Youth Power is Fight for Peace’s youth leadership group. Working alongside staff, they play a vital role in shaping decisions and ensuring that young people’s voices are always at the heart of what we do. Through Youth Power, we remain truly youth-led. Two months ago, members elected their Youth Power Leader, Szilvia. Below, she shares her journey at Fight for Peace and what it means to lead the group.

“When I first heard about Fight for Peace it was through my mum’s friend’s son who used to train with the organisation, and would constantly tell me to join but I always felt hesitant. Then one day, I thought, let’s just go for it. That was four years ago. I started just attending mixed martial arts (MMA), but in 2024 everything changed. 

During a sparring session in MMA, I tore my ACL and over the next six months, while I was unable to train my mental health suffered. When I returned to Fight for Peace, I started boxing but I was constantly terrified of getting injured. However, with support from coaches – Michael, Emmanuel, Athena, and Danny – I could continue doing what I love. 

It was Coach Tommy that first brought my attention to Youth Power, during one of the women-only boxing sessions. I thought it sounded pretty cool so I put myself forward but I lost the vote. Then days later Tommy came back to our boxing session and said, “who wants to be in Youth Power?”, but I was hesitant. Then Tommy asked, “oh, Szilvia, do you remember, you wanted to go?”

Tommy gave me the push I needed. I thought it would be difficult getting elected as a Youth Power member because I had this internal thought that everyone’s going to look at me and think she’s a girl, so she’s not good at the sport, so she’s not gonna get elected. But I gave a speech about my journey at Fight for Peace, my torn ACL, and how I came back to boxing. That’s when people saw how dedicated to the sport I was, and I got elected as a member. 

When the Leader of Youth Power role came up I really wasn’t sure about putting myself forward. I had commitments at college, but people encouraged me, and I went for it. Once I got the role, I realised I could manage my time. 

Leading this group has been incredible but it helps that everyone has something to contribute. We share ideas. We inspire each other’s creativity. Everyone’s keen to respect each other’s opinions as well as seeing the fun side of things. 

Of course there’s challenges in terms of leading a group of 15 such as organising meetings that everyone can attend. It’s also been a learning curve with the realisation that you’re not always going to satisfy everyone, and sometimes you have to compromise and that’s not always easy.

Despite those challenges, the experience has been life-changing. I’ve learned about budgeting, organising events, speaking up, and making decisions. It’s helped that I’ve also had support from longer-term Youth Power members like Amet. 

One of our group’s upcoming sessions is to bring our behind-the-scenes work into the spotlight. We’ve got a content day planned. We’re going to be on the Academy wall! And we’re starting to make Instagram content to show what we actually do. People think it’s just meetings, but there’s so much fun, creativity, and teamwork that goes into it.

As the Youth Power Leader, I am excited to work with many more creative minds, bring about change, and learn new skills. As for the future, being a leader here has inspired me with the confidence to lead.”

Keep your eyes peeled for some of the content Youth Power will be releasing over the coming weeks, months, and years. We couldn’t be prouder of what an incredible leader Szilvia is and how Youth Power are taking the reins at Fight for Peace to ensure they are central in everything we do as a team. 

Youth Leadership is one of our Five Pillars, alongside Education, Employability, Combat Sports, and Support Services — a holistic approach that empowers young people to reach their full potential and helps us build champions, in the ring and in life.