Santa Monica Youth Boxing Showcase

Story

In 2024, I was working with at-promise youth at Virginia Ave. Park in Santa Monica, CA. The park has a boxing gym where police officers from the city come and help train the youth. Obviously there’s going to be some youth who pick up the sport better than others. That’s okay, it’s the opportunity to become a boxer that matters. I would much rather see these foos in the gym than out in the streets. A couple of these youngsters got invited to participate in a Boxing Showcase at a nearby gym called Churchill Boxing Club.

I pulled up that day excited because I had never been to a live boxing event of any kind. The gym itself wasn’t huge but it was packed with people. I knew that I was there because of my job but I was also there because this was the perfect day to take pictures. I got to capture one of the fights and the last picture is of one of the youth signing his name on the gloves.

Boxing is my favorite sport so seeing all the training equipment took me back to High School. Back when I started watching fights on Youtube and wanting to train myself. I wish I had an opportunity like this back then. I would have jumped on it immediately. I did a whole project about boxing my Freshman year. I even wrote a song called “12 Rounds” where I was imagining myself training and being in a fight. I give props to these youngins for taking a chance and following their dreams.

(2024)

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