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With every workout session, these are the values each
Sunnyvale Boxing Club member is reminded of. Written in their own words, the
definitions of these words hang on the wall where the boxers work on spar and conditioning as well as
where they warm up. The club is determined to create everyday leaders, not just
making boxing champions.
The program, led by Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety
detective Jose Ramirez, has always been
about reaching out to the youth of the area's. Now, after a four-year break,
it's back to doing just that.
Grand Re-opening
The club that was once housed in the Columbia Neighborhood
Center found a home at the new Gateway Neighborhood Center on May 19, behind
Trinity Church at 477 N. Mathilda Ave.
Boxers with age ranges from as young as 6 all the way up to
36 filled the newly renovated space for the grand reopening, where friends and
family got a first hand look of what the club provides: 2 boxing rings, more
than 6 different kinds of punching bags, boxing gloves, jump ropes, a homework
study space, a children's library, and snacks provided by the church are all
available.
Tom Greene of the Trinity Church elder board
stated:"This is the city, church, nonprofits and schools working together.
This is what it's all about.
This is what we wanted."
Three years in the making and nearly $1 million in retrofits
later, Trinity Church made the Gateway Neighborhood Center vision a reality.
The center will now be home to not only the Boxing Club but the Sunnyvale
Wrestling Club, Second Harvest food distribution for about 300 seniors and the
Mountain View Volleyball League Club--with room for more.
"Our eyes and ears are open to see what can happen
next," said Dan McClure of the Gateway Neighborhood Center board. "We
know that we are up to something here, and we want to see the parking lot full
seven days a week."
Fiery Coaches
One would expect only the best from the coach with a name
like Joe Fierce, who trained the boxing club's founder Jose Ramirez for the
Police Olympics. He is one of eight coaches to volunteer time at the club.
These coaches all volunteer their time, teaching young boxers
the basics and more experienced boxers sharper techniques.
Another protégé of Fierce's, Shawna Robertson, an Oracle
Fitness Center instructor, was training to be a boxer when she had planned on
becoming a member at Trinity Church. Then she heard about the program.
"I thought that's awesome; it was meant to be,"
Robertson said. "Kids can come away from this with a good sense of
community. It's not just about boxing skills but staying healthy and
academics."
If a children say they are struggling in school, coaches will
have them sit down and work on their homework to teach them about
accountability, she added. And if parents choose, they can sit on the sidelines
and watch as their children's skills grow.
One dad who is there every day, Antonio Hoyos of Sunnyvale,
watches sons Carlos and Bryan sharpen their skills individually and together.
"Since they've opened, they've done a good job,"
Hoyos said of the boxing club. "The kids do a lot of work, and the coaches
work one on one with the kids. It's great."
Creating Leaders
Leo Flores was in seventh grade when he decided to join the
boxing club at Columbia Neighborhood Center. Now a senior at Fremont High
School, the teen was thrilled to hear the program was back.
Flores admits that without a program to keep him busy, he
would have repeated some bad choices he has made in his past, such as cutting
school and not staying on top of his grades. It wasn't until his junior year in
high school, when his dad got sick, that he realized he needed to change. For six
months, Flores stayed at home to help his mom while she worked, and continued
his schoolwork through the New Star program at Fremont High.
"I was able to recover my credits and this year went
back to school, where I met Jesus Ramirez," Flores said.
Ramirez, named educator of the year at the annual Murphy
Awards, guided Flores to get back on track. He also informed the Lowell Slater
Richardson Foundation, a nonprofit foundation that awards college grants to
at-risk students, about his progress. As a result, Flores was awarded a
scholarship and will be attending National Hispanic University this fall.
"I hope to be a counselor for at-risk youth like
Jesus," Flores said. "He is really awesome. He helped me out a lot. I
owe him way too much. I see freshman now acting the way I did, and I just want
to shake them and tell them they're wasting a great opportunity. They need to
open their eyes and see they're messing up their future. I don't want them to
go through the same stuff I did."
In addition to helping Sunnyvale youth stay fit and on track
academically, the Sunnyvale Boxing Club aims to someday offer scholarships to
help pave the way so other kids can reach their dreams.
Ramirez explains that, "This is not only about boxing,
this is about building young leaders, and we have a lot of passionate people
here to do that. The first word we had was sacrifice, and as coaches we said we
sacrifice spending time away from our families to be here.
"Then we moved on to other words. Dedication,
discipline, desire--these are all what we hope to instill in these kids to be
champions inside and outside the ring."
With a new home and new group of eager young boxers, the
Sunnyvale Boxing Club is by no means down for the count.
The program costs $50 and is open year-round. Contact Jose
Ramirez at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or 408.730.7297.
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