Martial arts superstar championed Kirkby school children's mental health and wellbeing

Mixed martial arts fighter Paul Daley dropped by at the West Park Academy School, in Kirkby, to talk about his career.

The MMA Superstar and K-1 fighter champ known as Paul 'SEMTEX' Daley, has fought in organisations such as the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), Bellator and Strikeforce.

He regularly coaches children at his Nottingham training centre Spirit Dojo Legacy – Martial Arts and Fitness where he runs classes including K1/Thai boxing, MMA (mixed martial arts), freestyle wrestling, submission wrestling, and boxing.

Paul visited the school as part of his work to support the Active Minds initiative and also presented the children with their ‘Wellbeing Warrior’ certificates, part of a fitness programme they had been taking part in.

Active Minds is a community interest company which has been working with the academy since September. Its ‘Wellbeing Warrior’ scheme, which was run for the Year 5 and 6 children, was designed to promote mental and physical health and wellbeing to the youngsters.

The organisation focuses on the importance of talking and sharing, as well as being physically active.

During the programme, the children took part in activities such as boxing, kickboxing and fitness challenges to help manage their physical and mental health.

During the visit, Paul also shared the story of his career in a bid to help inspire the youngsters and also took part in a question and answer session. He also ran a training session for the children and presented graduation certificates.

Founder of Active Minds Graeme Wheatley, said: “This was an amazing end to a great term, we were extremely grateful to Paul for giving up his time and supporting the programme.

"The children loved his talk and asked lots of smart questions. Mental health still remains a challenging subject for many children, so we appreciate Paul’s help to support this critical message”

Active Minds is a non-profit organisation that supports participants with fitness and well-being activities to encourage and develop positive mental and physical health.

It runs a variety of programmes aimed at breaking down the stigma associated with mental health and provides opportunities for people to to learn and manage their mental and physical health.

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