Over 50 youngsters turned up for the launch ceremony of Oldham’s latest Mixed Martial Arts club, Frontline MMA.
The event was attended by many local councillors including Cllr Abdul Jabbar, Cllr Elaine Taylor, Cllr Abdul Malik and Cllr Mohon Ali among others.
Also in attendance were Mahbubur Rahman, BEM, who is famed for appearing on Channel 4’s ‘Bidding Wars’, and award-winning litter picker, Saleh Talukdar.
The grappling session was delivered by veteran fighter and head coach, Toff Hamed who is 26 and has been training in wrestling, kickboxing and Taekwondo from the age of 17.
He said: “In this day and age, young adults lack discipline and purpose in life. They aren’t putting their physical capabilities to the test.”
Hamed has had many amateur fights, and he has entered a lot of grappling competitions. He said he is “well versed” in the martial arts.
“Even though I teach, I am always learning. Everyone should always be learning,” Hamed said.
Milad Sarwar, who has over 80,000 followers on Instagram, has teamed up with Hamed to start the MMA club.
“Today has been a massive success, I am more than happy,” he said. “Today was just a launch session. We were expecting maybe 20 – 25 students to turn up, but that number doubled very quickly.
“Now it’s a case of continuing these sessions and making sure every student has the right guidance.
“Some of these kids have been training with Toff for over a year and they have learned a lot in that time. They are ready for competitions. That’s all down to Toff’s hard work.
"We're only just getting started, but the intention is to do something real for Oldham."
Sarwar added that many gyms focus on their star students rather than on the students who have come in for the first time.
One member, Yahya Uddin, said: “Firstly, the gym is very welcoming, they make everyone feel like brothers. It feels like you can do what you want. If you make a mistake no-one will shame you for it.
“No one will make jokes about you. Training has made me more sociable, talkative and confident after only a few months of training.”
Cllr Elaine Taylor, deputy leader of Oldham Council added: “Sports are so crucial for all our young people so they can go out and meet others of their own age and make sure they are fit and healthy.
“This gym is located on the edge of Werneth, the edge of Westwood and the edge of Chadderton. What we do have in these areas is overcrowding in a lot of our properties.
“To give young people the space to be able to be themselves, to socialise and to build those all-important life skills is vital. I support this initiative every step of the way.”
The spacious gym has a boxing ring, a wrestling and grappling area, a pool table and table tennis, so young people can relax and socialise after training.
Comments (0)
Comments are moderated before publishing. Links and abusive language are not allowed.
No approved comments yet.