'Without boxing club I'd be in prison or dead'

Chris Rodrigues has been boxing at Jersey Leonis for eight years

A boxer has said he would be “in prison or dead” if it was not for Jersey's amateur boxing club.

Chris Rodrigues, 31, said he started struggling with drinking and prescription drugs when he was 18 and two years later he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

When he turned 23, he joined Jersey Leonis to improve his physical health and mental wellbeing and said it helped to grow his confidence.

Mr Rodrigues has called for the club, which he says helped him, to receive more financial support so it can continue to help others.

Mr Rodrigues said the sport had changed his life and has helped many people like him

Mr Rodrigues said he was struggling with life before he joined the club and he realised he "needed something to change”.

"In all honestly I think I'd probably be in prison or dead if it wasn't for boxing as I was trying to escape my problems through alcohol or prescription drugs and it was getting to me a lot."

He added: “My close friend, Tom Frame, used to box for Jersey Leonis and he was here all the time and I knew it changed his life and pushed him forward so I knew it was the perfect thing to get into."

Since taking up boxing, Mr Rodrigues has represented the club at competitions and found more self-confidence outside the ring.

“I work in an office and I manage 32 people... [boxing] really helped me deal with some difficult situations like presenting and hard conversations," he said.

Tom Frame has represented Jersey at the Commonwealth Games in boxing

Mr Frame has seen how much Mr Rodrigues has changed since he started boxing.

“I’m really proud of him because he is living proof that you can completely change your life around if you put the effort and the work in,” he said.

The pair have called for more funding for Jersey Leonis to ensure it can replace aging equipment and improve facilities.

Jersey Leonis' junior training sessions are attended by dozens of youngsters from different backgrounds

President of the club Richard Langlois said the gym “hasn’t changed a lot” since it was set up more than 70 years ago and maintaining equipment and facilities “is down to funding, it costs money”.

He added: “We're all volunteers, none of us make any money out of this and we do it because we love the sport and what it gave us when we were young.”

He said to make sure that support continues “it needs investment” and “that's why we are registered as a charity”.

Elliott Powell, from Jersey Sport which provides grants to help people stay active, organisation, said it had recently launched a fund and programme that will distribute £150,000 directly into sports organisation.

"We are committed to helping the sporting community to access funding to continuously develop their offering and ensure the sustainability of their pathways," he said.

Mr Powell also said Jersey Sport is "actively looking to grow" its funding operations in the next round of funding which opens next year.