Troubled youth
I will say myself that I was at one point of my life almost completely off the rails. I was smoking, drinking, doing and selling drugs, involved in gangs and getting into regular trouble with the police. However I would like to mention that I was not a hardcore criminal, a ghetto youth struggling to survive, a ‘gangster’ and I certainly didnt consider myself to be a badman. The best way to describe myself at that time was reckless and misguided.
Many of my challenges began at my senior school around year 7. I was a very small child for my age and a late developer, coupled with this I have what is known as A.D.H.D. I was diagnosed with this condition aged 14 which was very late. My parents advised my school of this, but due to lack of understanding made little difference.
I was hyperactive and I lacked concentration, organizational skills and the ability to understand the consequence of my actions. I also had other problems such as emotional reactivity, impulsivity, low social skills and awareness. As with so many with ADHD I struggled with low self-esteem and self-confidence. This made my time at school a very difficult one. I was always disrupting lessons and getting into trouble and I was a very difficult student. I was also bullied mentally and physically almost every day for about 5 or 6 years. As a result I ended up using drugs and misusing alcohol which only caused me more problems.
I developed severe anger issues and got into fights as a result of the bullying. I got involved in gangs to fit in, gain some ‘identity’ and to form mutual protection. These were not serious hardcore gangs like the Crips or Bloods you would find in America but still gangs nevertheless. We and I did some bad things, but no-one died or was permanently injured. Due to this I got into a lot of trouble with the law.
I knew that I needed to change before it was too late.
I took up boxing aged 17 in a bid to try and learn to control my temper and sort myself out. It would however be a while however before I managed to sort out my temper. I ended up nearly ruining my life and losing all my friends as a result of it. I eventually sunk into depression, and at one point, for a short while, had to go on medication.
Through the boxing I ended up quitting smoking, drinking and drugs. I also found something to focus my energies on and it kept me away from the trouble. Many people who were also doing drugs at the time I was are still doing them now.
Boxing also gave me the courage to do things such as going away to university and face other fears too. I suffered from social anxiety which I eased with the use of alcohol. This was one of the reasons why I kept drinking even though I knew it got me into trouble, I knew I had to face and sort out that too.
I realised to help me change I needed a change of location. I went to Portsmouth University having scraped 2 A levels. I didn’t like University except I had a lot of free time. Luckily I decided to start up the Boxing Club, which had stopped due to lack of interest.
I did not complete my uni course for various reasons but through running the boxing club I discovered my true passion which is coaching people whilst simultaneously having your own project you can work on and develop. I knew that my future career would involve doing these kind of things. Although at this point I didn’t know what.
At this point I will mention the other major factor that enabled me to turn my life around which was the large amount of reading I did about topics such as psychology, philosophy, spirituality, science and self-improvement. This knowledge opened my eyes to so many things, and enables me to approach life in a whole different way.
At the time Gang, Gun and Knife crime had just started to become a big problem and was being discussed daily on the news and I thought to myself that if people had the same understanding as I had gained from studying I had done then perhaps they wouldn’t get involved in such stupid things. I started thinking about ways to make that information acceptable and receivable to the kind of people that needed it.
Then one day it came to me in a flash of inspiration!
I had noticed how humble people who i perceived to be ‘bad’ acted in the boxing gym. And it was in here that I truly came to understand the difference between a real person and a fake. Someone who had guts and someone who was a coward. My eyes were truly opened! And believe me to the untrained eye this difference can be very decieving and hard to detect.
Boxing was the key! And through boxing I could impart the knowledge and wisdom required.
Boxing Evolution was born!
Since having acquired funding from the Princes Trust I continue on my mission to help other people. At the same time endeavouring to use the same knowledge I intend to teach so that too can live the kind of life I have always dreamed about.
So far my masterplan is on track althought there have been and will be, in the future, many unexpected twists and turns.
I want to mention that there is alot more behind this story than meets the eye and that I have mentioned, but one day I will reveal all. I think it is extremely important that people understand coming back from the ‘darkside’ in terms of the way you think, emotionally and your behaviour is extremely difficult and everyday is a struggle.
There is no magic spell that suddenly changes you. It takes constant persistance, determination and will power to change and not get drawn back into your old ways and there are MANY temptations everyday to do such. I am human and I wont deny that relapses have occured from time to time. However each time I come back stronger and less determined to faulter. I keep my end goal in sight daily and that is now what i live for. NOTHING will stop me MOOHAHAHAHAAAAA.
If you are reading this you have just joined me on my journey as it begins to get exciting.
This is just the beggining…YOU AINT SEEN NOTHING YET!
stay tuned. B.E READY
Flavell Flave 
