Starting the week on the right foot

Students can 'box with the boss' while getting fit for life at the PCYC.

HARD HITTING: Donna Reed, Tanisha Fletcher, Tianna Collins and Senior Constable Clare Tuckett love the Fit For Life boxing classes. Picture: Michael Doyle

STUDENTS across Tweed Heads are discovering a new way to get fit at the local PCYC.

The Tweed Heads PCYC has been running boxing exercise classes on Monday mornings since December last year, with numbers growing every week.

The class is part of the wider Fit For Life program and started with just four students - but that number has now risen to 25.

The program offers students the opportunity to be physically active to start the week, before receiving breakfast and then being taken to school.

Youth case manager at the Tweed Heads PCYC, Senior Constable Clare Tuckett, said her team was hoping the program would grow over the coming months.

"This is all about getting them ready for school,” she said.

"It is an entry-level course to the rest of our Fit For Life.”

Many of the students involved in the boxing classes have been part of other PCYC programs, but new members are also joining.

Senior Constable Tuckett said the aim of the classes was to help give kids the right start to the week, while also viewing their local police command in a different light.

"We have a huge police following who come down and they (the students) like having that interaction and seeing the police as people,” she said.

"They get to box with the boss (Superintendent Dave Roptell), and I think it breaks down some barriers that kids have with the police.”

The Tweed-Bryon and Richmond Police commands joined together on Monday at Lennox Heads in a joint boxing exercise session.

Superintendent Dave Roptell said it was great for both regions to come together and enhance the popularity of the Fit For Life program.

Boxing classes start art the Tweed Heads PCYC on Monday mornings at 6.30am.

For more information, contact the PCYC directly on [phone].