Funky Lab Social Café and the Namibian Police Boxing Club and Fitness collaborated on an exhibition boxing tournament last weekend.
“People think a bar is for selling alcohol that’s why we came to the owner and had an idea of giving back to the community and see how we can help each other,” said Chief Inspector Kenneth Mwatara and Head of Sport and Recreation.
“We can take those kids from the streets and bring them together and host the event. The money that was generated will be used to buy shoes, gloves, socks and many other needed equipment by the boxers,” said Mwatara, further saying the likes of Paulus Ambunda and Jeremiah Nakathila all went through the club.
He said it was important for the club to come together and venture on particular projects that do not involve alcohol. “We have a lot of boxers on the national level that goes through this.
Let’s join in building the nation because the owner of Funky Lab just employed three of these boxers,” he said.
Owner of Funky Lab Social Cafe, Thomas Nakashole said the café is a reunion. “The first place we started going to was Funky Lab while growing up. Now we ventured with Nampol for entertaining purposes.
Entertainment doesn’t not only through dancing but also sport,” stated Nakashole.
He said sport is also entertainment.
“I asked myself what I can align myself with and it hit me that I have always been a lover of boxing so let’s come up with the first club tournament where we are trying to build champions out of a club. Imagine a world champion saying his first real fight was at Funky Lab,” said the over enthusiastic Nakashole.
He said it’s not merely about boxing but taking the youth of the streets through entertainment.
“We want to create an atmosphere of confident and hopeful people who will believe they don’t necessarily have to go gym, train and wait for a title. Now there is an opportunity for them to get to the gym and become a boxer because Funky Lab has come up with something that will groom potential boxers,” he stated.
He urged women to join the circus. “Women must take out this idea that boxing and fighting are for men.
It’s a sport and sport doesn’t define gender. Whatever you are good at, whether it’s punching and kicking, why don’t you join? I want more women to join because it’s for their own good as far as self defence is concerned, so this might come in handy,” he believed. John Anthon of Funky Lab Social Café is proud to be associated with such a course.
“It’s a bit unorthodox if you think about it, usually boxing events are not held at such establishments but when we go through it, it made a lot of sense, it’s right up our alley, it’s entertainment, and it’s youth. These are things that run parallel,” he stated.
He admitted it was the best way to give back to the community.
– psiririka@nepc.com.na