{"id":10401,"date":"2020-06-30T17:01:01","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T17:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=10401"},"modified":"2020-06-30T17:01:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-30T17:01:01","slug":"punching-through-the-pandemic-kenyan-boxing-club-gives-kids-a-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/punching-through-the-pandemic-kenyan-boxing-club-gives-kids-a-break","title":{"rendered":"Punching through the pandemic: Kenyan boxing club gives kids a break"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>AfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> Vanessa Wanjera packs a punch. The 14-year-old Kenyan took up boxing two years ago but she already has big dreams.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to be a champion, instead of staying in the slums,\u201d Wanjera told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>Wanjera is one of a group of children who train at the Mathare North Boxing Club in Nairobi, where head coach Bernard Muiruri hopes the programme will help keep kids out of trouble.<\/p>\n<p>While government restrictions are in place on public gatherings and people\u2019s movement, the gym has measures in place to conform to social distancing and hygiene guidelines.<\/p>\n<p>It limits the number of visitors allowed on the premises at any one time, is cleaned three times a day and gives out hand sanitiser to people who do not bring it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have adhered to all COVID-19 regulations set by the government,\u201d Muiruri said. \u201cThe training keeps the children busy, ensuring they don\u2019t engage in evils found in the slums. Also staying fit is a way of fighting the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since the club opened its doors in 1985, it has trained several professional boxers and Kenyan champions, including John Kimani, the assistant coach.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere at Mathare North Boxing Club we don\u2019t charge. What we do is give back to the community,\u201d Kimani said.<\/p>\n<p>Andrew Odhiambo, 18, epitomises that spirit. A boxer since he was 8 years old, he wants to share what he has learned with other young people in his community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to help my peers,\u201d said Odhiambo. \u201cI train because I want to be somebody. I want to make Mathare proud of me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More children in the neighbourhood are training at the gym than usual and it has become a crucial outlet for local kids forced to stay at home because schools remain shut due to the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>And boxing is not the only lesson they learn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe tell them there is life outside boxing,\u201d said Kimani. \u201cThey don\u2019t just come here for boxing, we give them lessons in life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AfricaPress-Kenya: Vanessa Wanjera packs a punch. The 14-year-old Kenyan took up boxing two years ago but she already has big dreams. \u201cI want to be a champion, instead of staying in the slums,\u201d Wanjera told Reuters. Wanjera is one of a group of children who train at the Mathare North Boxing Club in Nairobi, where [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":9021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17],"tags":[1829,1539],"class_list":["post-10401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","tag-box","tag-covid-19"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Punching through the pandemic: Kenyan boxing club gives kids a break - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vanessa Wanjera packs a punch. The 14-year-old Kenyan took up boxing two years ago but she already has big dreams.\u201cI want to be a champion, instead\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sport\/punching-through-the-pandemic-kenyan-boxing-club-gives-kids-a-break\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Punching through the pandemic: Kenyan boxing club gives kids a break\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vanessa Wanjera packs a punch. 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