Carney's Community - the boxing charity using the Wimbledon championships to change young people's lives

Carney’s Community works in a different world to the Wimbledon Championships.

The boxing charity uses sport and a host of other activities to help at risk young people in Wandsworth.

Through the Wimbledon Foundation, Carney's Community has a programme that allows some of the youths they work with to get their first ever opportunities at employment at the All England Club. This year, 13 have been working at the championships.

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"It's quite a surreal moment for a quite a few of the young people," George Turner, the co-founder and manager of Carney's Community, told Sky Sports.

"It shows them that people believe in them and it shows them that if they're willing to turn up on time and do the work then they're able to go over and above whatever expectations they might have had beforehand.

"We've seen them grow in so many ways. It is quite life changing. It sounds dramatic but it really is. Your first opportunity at work where many have been turned down by other places, many have sadly been told in the past that they're not going to amount to anything.

"To have an organisation like Wimbledon believe in them, give them that opportunity and let them flourish, it really is life changing."

It's hard for young people to get work, even more so for those with troubled backgrounds.

"Over the last few years we've realised that with some of the young people that we're working with, particularly those that have been impacted by gun and knife crime, those who have got criminal records, those who might have special educational needs, it's a real challenge to find anywhere that will give them their first job and their first offer of employment," Turner explained.

"Immediately the barriers go up. However what we've found is Wimbledon have taken on everyone that we've referred over and some of those people are people who've been involved in the criminal justice system.

"When they go for jobs elsewhere after they've finished at Wimbledon, the criminal record might be seen as a bit of a barrier but then a reference from Wimbledon tennis is a massive thing that can change that.

"We've seen the vast majority of people that have done the work at Wimbledon have then gone on to other work, employment opportunities as well which they more than likely wouldn't have got had they not had their foot on the ladder with Wimbledon.

"And what a place to have your first foot on the employment ladder."

Carney's Community was founded to continue the legacy of legendary Fitzroy Lodge amateur boxing coach Mick Carney. It uses boxing and mentoring to help disadvantaged young people build confidence and discipline.

"When you walk in that boxing gym everyone's the same. It doesn't matter what your background is, where you come from, no one's treated differently," Turner said. "It can bond any social divides that might be happening.

"I think sport is so essential. Especially when we're living in a world where so much is done virtually."

He continued: "It teaches you how to manage your emotions. It teaches that it's understandable that there is aggression, there is things like that, but you have to be in control of that. The message we're always teaching is you have to be in control of your emotions rather than your emotions being in control of you.

"Then other life lesson, we always say in boxing you either get a win or you get a learn," he added. "It's only a loss if you've not learned anything from it.

"That's a really good way of looking at life in general."