Data shows the number of unemployed young people in Kent is above the national average.
Finn Macdiarmid reports.
Finn Macdiarmid reports.
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00:00From January to March 2024, there are around 580,000 young people in Kent aged 16 to 24
00:08who are not in full-time education, employment or training.
00:11Known as NEETs, the number of these people in Kent from ages 16 to 24 is higher than
00:17the national average and is increasing year on year.
00:21One coach at a gym in Rochester wants to get more young people off the streets and onto
00:25the mat.
00:26Well, wrestling isn't the only practice they teach here, with coach John placing special
00:31emphasis on life advice and wisdom that they can use outside of the ring.
00:36John has been coaching since 1994 and has been doing sessions at Evolution Gym in Rochester
00:41since it opened 14 months ago.
00:43He also coaches at a gym in Tunbridge Wells, where the youngest wrestler is only 5.
00:48A lot of young people in some areas, like this area, get involved in misbehaving, either
00:55drugs, carrying knives, because they don't respect themselves.
00:59They're like a little growly dog on the street.
01:04And I'm changing them around to stop doing that, stop dealing, stop taking that stuff.
01:10There is a different way.
01:11Not it's easy, but in life, if it's easy, it ain't worth having.
01:16John is a former national wrestler and has competed in places like the United States,
01:21Macedonia and Sweden, but his hopes now lie in giving young people the confidence to attack
01:25life with all they have.
01:27From a poor background, John started wrestling in a local park, eventually joining a wrestling
01:31club where he was able to compete around the world.
01:35He thinks young people are constantly comparing themselves to other people through social
01:38media and wants to use wrestling as a way to build them up, mentally and physically.
01:43I feel like the biggest impact it's had is in terms of pushing myself.
01:48Everyone always says they're going to push themselves for a test, they're going to push
01:50themselves in the gym or something like that, but when you're actually having to physically
01:53exhaust yourself and you're at your breaking point, and then you've got John shouting down
01:56your ear, you know, one more, one more, push a little bit more.
01:59It's just that extra bit of motivation in life, which is kind of, it has a great carry
02:02over into everything else that I do now.
02:04And yeah, it's a great coach as well.
02:07Well their coach will hope that wrestling can give young people the tools to both suplex
02:11and to succeed.
02:13Brendan McDermott for KMTV in Rochester.