme for example, and a "come and try" introduction to boxing programme via our Club to encourage more girls to exercise more and try boxing, and encourage more people to volunteer within the Club and develop into coaches (parents of our younger members, etc).
It is a great time for us to Crowdfund, because Sport NI will match every pound donated up to a maximum of £5,000, so please donate what you can because Sport NI will match it!
How we’ll spend the money raised
Funding will go towards the following:
- 8 weeks coaching for new sessions such as introduction to boxing for girls @ £25 per hour, 5 hours per week x 8weeks= £1,000
8 weeks coaching for new sessions such as Strength and Conditioning introductions for girls, Yoga, aerobic fitness for boxing etc @ £25 per hour, 5 hours per week x 8weeks= £1,000
Boxercise coach @ £35 per hour, 4 hours per week x 8weeks= £1,120
Facility Hire £35 per hour 8 hours per week x 8 weeks= £2,240
New female boxing equipment such as:
- Adidas Hybrid Headguards x 12= £480.00
- Kids Headguard x 12= £300.00
- IBA Competition Headguard x 4 = £320.00
- Bag Gloves x 12= £500.00
- Leather Skipping Ropes x 12= £190.00
- Speed Ropes x 21= £215.00
- Pro Box Air Focused Pads x 2= £105.00
Female Boxing kits for new female boxers @ £1,500 (for 15)
- Coach Education Budget for female Boxing coaching foundation / introduction awards @ £1,030
Community impact
Our Project will have a huge impact on our community. For example,
1. Levelling the Playing Field
- Targeting Underrepresented Groups: The project directly addresses the inclusion of women and girls, a key Sport NI target group. By encouraging female participation in boxing, it breaks down barriers in a traditionally male-dominated sport.
- Promoting Leadership: The focus on developing female volunteers and leaders aligns with the programme's objective to support underrepresented individuals in coaching, officiating, and governance roles.
2. Community Engagement
- Connecting Communities: The programme fosters collaboration as we have kids from China, Poland, Africa, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Turkey, members of the Traveling Community. We've members from both sides of the divide Catholics and Protestants that come to our club and train. This connection strengthens the community's engagement with sport and physical activity.
- Encouraging Participation: By introducing fun and accessible initiatives such as "boxercise" and "come and try" programmes, it creates opportunities for more people to get involved in sport, including those who may not have tried boxing before.
3. Innovation
- New and Additional Initiatives: The project introduces new, innovative ways to engage participants and potential volunteers, which meets Sport NI's requirement to focus on fresh approaches rather than routine activities.
4. Alignment with Programme Objectives
- Increasing Physical Activity: The initiative encourages participants to get active, which aligns with the programme's goal to enable more people to participate in sport and physical activity across Northern Ireland.
- Resilience and Growth: By fostering new coaching and leadership roles, the project strengthens the club’s capacity for sustainable growth and long-term community impact.
How you can play your part
There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.
1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!
2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.
3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!
4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!