Inspirational Nottingham youth group film seeking to fix 'fragmented community'

The leader of a Nottingham youth group that supports hundreds of children and young adults hopes a new inspirational film will help repair "fragmented" parts of the community. Ben Rosser runs the Pythian Club, a youth organisation based in Basford that says it looks to empower young people through boxing, football, music, mentoring and leadership in a bid to stop younger generations making bad life choices.

The group has previously led campaigns to end knife violence, tackle anti-social behaviour and put respect back onto the streets. Now, they are creating a new film showcasing inspirational stories within the community, with a particular focus on how football can help turn people's lives around.

"It's presenting stories of people in our communities who lead a positive life despite trials and tribulations they faced," said Mr Rosser. "We want to show with hard work and a plan you can achieve great things. Especially when young people are getting lost and confused."

In the light of protests and counter-protests across the country following tensions that emerged from the stabbings in Southport earlier this year, Mr Rosser said he wanted to "show a positive stance". He said: "On the back of the protests in Nottingham it highlighted some of the community is fragmented. A unified approach needs to be presented.

"It's not necessarily following on from the protests but through young people's eyes we want to share young people's stories." The Pythian Club was founded in 2014 and is based at the Heathfield Community Centre where it offers sports activities, educational initiatives and mentoring to young people with an aim to reduce youth violence across the city.

Settings for the new film include Nottingham Forest's stadium, with the group given permission to film outside and inside the City Ground. Speaking outside the stadium, 23-year-old Vanish Moxie Trivedi, who is part of the film said: "We speak about young people in the UK who get involved in gangs and crime and how to improve this.

"[The film] speaks about how they can express themselves and how football can get them out of these things. Since I was small I was focused on football.

"I used to see young people get involved in bad things but I always kept myself away from these things. You see people who get involved with drugs and knife crime and there is no-one to guide them.

Like Vanish, 19-year-old Amine Jied got involved with Pythian through playing football at the Forest Recreation Ground. Recalling the moment, which came shortly after moving from Milan, he said: "I saw Ben [Rosser] running a session at Forest Rec. I couldn't understand much but he handed me a bib and told me I could play.

"It was a shock for me, playing football for free. Ever since then he's been looking after me, getting me football trials and opportunities."

Amine now works with the group to help tackle knife crime and violence among young people. "We speak to young adults and kids that lack confidence to make knew friends and play football.

"Everyone is welcome, we don't have an age limit. Here in Nottingham we have quite a variety of cultures and mixtures," he said.