This summer we had the pleasure to welcome a new cohort of Fight for Peace members into our Academy for a YMCA Level 2 Fitness Instructor course, led by our Sports Development Manager, Silvino Domingos.

Employability and skills training is a big part of our work in supporting young people to become champions in life, so we are thrilled that 16 young people completed the six-week course, including muay thai athlete and Young Creative, Promise Fayose.

We checked in with Promise to find out why he decided to take the course, and some of the valuable skills he learned in the process:

“I actually joined the course in the third week just to see what was happening as I was also balancing work at the time. I joined a class just to see what it was like and if I could do it.

The course was very insightful in how the body functions and how to really do an efficient workout. I learned so much from it, like how to really be in control of my body and I learned the scientific and biological aspects of the functions of the body. 

Silvino is very insightful and he knows a lot. I like that because if I know what area specifically I am going to talk about I can only get better and more specific with what I’m trying to build on; he has a really intense knowledge about those things.

Having a Fight for Peace team member delivering the training was good because that’s when I really got to understand what Silvino’s role is and who he is and it made me think, ‘okay cool, there’s more context to Fight for Peace’. There’s teachers who educate here as well, there’s also fighters and creatives so there’s different layers to it. 

I learned a lot. I learned how to be more efficient, especially with time. For example, when you’re doing something don’t overexert yourself, know when to study and how to study, don’t study too much – just find the right balance and go with that. 

I also learned to talk to class members and new people – there were a few Fight for Peace members I’d never met before, or people I’ve seen around but never really had a proper conversation with, so we had proper conversations which was cool.

My plan was to essentially use my qualification to educate those with special needs and people who want to learn a bit more about how to get into shape. I know British Sign Language so that would be a pretty cool unique selling point for me and to be able to contact people and work with them would be a very good asset to build. Now I’ve got the qualification – originally it was just for me, just to learn about myself but now I know I could teach others, like my little sister. 

I’d say, you’re oblivious by not taking a risk because if you’re not doing something that’s being offered to you. A good example is, I could have easily not turned up and said you know what, this isn’t for me but I showed up and I was there. If you feel like you can do something and you see the people around you doing it, don’t be oblivious to the opportunities.”