City Kidz World 8/28/08: Trenton ‘Team Hope’ boxing feature
Trenton Boxing Team Brings Hope
August 28, 2008
By Aaron Bracy
TRENTON — Feelings of hopelessness are sometimes overwhelming for some of the people living in some areas of Trenton.
Hopelessness is in the vacant lots, boarded-up houses, glass-covered basketball courts and trash-strewn streets that fester in New Jersey’s capital city. And it’s on these streets where hope sadly too often masquerades as a life of inappropriate behaviors and choices.
In some places in Trenton, though, there is a shining light amid all of the despair, a place where children can escape from the dangerous streets, feel safe and reach for their dreams. Inside the Trenton Housing Authority building, children flock daily to an after-school boxing program that really is a “life” program more than a pugilist’s paradise.
Appropriately, it is called the “Team Hope Boxing Program.”
Started last September by Trenton boxing trainer James Downing and his nationally accomplished daughter, Sacred, the goal of Team Hope is to help children face the challenges of life in Trenton by learning the demanding skills of boxing in a safe haven that promotes not just athletic gain, but educational and personal growth as well.
“We teach them there’s a fight in the ring and a fight outside the ring,” said Sacred Downing, 23, a five-time national champion who is regarded as one of the top female boxers in the country. “The jab keeps people away in the ring and it can be used outside the ring, not physically, but keep the jab out there to keep (bad) people away from you.”
On a beautiful day in June, the kind that’s ripe for doing no good on the streets, Sacred Downing led 26 youngsters ages 5-18 (up to 70 show up on a daily basis) in an assortment of cardiovascular exercises and shadowboxing drills. Without a ring, there is no sparring in the program, which runs Monday-Friday, 4-6 p.m. The actual boxing is done on the weekends when James Downing piles youngsters into a van for trips to various tournaments around the region.
When Sacred is done putting the children through an hour and a half of grueling body work, James Downing moves them into the cafeteria where they gather in a circle as they do each day to discuss life. Sacred urges the children to take care of their bodies by not drinking soda and by soaking in a tub, and James asks everyone to rise from their chairs and hug one another while mouthing the words, “Everything’s going to be alright.”
It’s a beautiful scene.
“Boxing isn’t the purpose but it is the vehicle The Creator has given them to take them to the purpose,” James Downing said. “Here we can tap into their gifts and talents and turn that negative energy in a positive direction. A lot of our young people have given up and we have to work together to clean that up.”
The circle gives children a chance to share their problems with one another, and they feel comfortable doing it because they consider each other a family.
“For some of these kids, their only family is family that’s part of a gang,” James Downing said. “Many come from single-parent families or two-parent families where the parents are working around the clock and can’t give them quality time. In here, other people love them and are concerned about them, and we’re not asking them to steal or rob.”
That’s what brings Hector Davila, 15, there every day.
“It’s a positive place that encourages you, not like other places that will take you away or try to take you away,” Davila said. “It’s a comfortable place and you don’t have to be ashamed if you’re having trouble or worry that you’re not cool enough; there’s no stress.”
Davila said the program has helped him focus on his goal of joining law enforcement, while strengthening his resolve to resist the gang life that has gripped too many of his family and friends.
“I know what I’ve got to do and I’m going to do it,” he said. “I’m not going to repeat the bad, negative cycle. I want to get out there, I want to see over the fence and not be in the same place for too long.”
Like Davila, Aneisha Burgess, 15, has resisted the temptations of the street.
“Outside here it’s like a whole different world because people want to go against you,” she said. “But in here’s it’s like when you come to the gym it’s a second family.”
What the program has given Davila, Burgess and the others, in addition to firmer abs and stronger arms, is hope.
That’s what Team Hope is all about.
“Hope,” Sacred Downing said, “is faith that we are going to make it. ”
Contact Aaron Bracy at phillysportsbeat@gmail.com. Visit aaronswritingservice.com for information about his editing and writing services, and phillysportsbeat.com to read his blog on Philadelphia sports.
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