'There is another option in life': Community gym helping people find 'second chance'

The work done by brothers Carlo and Santino Sellick from their Bilston gym is helping to train people to find the right path in life.

From their Iron Masters Gym, 37-year-old Carlo and 39-year-old Santino help to develop people beyond just the physical aspects of gym life, with Santino describing some of the work they do.

He said: "What we have done as a gym is to create our own cutting knife crime project, which is one of many community projects we're running.

"We've done a fundraiser to help the care home across the road from us to care for people with dementia and we're also working with Wolverhampton Youth Offending team.

"Through this, we supply the gym and coaches to help build confidence, as well as offer a distraction to youngsters who may be going down the wrong track."

The gym was awarded funding from the Active Citizen Fund to set up a quarterly course called "Cuts in knife crime project" in January.

The brothers also helped Jason Welborn to prepare for his Middleweight Commonwealth championship bout on Saturday, August 15, reflecting their reputation as a place to train.

Santino spoke about how they had focussed on the community side since opening the gym in 2018 and used the gym setting as a way to write the wrongs in the community.

He said: "We see a fragmented society at times, so what we do is bring together people to train together who, outside of the gym, their paths would never have crossed.

"We're rolling back community development and and what we do is bring our members on board to raise money for local issues and campaigns.

"What we see a lot of, as well, is guys and girls from unsettled homes who are on a path leading to destruction, so we work to give them confidence and act as a distraction from their home lives.

"By doing this, we hope to provide them with a second chance and tell them there is another option in life."