Swindon star Jerel Ifil opens new mentoring centre

Jerel Ifil played for Swindon Town from 2003 to 2009 and Danny Greenfield hails from a background in fitness and music.

Together, the pair founded mentoring centre Iprovefit eleven years ago with the ambition of helping the children and young adults of Swindon.

Iprovefit has moved locations in Swindon to Ganton Way. (Image: Newsquest)

“The aim is to try and engage more children to ensure they know their value. We want to provide for the kids who are struggling in some kind of way,” said 40-year-old Jerel.

33-year-old Danny added: “When you start to work with kids with complex needs, you realise that the privacy is needed to make sure they’re not overwhelmed by the public setting so the new location caters for that.”

The new facility located at 32A Ganton Way, opened on Monday, April 17, and comes equipped with a mentoring room where new clients start their journey.

Jerel and Danny moved into the new building earlier this month. (Image: Newsquest)

“This is where we discuss any barriers that they may have and how their day or week has been,” said Jerel.

“It is a non-confrontational area where they can get settled in as an icebreaker.”

Iprovefit covers everyone from the age of six years old to 25 with some older clients too and the reaction so far has been positive.

The mentoring room provides a calm place to talk and catch up. (Image: Newsquest)

“We’ve had some great responses with people surprised about how much space there is inside of here,” said Danny.

“We were previously based at the Swindome at Supermarine which was a smaller area so all the children that we had there have been transferred over to here and they all love it and prefer it.”

The focus at the new complex is on fitness and lifestyle with the building equipped with a gym area as well as a large section that can be used football, basketball and more.

The gym area provides access to lots of fitness equipment. (Image: Newsquest)

“What we know is that by being healthy and looking after ourselves in the right way, it has a benefit to the way we feel, which leads to better choice overall,” said Jerel.

Danny added: “Fitness can be an engaging tool to take kids away from a life of crime as they can let off steam and physically offload in various forms.”

Alongside the exercise area there is a quiet sensory room in which children can cool down and relax.

The sensory room is a relaxing and quiet area for members to cool down. (Image: Newsquest)

“If someone is getting a bit energetic, we can still pull them into a quiet space too,” said Jerel.

Iprovefit’s features do not stop there though as there is also a hand painted mural by Nathan Jacka on a wall by the football pitch as well as a music room.

The latter features various instruments including a guitar and drum set as well as a vocal booth for all the children’s musical needs.

“A young person can showcase their talent and learn to maintain discipline via music is like therapy,” said Danny.

The sports area features football and basketball nets as well as a painted mural by local artist Nathan Jacka. (Image: Newsquest)

“Music helps young people to express themselves so kids can use this space to help with learning and production of music.”

The pair aim to cover several different aspects of growth for the children attending.

“We want to promote healthy competition to ensure kids can win and lose but do both in the right way,” said Jerel.

“We want to help the community with the council and schools to hopefully reduce crime and risky behaviours as well as exclusions.”

The music room features access to a variety of instruments. (Image: Newsquest)

Danny added: “We live in Swindon ourselves so it makes sense that it isn’t just in this building but what is learnt transfers out onto the streets too.”

The cost varies from client to client with different packages depending on individual’s needs available.

Iprovefit usually opens from 9am until 6pm and to find out more and enquire further, you can visit their website here.