A WOMAN who set up a history-making boxing club for disabled people in Barnsley, after becoming a wheelchair user eight years ago, has been nominated for an award.
Luiz Faye, 39, is originally from Selby but now lives in Thurnscoe from where she launched Kronik Warrior.
She was a police officer until hip surgery in 2016 went wrong and left her with a spinal condition which means she uses a wheelchair.
Luiz said: “After I left the police, I struggled to find employment for the first time ever.
“I was struggling a lot with my mental health.
“I felt I had no purpose or place in society and couldn’t see a light.
“But I told myself that I needed to find something meaningful.
“I found a gym and started to do some rehab.
“There was a punchbag in the corner and I started to use it.
“As soon as I did, the grief started to come away and I started to feel strong again.
“By doing boxing, my independence was something I could see again, not something from the past.”
Luiz started training with Danny Baugh at Townend Boxing Academy in Barnsley and later was scouted by the World Boxing Council to become their first ever adaptive boxer and coach.
She travelled to Mexico, then fought at an England v Scotland amateur show in Cannock with former world title challenger Scott Welch in her corner, and was presented with an award by Frank Bruno after another show in Brighton.
But she stepped away from that to focus on ‘my calling’ of setting up a community and structure for adaptive boxers in England.
After Townend Boxing Club closed during the Covid-19 pandemic – a very painful event for Luiz who credits Baugh with starting her community – she began to run online classes in lockdown, mainly on Facebook.
She said: “It took off more than I ever expected.
“We created an incredible community around world.
“We had people joining in from America and other countries.
“The knowledge-sharing and positivity was massive for all of us.”
She was then encouraged to create a non-profit organisation which she called Kronik Warriors.
It was initially based out of Thurnscoe Community Centre but is now mobile and goes into schools, care homes and community groups across Barnsley and further afield, as well as continuing the popular online classes.
“It’s the first ever fully adaptive boxing academy which is affiliated with the national governing body.
“We work with people with physical disabilities and learning difficulties. Mental health is a big part of it too.
“Boxing has a stigma but it changes and saves lives.
“It did for me.
“The first myth-buster is that you don’t have to be punched in the face to enjoy boxing. What we do is non-contact.
“We adapt to everybody’s individual needs and nobody is isolated.
“I’ve made special split skipping ropes for people in wheelchairs and, for those with upper-body disabilities, we do ankle skips.
“It’s about balance, fitness, independence, self-belief.
“We run nutrition and well-being courses as well.
“What we’ve created is really special. I wouldn’t change my life or what has happened in it.”
There is no competitive adaptive boxing in this county but Luiz believes it could happen in the future.
“I am working alongside England Boxing to make the sport more accessible and to find a pathway to some form of competitive adaptive boxing in the future.
“It obviously needs to be safe and specific for each ability.
“At the moment, there just isn’t enough research into that.
“I would love to see funding to help England Boxing in that journey.
“People message me all the time saying: ‘can I fight? can I fight?’
“I tell them it’s not really about that.
“There might be competitive adaptive boxing in the future but it will take many years of patience.”
Luiz has been nominated in the Unsung Hero category in the Variety Disability Sports Awards.
“I am a bit embarrassed by it and it’s quite surreal.
“The title is unsung hero and I don’t feel like either of those things.
“I feel very appreciated in my community and it’s my mission and a privilege.
“But the nomination is really special for the community.
“We’re so small and unheard-of.
“Every little light shone on us could show someone else how they can change their life.”
For more information, please contact: info@kronikwarrioruk.org.
