Gain Forth Youth Project

Aim

We want to set up a Youth Boxing Club, Weightlifting Club & Paralympic Powerlifting Club to get young people more involved in sport

Our vision has always been clear.

We aim to help people Gain, whether it be confidence, friends, skills, courses, new abilities or even to socialise more.

We operate a Strength & Conditioning Gym in the Heart of Belfast. Offering people in the community access to top of the range competition calibrated equipment. 

It allows people from a highly deprived and divided area, to come together and develop skills that will help lift them out of poverty and interact with like-minded people.

We've helped develop National, European and World champions in Boxing, Weightlifting, Powerlifting and want to broaden that range to help more people become champions in their fields.

We're limited by space and equipment, so the funds we raise will help us extend our second floor to help expand our Floor space and allow us to get more platforms for our youth section downstairs. This means we can safely have more platforms downstairs and create an after-school program aimed at developing younger people's skills. We want to help incorporate more disabled access into the gym to make the gym a completely inclusive environment where everyone can progress and develop.

We will also be able to purchase a paralympic Powerlifting Bench, bar & plates for people with disabilities so they can train in a safe and secure manner allowing them to focus on their training. We will purchase more racks, bars, plates to facilitate our growing numbers and also give Young people a Strength & Development Sanctuary. This is a one of a kind facility which is located in such a highly deprived area of West Belfast.

We have amazing coaches who are qualified in Level 4 Exercise Referral, Strength and Conditioning, Professional Boxing Coach, Level 2 British Weightlifting, Level 1 Powerlifting, Crossfit Certified coaches and a Registered Nutritionist! A lot of our coaches are actually from these local deprivation areas and have pushed themselves on to get further qualifications, Degrees and onto to their Master's Degree.

Covid has taken a massive toll on the members of the gym. From fear and anxiety of coming back into the real world & people being fearful of groups has led to a significant decline in the number of people using the gym. This new youth incentive will show people it is safe and extremely beneficial to get back to the gym. 

We have the foundations of a facility that will allow people to grow and develop so all we need now is more space and equipment to grow and help more potential hidden athletes.

We operate right on the Peace Wall which is a segregated interface between Shankill Road and Falls Road. Walk out the front door and you're on the Shankill Road, Walk out the back door and you're on the Falls. This is the perfect location to develop our Cross Community Development Plan which aims to bring people from different backgrounds together under one roof for a similar cause.

This project will help bridge the division using Sports, Personal Development, Mental Health and Nutrition. We can bring the community together through the struggles we all share.

Our project will help launch our Gain Forth Youth Project to help set young people on a path the Commonwealth games & the Olympics. We want to give back to our local community and give young people the chance to develop to a professional level through sport. We work with Boxers, Footballers, Gaelic & Hurling Players, Rugby teams & many others. 

This project successfully funded on 6th June 2022