By Fight for Peace CEO, Lee Hemmings 

Young people at Fight for Peace recently produced documentary on Jawany Scott, a professional MMA fighter currently competing on the Cage Warriors promotion and someone who began his journey in combat sports at our Academy in east London. 

It’s a cracking short film, not only is it a brilliant example of the talented athletes that come through Fight for Peace (and of course the young filmmakers who put the film together), it also highlights the remarkable role coaches play in young people’s journeys inside and outside the ring. 

There’s a particularly moving part of the documentary where Jawany recalls a moment in his time at Fight for Peace where things were going south in his training and his frustration led him to leave the Academy in anger mid muay thai session.

He was taken aback when the following day one of his coaches reached out to him to encourage him back and continue his pathway. Jawany recalls that the message the coach gave him, and the belief in him, was profound and lives with him to this day. The message? That the fire within us can heat our homes, or burn them to the ground, the choice and control is ours. 

This is a small but powerful example of what we at Fight for Peace call Life Champions, an approach to coaching young people aimed at supporting them to reach their potential as athletes, while also ensuring that they succeed in their lives beyond sport.

It’s an approach that’s been honed over the almost 25 years by Fight for Peace and our sister organisation Luta pela Paz, and it’s a methodology that, working with Sport England and UK coaching, we are proud to have packaged in a bespoke online training programme available to coaches of all sports, operating anywhere in the world.

The Life Champions training programme, which is endorsed by CIMSPA, will help coaches create the right environment in their sessions for young people to thrive in their lives, incorporating personal development activities aimed at building resilience, collaboration and leadership in young athletes. It’ll also help coaches develop their skills as mentors, and their ability to support young people to traverse the myriad challenges that will come their way. 

Coaches have always had a natural ability to support the development of the person beyond the athlete. With his recent support of Fight for Peace, and his longer-term connection with us, I am reminded of the key role Anthony Joshua’s first coach at Finchley ABC, Sean Murphy played in his development as a man, working with AJ’s mother to ensure he had what he needed to make the right decisions and succeed. 

Within our own Fight for Peace Alliance there’s so many examples of coaches doing this work to ensure that young people receive holistic support in and out of the ring. In the north of England, the Training Cave’s mantra is Strong for Life, a concept that encompasses the organisation’s approach to supporting young people to succeed in boxing but also in their broader lives (incidentally this message is captured in another great Fight for Peace youth-produced documentary film featuring Training Cave coaches and young people).

The Life Champions training programme takes these innate skills and experiences, and the proven approach of Fight for Peace, and helps coaches maximise their impact on young people’s lives. We are all very proud of this approach and are eager for as many coaches as possible to benefit from it. I urge anyone involved in coaching any sport to check it out and add it to their resume. 

Back to Jawany, he’s on the brink of achieving something really special in his sport and we are following his progress and next moves with great excitement. His performances in the MMA arena and the character and example he shows in his life are a tremendous credit to him and to the coaches at Fight for Peace and beyond who have helped guide his journey. 

We’re pleased to say that Jawany’s one of many young people associated with Fight for Peace achieving fantastic feats in their sports and in their lives, and we are grateful to have played a part in supporting them to achieve that success. 

The Life Champions course is now live and available online. Anyone interested in participating on the course or finding out more information can do so here.