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Boxing, whether it’s the ultimate contact sport, ranks high among them.
So, how can Eric Groves run a low- to no-contact boxing program for young people during the COVID-19 pandemic?
“It’s easy – just hitting the bags and teaching the fundamentals of boxing,” Groves said.
Groves doesn’t put a premium on kids actually exchanging punches anyway. He says he discourages it.
“I know most kids don’t like that,” he said.
The youth program at Groves Boxing and Fitness Center on Scott Street runs from ages 8 to 17. About 20 kids are in the program, a number that has dropped a bit during the pandemic since the gym was closed for a few months.
But the low-contact method was the same before COVID-19 arrived.
Groves trains professionals, too. Adults who box at his gym include professional fighters Osumanu Adama and Mikey Dahlman.
The youth program is different.
Groves said he remembers the butterflies he felt in his stomach before a fight when he was young and wanted to be in the ring.
“I don’t want a kid to know that experience unless they want that,” Groves said. “They don’t have to worry about being a tougher guy. If they want to get into the ring, they’re going to have to beg me to do it.”
That’s so, said Alexis Hernandez, 14, of Crest Hill, who recently came back to the gym when he learned it was open again.
Hernandez was in the ring once.
“I asked him (Groves) to get in,” he said. “It was good. It was fun.”
The opportunity to punch someone, however, is not what brings him to the gym, Hernandez said.
“I make new friends here. You can make a lot of good friends,” he said. “Eric is a really nice guy.”
Hernandez runs, jumps rope and flips tires at the gym to get in shape.
It’s important to him to learn self-defense.
“One day you might need it. You don’t know,” he said.
The kids in his program aren’t looking for fights, Groves said. Many of them are more likely to be bullied than to be bullies,
“I’m building their confidence,” Groves said. “Boxing builds confidence. You learn the discipline of boxing.”
That includes throwing hundreds of punches when at the gym. Even if the punches aren’t thrown at another human being, the number is hundreds of times higher than what the average youth is throwing, and his pupils are learning how to defend themselves, Groves said.
They also get exercise they normally would not get. Some of the kids have done their first push-ups at his gym, Groves said.
Santiago Martinez, 14, of Lockport also is recently returned to Groves Boxing and Fitness Center, looking to get in shape again.
COVID-19, Martinez said, “made me gain weight a lot. I’ve been lazy. I’ve been lying down in bed and eating.”
Martinez was at the gym with his brother Paul Zavala, 14.
They’re not really couch potatoes at home.
“We box at home. He knocked me out,” Martinez said.
“He knocked me out and gave me a concussion,” Zavala said.
But they crave training, something they get at Groves’ gym.
“I like it here,” Zavala said. “The people are good. Even if I’m punching them, it’s brotherhood. It helps me stay fit.”
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