But the work he is most passionate about is helping other victims of bullying rediscover their confidence through self-defence and coaching. One person who has benefitted from Ricky’s support is 18-year-old Harrison, who was physically bullied for three years – until he met Ricky.
00:02
I had my clothes thrown in the shower once,
00:04
during PE, so I had to go home in wet clothes.
00:07
There was, like, physical bullying, people beating you up
00:11
and then getting your clothes thrown in the shower.
00:17
Nice.
00:21
Lovely.
00:22
Beautiful.
00:28
I worked for the UFC,
00:29
so I worked with all the best martial artists in the world.
00:32
I run my own martial arts gym and fitness gym, but to be honest,
00:35
most of the stuff we do, for me,
00:37
is all about the anti-bullying and making people confident.
00:40
Good!
00:43
Ricky’s always been there, as in, you can call him up whenever,
00:47
no matter what it’s for, how silly it is.
00:50
He’ll always answer the phone. He’s always there for you.
00:53
What the kids really buy into more is vulnerability.
00:57
Me, I’m really vulnerable.
00:59
I’m OK with saying it immediately.
01:01
So if I’m talking to kids or adults, I’m OK with telling my story.
01:05
Then you’ve got him.
01:09
I think I started getting bullied at roughly about eight or nine,
01:12
and it was just verbal bullying.
01:13
And then when I was about 11, 12, 13,
01:17
a guy used to come round every summer.
01:23
And…
01:28
He used to carry a knife and threatened to cut my neck.
01:31
So as soon as summer would come, I would go into myself a lot.
01:34
So when people talk to me about anxiety and depression,
01:37
I really get that.
01:40
Then I started doing martial arts a little bit,
01:42
like boxing and stuff, and I started fighting back
01:45
and then without realising, I became the bully.
01:47
As soon as anyone stared at me, I wanted to attack ’em
01:49
because I thought, “I can’t go through that again”.
01:52
To me, it felt like that was weakness.
01:54
Then I had to go through that stage and come out the other end
01:57
and realise I’d become what I used to be afraid of.
02:00
So that’s why it’s great now.
02:02
I can work with the kids, because I get it.
02:11
When people come and they’ve got an issue,
02:13
I can say, “We can help you” straight away,
02:15
but it has to start with the person helping themselves.
02:17
Leave me alone!
02:18
Nice. She’s done that before!
02:21
It’s not like,
02:22
“Oh, yeah, we’re going to make them tough so they can fight back”.
02:25
I want to make them tough enough so they can choose not to do that.
02:28
And every now and then, it might need more than that
02:31
and we’ll refer them on to specialists,
02:32
but it has to start with that first step, you know,
02:35
of them actually turning up.
02:38
Good.
02:39
When Ricky told me about how his life was
02:41
and you find out he was bullied too,
02:43
when someone’s gone through something
02:45
that you’ve been through as bad as it was,
02:47
it feels like you’re not alone.
02:50
Before I was coming here when I was 17,
02:52
I was going down the wrong path with the wrong things.
02:55
And now I look forward to MMA. It’s really fun.
02:59
It helps you get anger out in a different way
03:02
so that at the end of it, you’re much happier
03:04
and you feel like a better person and it’s just good for you.
03:11
He was super brave,
03:12
and I think he’s come on amazing and he should be proud of himself.
03:17
I think the main reason I do this
03:19
is seeing people change, and what it does for them.
03:22
They turn up in a certain way and a little while down the line,
03:25
they’re completely different people.
03:28
It’s a beautiful thing.
03:33
That’s it, use one of them. Perfect.
03:35
Nice. Nice.
03:39
Good, good, good.
03:41
Get behind him, nice.
—
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