The Fighting Chance Scholarship Programme is BMABA’s flagship legacy initiative — a national movement aimed at tackling childhood poverty through the transformative power of martial arts.

For us, this isn’t just a project — it’s personal. Our founder and CEO, Giovanni, grew up in poverty. He knows firsthand the weight of food insecurity, housing stress, and the invisible burden of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). It’s this lived experience that fuels our mission: to ensure no child is excluded from martial arts because of their financial circumstances.

As members of the End Child Poverty Group, we stand with the thousands of organisations fighting to change a sobering reality — that 1 in 3 children in parts of the UK are growing up in poverty. It’s a crisis that shapes health, opportunity, and identity. Children raised in poverty are significantly more likely to experience poor mental health, physical illness, exclusion from enrichment activities, and long-term disadvantage.

Our national survey supports this: those who grew up in poverty are disproportionately more likely to report struggles with mental wellbeing, isolation, and lack of access to sport. Yet many also credit martial arts with offering structure, purpose, and healing.

That’s where Fighting Chance steps in.