Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
Youth worker Chris inspires youngsters to be Fit for Life
KENSINGTON COACH SET UP FITNESS CHARITY TO HELP LONDON KIDS HAVE ACCESS TO A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
HEALTH and fitness is an incredibly important part of a child’s development.
But what if your child doesn’t have access to the right sports facilities? Luckily for children in the capital, one man from West London is making it his mission to prevent that from happening.
Coach and youth worker, Chris Herbert, 35, told MyLondon that in starting his youth fitness charity – Fit for Life Youth – he wanted to create something that “made an impact on young people’s lives” in the same way youth workers made on his.
Now three years after launching the North Kensington based organisation, Chris and his team have not only coached and supported hundreds of young people in the community, but also gone on to win Best Business Start Up at the 2019 Kensington and Chelsea Business Awards.
The Fit for Life Youth programme delivers training in boxing, nutrition and healthy living for young people in North Kensington. Working in partnership with schools, youth clubs and local charities, Chris has made it his ethos to make sport more accessible to all young people.
And with fewer young people participating in their recommended amount of physical activity according to Sports England projects like Fit For Life Youth may be as important as ever.
Chris said: “Some kids will go on to be professional footballers and boxers and they’ll be training regularly at gyms and academies, but an even bigger amount won’t go on to be professionals.
“However, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be involved in sport. We need to make sport more accessible to all young people. We need to make sport more normal for kids.”
With over 15 years working with youth and also being on the receiving end of youth support growing up, Chris said the influence of projects like Fit for Life Youth can’t be overlooked.
Chris said: “I wanted to make a difference to people like myself. I grew up on an estate and youth workers made a big impact on my life.
“Because I had youth workers who I could relate to, that weren’t teachers or our parents, we were able to find that middle ground and helped stay on the right track. “Also sports is a good learning tool. As well as the health and fitness benefit, on a social level, it’s very important because you can learn so much.”
As a qualified boxing coach, boxing is a large part of the Fit For Life Youth programme and Chris shared that the discipline and confidence developed in sports like boxing is essential in not just being a trainer, but also serving as a mentor for young people.
Chris said: “We hold boxing sessions with St Charles College, and now three of the students there who’ve trained with us, work for me. And we do a showcase at the college where the young people we train get a chance to fight in front of a crowd of their families and friends.
“As a coach and a youth worker, you’re competing with all these other influences: social life, alcohol, drugs, bad influences, and you just hope that some of the young people will keep on.”
Looking on to the future, Fit for Life Youth plan to expand from Kensington and Chelsea and work across London with an outlook of going national and even international.
Recently, Fit for Life Youth were the recipient of a £20,000 grant as part of the Grenfell Project Fund.
With this funding they’ll be able to deliver fitness and boxing sessions to 11 schools across North Kensington as well as training up six local individuals to deliver these sessions.
Chris added: “I want to help these young people come along and hopefully they can take it to new heights. We want to broaden the horizons of these young people.”
I want to help these young people come along and hopefully they can take it to new heights.
Chris Herbert, Fit for Life