James Ihaka reports from Kawerau in the fourth of a five-part series on communities that are trying to rescue our young from gangs.
In a dark basement below the main stage of Kawerau's town hall, a bunch of teenagers are on punching bags.
The air is heavy with the smells of liniment, leather and old sweat, and the walls carry pictures of the boxing greats - Ali, Frazier and Pacquiao.
It's here trainer Warwick Godfrey's Te Wananga o Aotearoa ki Kawerau sports students pay their dues in sweat and brutal training sessions.
Over 36 weeks, they will learn life skills he hopes will keep them motivated, out of gangs and in work.
The programme is helping to instil purpose and discipline for his pupils, many of whom are second-chance learners with backgrounds of unemployment, gang membership or prison.
Some are solo parents and survivors of drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence. Others have joined just to lose weight.
"Boxing is a sport well known for instilling discipline, self-esteem and building character," Mr Godfrey says.
"You get knocked down and you get up again and these people learn what's applicable from the ring and apply that to their life skills."
When his students aren't sweating it out in the boxing ring, they're often engaged with their community, organising athletic days, running physical activity sessions to promote anti-bullying programmes, even rest-home games for the elderly.
They are also involved in organising local fight nights raising money for anti-violence charities and doing everything from the marketing and ticketing to security and the books.
Mr Godfrey's background as a former Mongrel Mob member helps him to relate to his students, nearly all of whom have some kind of affiliation with the gang through whanau.
Small in stature and softly spoken, he began boxing while at Kawerau College, picking up several prizes including a national golden gloves title in the 1980s.
Life was good, but he said his adopted family were not able to give him "a sense of identity".
He found it with the Mongrel Mob.
"I went there for the camaraderie and the brotherhood, those sorts of things. I thought it was a good thing at the time.
His new brotherhood came at a cost, though - Mr Godfrey got "quite heavily" into drugs and hung his gloves up for several years.
He's loath to go into the details of why he quit the gang in the mid 1990s, but said his children - two of whom have graduated from university with degrees in law and psychology and anthropology - were a big part.
One of his students who is thankful Mr Godfrey quit the gang and began the programme is Dale Tipene.
The Te Teko 18-year-old fell into drugs and alcohol while studying in Turangi. He came to Mr Godfrey for discipline and a sense of direction.
"It's keeping me active and getting me out there. I was 115 kilograms, quite a big fella, when I started; now I'm 95kg."
Mr Godfrey admits the programme is not a silver bullet for the town, where unemployment is at 13.6 per cent and working at the Norske Skog pulp and paper mill is no longer a rite of passage.
"The reality is that probably 80 to 90 per cent [of his pupils] aren't going to work in the fitness industry. They're really on this programme for their own personal development," he says.
"But at least they're getting up in the morning and they're fit and healthy. A lot of these guys weren't getting out of bed until 12 o'clock or they'd play spacies until 3am, then sleep during the day."
Senior Sergeant Mark Van Der Kley of Kawerau police said the course was "bloody good" in terms of getting kids motivated and engaging positively with their community.
But he believed it needed a follow-up, with jobs or further study for more substantial long-term outcomes.
Kawerau Mayor Malcolm Campbell said Mr Godfrey had filled a void as a male role model for many of the young men who have undertaken the course.
He said the town was working with Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau and Ngati Awa to develop more options for students.
THE SERIES
Monday: Otara.
- Veteran youth worker never gives up
- Sport takes sting out of Killer Beez
- Social investment pays off in peace on streets
Tuesday: Ihumatao (Mangere).
- Village blooms as kids steered away from crime
Wednesday: Manurewa/Clendon.
- League building girls' trust
Thursday: Kawerau.
- Fighting for a better future
Friday: Kaiti (Gisborne).
- Growing sense of pride erodes mob's influence
