'Sport is transforming my life': Inside the community gym keeping young people from a life of crime

Before getting into fitness and starting a company that helps young people unlock their potential through sport, Juan Lopez explained that he “wasn’t on a straight path”. 

“I got into a lot of serious trouble,” Lopez, founder and director of not-for-profit health and fitness organisation Raza Sana, told the Big Issue. “It was in the army that I realised how sport and exercise is used as a vehicle for personal development.

“Sport has been a fundamental vehicle in transforming my life.” 

Now, developed by Raza Sana and funded by Gymbox and Haringey Council, a free street gym has opened in Tottenham’s Northumberland Park to give young people the same new start through sports that Juan had. 

The community street gym not only provides a space for all ages in the community to use the fitness equipment and free classes, but also provides programmes like free CV advice, mock job interviews and helping people access personal training qualifications.

The gym opened on 12 July – just weeks before far-right riots engulfed England and saw scores of teenagers hauled in front of the courts for their part in the disorder.

The aftermath of the riots saw some quarters call for greater investment into community cohesion and young people left behind following more than a decade of damaging cuts.

Juan explained that one of the aims of the community street gym is to instil in young people a “confidence that comes from the sense of achievement”. 

“When you work towards a goal, whatever it is – running a mile and a half, or getting your first 10 pull-ups, or even touching your toes – the sense of achievement you get from it, it just starts building and building to the point where… you just back yourself to win every time,” he told the Big Issue. 

“Even at this very moment, I’m living through difficulties, but fitness and this project is giving me the motivation to work through and to keep pushing forward. The vision is that we empower as many people in the community through this project.”

KY, a 25-year-old father-of-three who works for Haringey Council and lives on the estate where the street gym has been built, added that sports and exercise had huge benefits for both his mental and physical health. 

“I came from a background where I wasn’t on the straightest path, and being around familiar faces and training, it’s taking a lot of stuff that we go through in our private lives and de-stressing them into something more positive,” he told the Big Issue. “Whereas we didn’t have this before, we only had a choice to de-stress in ways that probably weren’t the greatest.”

He added: “For me, seeing what I’ve come from, to now doing something positive and helping other people, is a beautiful feeling that you can’t even really explain – you’re having parents say ‘can you help my child?’ and it’s nice having someone put their trust in you to do something positive.”

KY explained that a lot of the local residents “who’ve been in this community for a very long time” had felt forgotten by the council.

“So when they’re seeing this now, and they’re seeing so many different people engage… We’re seeing a lot of benefits,” he said. “It’s nice to see that they get that little faith again.”

He explained that as he grew up in the community in Tottenham, it was easy for him to encourage young people in to use the street gym as he is “a familiar face in the area”. KY added that while he’s seen benefits for the community, and that young people are bringing “more of their friends and their family”, he’s also seen his own confidence grow. 

“We’re now building a team together,” he explained. 

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Juan explained that one of the main aims of the street gym is to steer young people away from crime by empowering them through fitness.

Local resident Kev – who used to box, and now works on callisthenics and fitness at the street gym – explained that sports has had a real impact on his life and opportunities, telling the Big Issue that he had been focusing on fitness instead of getting involved in crime, with one of his friends recently arrested. 

“He was calling me out to go with him one day to do something, and I was like, ‘I have to do this workout here’… the next day he’s in prison,” the 17-year-old said.

“One little thing can change your whole life to a big scale,” Kev explained, adding that he’d become stronger and more confident through taking part in the gym programme. 

Juan added: “I think if we’re able to do this across the country, and empower communities that that feel hard done by… where people just feel like there’s no hope for them, they feel like they’re in a world of negativity, if you can plant a little seed… ultimately, that’s what we would love to do.”

Juan explained that he’d love to see Kev become a certified PT and start leading sessions, as well as expanding the project further to other communities, while finding funding and support to continue the work they’re doing in Tottenham. 

“You’ve probably seen many outdoor gyms out there,” he explained. “But if you don’t have this core group of local people that are passionate, enthusiastic, dedicated and invested in being there and bringing everyone together and creating the right environment, then it won’t really work… we’ve created a special formula to create community cohesion.”

Marc Diaper, CEO of Gymbox, explained that he met Juan through Steel Warriors – a charity that takes knives from amnesty bins across London and recycles the steel to make outdoor gyms – and that collaborating with Raza Sana was a “no-brainer”. 

He added that “fitness can and should be an accessible space for all”, and that he hoped the Northumberland Park gym would have the power to “transform lives”. 

Speaking about the street gym’s launch, Diaper explained that a local man “came across to speak to me to thank us for assisting in funding this, because it literally changed his life”, adding that the man is now training “every day”. 

In the future, Diaper explained that Gymbox and Raza Sana initially plan to expand the street gyms to communities across London. 

“I’ve been with Gymbox for 14 years, and of all the things we’ve done in 14 years, I’m probably proudest of this,” he added. 

“When you go and spend time in a community, and when they come and have a conversation about it changing their lives, it’s very humbling. I’ve been in the industry for 22 years and it makes you realise why you do it.”

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