Commonwealth Games legacy funding making moves year on

Ahead of the first anniversary of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, efforts are continuing to ensure the long-lasting legacy is felt across the West Midlands.

Already 300 sport and community groups have shared over 16,000 pieces of equipment used by teams and athletes. Hundreds of West Midlands groups receive sports equipment from Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

The Way Youth Zone in Wolverhampton are benefitting from the boxing equipment they were given and how it is encouraging and developing sporting opportunities for young people.

The youth centre has almost 2,000 active members and this year so far over 350 young people have taken part in its daily boxing sessions.

Boys and girls between the ages of 8-18 years have the opportunity to learn boxing skills, as well as mixed martial arts, and get active every weekday evening.

There is also a family boxing session every Saturday afternoon for young people and their parents to get involved in boxing together.

Daryl Chambers runs the club and said: "You'd be surprised how quickly gloves and pads wear out and start smelling, then the kids don't want to put them on.

"This equipment we received is ground-breaking and will make such a different and it already is doing.

"We're super grateful for the legacy funding."

The WMCA is currently drawing up plans to use the Games £70m unspent budget which the Mayor helped secure for the region from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to help level up and grow the West Midlands economy, increase people’s access to sport and culture and boost its trade and tourism sectors.