A sports shop in Birkenhead has been set up to tackle drug gangs and help the long-term unemployed back into work.
Sports Traider has opened a store in the Wirral town’s Pyramids Shopping Centre, as part of a project supported by Merseyside Police.
The charity, which was set up in 2009 and now has 10 stores across the country, strives to help young people escape or avoid getting into criminal activity such as county lines drug gangs and give them the confidence to start a thriving career.
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The Birkenhead store has been opened with the support of Merseyside Police’s Project Medusa, which helps young people who may be facing challenges in their lives to get an opportunity.
Sports Traider has also opened a store in Bootle, as part of the same project.
Bily Jeffery, the Birkenhead store’s manager, said: “We want to help all kinds, people from disadvantaged communities, families, homeless people, victims of abuse.
“As team leaders, we help people to gain confidence and lift their spirits. It’s about listening and understanding, making a difference to their lives.
“We will have anyone, it could be the police who take people to us. Some just need a little guidance, a different way of life.”
So far, the Birkenhead store has employed two workers and has taken on a volunteer, who will soon get a paid role at the shop it is hoped.
Going forward, the store plans to work with more young people from the area and boost their life chances.
Lance Haggith, founder of Sports Traider and former unsung hero at the BBC Sports Personality Awards, said the charity hopes to give those including people who have challenges such as physical disabilities or poverty an opportunity through sport.
Mr Haggith said one of his missions is to get young people out of county lines gangs.
One of the ways he does this is by getting former offenders in their fifties and sixties to speak to young offenders and tell them how drug gangs operate and how they can threaten people’s families and use violence.
Martin Keech, Sports Traider’s chief operating officer, explained that stores such as the one in Birkenhead can act as a stepping stone where volunteers gain the skills they need to escape long-term unemployment or overcome challenges such as disability, material disadvantage and anxiety.
Mr Keech added: “We have worked with 40 ex-offenders since 2009 and only two have reoffended.
“We teach them the skills they need. We don’t put pressure on them, we give them an opportunity.”
He added that the charity currently has 10 stores across the country, with 25 paid staff and 60 volunteers, and that it works with agencies to get people into paid employment.
Sports Traider’s work is being supported by Merseyside Police.
Richie Jones, from Merseyside Police, said the store supports the police’s work to target county lines and the “criminal exploitation” of children and young people.
Mr Jones said that Project Medusa helps stop young people being drawn into crime through sport, saying the project helps those “on the cusp of exploitation” into voluntary work, leading into paid employment.
