Navy News
Direct from the front-line, the official newspaper of the Royal Navy, Navy News, brings you the latest news, features and award winning photos every month.
Run by a small team of volunteers for around 18 months across northern England, the scheme works with public gyms and the Combat Sports Initiative to train kids and young adults in martial arts.
The Kiatphontip Muay Thai gym on the north-eastern edge of Leeds’ city centre was the venue for the sixth session run by the RN/RM.
The message and theme at venue six was the same as at venue one: to steer young people away from gang/knife/criminal culture, channelling their energies into combat sports instead… and with it instilling many of the values the Senior Service and Corps hold dear: discipline, integrity, self-control and teamwork.
Attendees were introduced to warm-up exercises and military fitness, then the RN/RM coaches moved on to various combat sports, including boxing, kick boxing and Brazilian jiu jitsu.
Helping to whip the youngsters into shape – with a strict no fidgeting rule in the ranks – was Petty Officer Physical Training Instructor Aaron Snowden.
We trying to instil the Navy’s core ethos into these guys and girls: courage, commitment, showing respect for others, discipline and personal integrity.
Petty Officer Physical Training Instructor Aaron Snowden
“We trying to instil the Navy’s core ethos into these guys and girls: courage, commitment, showing respect for others, discipline and personal integrity,” he explained.
The programme was started by Warrant Officer 2 Dennis Harrison who said personnel in some urban areas often returned home from deployments to find gang/knife crime and general bad behaviour was at best upsetting, at worst alarming.
“We started an initiative to fight back and will do whatever we can to help local authorities tackle this problem,” Dennis said.
The team hope to run sessions every two to three months. The next is earmarked for the Four Corners Gym in Liverpool, followed later in 2025 with a return to Manchester and an expansion of the programme to southern England working with Dorset Fire and Rescue and police.
Direct from the front-line, the official newspaper of the Royal Navy, Navy News, brings you the latest news, features and award winning photos every month.