Multi-sport club is a knock out for olympics boxing star Amir
Bolton’s favourite sporting son, Olympic medallist Amir Khan has plenty of reason to be grateful for Sport England’s investment of £4m of Lottery funding in the North West town’s sporting facilities.
The young Sport England-funded boxing sensation used the boxing gym at the refurbished Bolton Lad’s and Girl’s club to prepare for the Athens Games in 2004 and then went on to win silver for Great Britain.
And Amir is not the only champion at the club. Youngsters there beat off tough competition to be named as the children’s champions in the National Lottery Helping Hands Awards in November 2004
The club, which is situated in the top 10% of deprived wards in the country, had a proud history spanning 100 years, but the old facilities were simply falling apart and required significant investment.
So with the local area dependant on the club to keep the community active and off the streets, Sport England decided to give it the cash boost that was required to bring a new lease of life to the old club.
The much-improved multi-sport club, which cost a total of £4.5m, now boasts sports halls (one with four courts and the other a main court), a boxing gym, a dance and aerobics centre, fitness and weights room, additional activity centre, 5-a-side football floodlit pitch and support facilities.
Programmes were set up within the refurbished club for the community of Bolton. These included an after school club, a junior club, senior club and a number of community groups.
Bolton Lad's and Girl's Club factfile
- The club has seen a 75% increase in the number of females under 18 and an 81% increase in males under 18 using the facilities
- 2,500 youngsters use the facility each week
- There has been a 79% increase in club members helping Sport England meet its target of increasing participation by 1% a year up to 2020
- There has been a 42% increase in the number of disabled users
- 16 full time jobs and 90 new volunteering positions have been created since the club was redeveloped
- The club now has badminton, basketball, netball, football and boxing teams competing in leagues
- The boxing facility is the second largest in the North-West
- Weekly coaching hours for under 18’s have now increased from 25 to 148 hours
- Bolton Lad’s and Girls club beat off tough competition to be named as the children’s champions in the National Lottery Helping Hands Awards in November 2004
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To find out more about the Everyday Sport campaign, for activities taking place in your area and simple tips on how to get active, log onto www.everydaysport.com or call the Everyday Sport hotline: 0800 587 6000.
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