Firstly thank you to Max from the 3DW team for writing this blog and letting us in on something he has been working on.
I thought I would just give a little background on a few of the things we have been doing here at 3DW.
For some time we’ve been helping out bymaking regular donations to the food bank at Our Sale West. Now this isn’t something we have ever really talked about because it’s not something we’ve wanted praise for as it’s a shame that people even need them in the first place, we wanted to just quietly support the community in a way we knew would help but it leads into the other project I’ve been working on. Andy Dennison, 3DW's MD is from Sale so he was keen to help out his local community, after a few years we have gotten to know the team who provide all kinds of support at Our Sale West.
More recently we sponsored and supported a Climate Change Summit event for local children, and funded transport to take a group of residents to the pantomime at Sale Waterside over the festive period. As a company, we’ve been inspired by the team at Our Sale West who work incredibly hard in difficult times. It has been a pleasure to be able to make some small contributions to the amazing work they do.
My involvement was separate to this but is part of the wider Sale community. Which started through an old school friend of mine who used to coach/box at Sale West ABC. I’ve always had a passion for boxing but was never confident enough to step into a gym and learn. Aaron assured me that the boxing gym atmosphere isn’t what people think and invited me along to come and train. Boxing inspires people, and gives them confidence, discipline, respect, a real sense of belonging, all values that aren’t just relevant to the sport but every walk of life.
Once you take the step through that door and complete your first session you’re one of them, part of the boxing family and you’ll be looked after for life.
I was hooked! despite moving around a bit I’ve stuck with it, I now live in Stockport but I travel in to train at Sale West ABC. The work that the coaches, Sol, Mike, Steve and Nige do is incredible. It’s all voluntary and they dedicate an incredible amount of their time to the gym. Sessions run 3 times a week for a total of almost 6 hours not including the shows they travel to, sparring sessions they take boxers to, all in their own time.
Its been a tough time for many recently with the cost of living crisis and COVID which hit the gym really hard, the gym isn’t owned by the club and because of that it wasn’t allowed to open again until someone else said so. This meant it was shut for longer than a lot of other boxing gyms and the club lost a lot of time and money. But more importantly we all lacked the support that we all give each other. As a club a lot of the money it generate comes from putting on boxing shows for the amatuer fighters and this was also something that couldn’t take place.
After training at the club for a long time I wanted to work out a way to give something back to the club that has given me so much and that got me thinking! I knew about Andy’s work at Our Sale West so I asked him if we could help out another local community club. He was keen to help out so the next step was to speak to the coaches and see what would help.
This wasn’t about getting our name out there, it was about supporting the club and the kids that train there. Mike and Sol mentioned equipment, gloves, headguards, skipping ropes etc, more specifically AIBA rated equipment. This is the competition equipment that is regulated so keeps the boxers safe, but also comes at a price. I put a list together, agreed a budget and set about shopping for the kit and managed to get everything the club asked for.
The first great thing about this is that the club now has all the equipment it needs to put on an amateur boxing show and this will generate much needed money for the club. But the real winner is knowing that the next generation of our boxers can compete, safely, without worrying about where the equipment comes from. Boxing is a relatively inexpensive sport to get involved in, but it’s important that there are no barriers for any of the kids wanting to get into the sport. Knowing that anyone, from any background can come along and they can use the kit to get going is an amazing feeling.
I’m a massive advocate of having a hobby, being involved in something that you’re passionate about with a group of people who share the same passion can provide so much and if we can inspire even just a handful of kids on the estate and take them further in life then we’re winning.
Sale West ABC has an amazing history in boxing, Ricky Hatton started there, Sam Hyde trained there and more recently Patrick Brown who currently boxes for GB boxing was there, and to be able to support the club in continuing that history is an honour.