Ladislav Žiga, a Romani man born in Prague's Žižkov quarter, has dedicated himself to boxing since childhood. In Prague he was trained by the legendary Stanislav Tišer, also from the Romani community, who dedicated himself above all to helping children who were spending time on the street.
Today the 30-year-old Žiga lives in Gloucester, England. He decided to follow in his trainer's footsteps and build a boxing team for children there.
Today Žiga teaches the sport to 25 children from the Czech and Slovak community. He shares not just his experience from sports with them, but also his lessons from life.
"We box and I supervise their school performance. This endeavor is about integrating them into normal life and thereby suppressing crime," he told HateFree.cz, the website of the Czech Government's Hate Free Cultureproject.
Žiga grew up in Žižkov, a neighborhood of Prague known for its Romani community and working-class history. His older brother, Vladimír, brought him to boxing at a very early age.
