Youth boxing program fights off negativity, provides positive role models

Gloves of Hope is a free boxing program run by Hoops 4 Health, which uses sport to support vulnerable young people across the Northern Territory.

The organisation teamed up with Boxing NT to host a major amateur competition this weekend, featuring clubs from the NT and WA.

Funds raised from the sold-out event's ticket sales will go back to the Gloves of Hope program, to support its grassroots efforts.

Encouraging young boys to put on gloves and fight each other inside a boxing ring may not seem like the most obvious way to keep them out of trouble at first glance.

But those behind this weekend's amateur Gloves of Hope challenge in Darwin would argue the sport is helping do just that, and much more, for young people in the Northern Territory.

The event is an initiative of local grassroots organisation Hoops 4 Health — an Aboriginal-led service behind several sport programs designed to support struggling youth, including some inside NT detention centres.

The free Gloves of Hope program aims to give young men and women a chance to learn boxing skills from professional coaches while building resilience, discipline and a support network in their community.

"We try to improve their mental health, but also guide them with integrity about how they live their lives," social impact director Matthew Bonson said.

Mr Bonson said the program was based on evidence-backed models of therapy which use patterned, rhythmic exercise to help trauma-affected youth regulate their emotions.

"Through sport and the structures around good coaches, you can help these young men stay cool longer and also help young women get more confidence about who they are," he said.

As the NT grapples with some of the highest youth incarceration rates in the country, particularly among First Nations boys aged 10 to 14, Mr Bonson said providing young people with positive role models was a key part of the program's success.

"Particularly with young men, if you put the right older men in front of them — who they know are trying to help them — they do want to listen," Mr Bonson said.

On Saturday, Gloves of Hope teamed up with Boxing NT to host one of Darwin's biggest amateur boxing events of the last decade.

The sold-out event at Marrara Stadium brought together boxing clubs from across Darwin and Alice Springs, with one team even travelling from Kununurra in Western Australia.

Declan Unwin-Walker was one of the fighters competing for the title belt on Saturday and said he was "keen, excited, nervous — but ready to go".

Mr Unwin-Walker trained with Gloves of Hope for more than a year in the lead-up to the event and said the sport had been rewarding, physically and mentally.

"We all push each other and show up every day and its definitely about pushing each other and just yeah — keep showing up," he said.

Jerrel O'Riley from the Kununurra Warriors Boxing Club said it was exciting to compete on a big stage.

"I was pretty surprised to hear there was 1,000 people coming," he told the ABC ahead of the sold-out event.

Richard Garling, who has coached the sport for more than four decades, was there on behalf of the Humpty Doo Boxing Club.

Mr Garling said pathways into boxing that helped kids from rural areas compete were essential to fostering NT talent.

"There's a lot of potential in the Territory," he said.

The event also featured a half-time performance by NT music star Yung Milla, fresh from his triumph on reality music competition show The Voice Australia.

The funds raised from ticket sales were donated to help the Gloves of Hope initiative, with organisers hopeful the event will return next year.