Youth Boxing in Syracuse

Boxing Gets Kids Off Streets

Central New York Gym Offers Teenagers a Refuge from Violence

By Anala Tuenge, NCC News

Syracuse-- March 28, 2008

Teenagers in Syracuse's run-down neighborhoods often get into trouble, but there is a place they can go that will give their life focus and direction. Coaches at the North Area Athletic Club's boxing gym have been reaching out and pulling kids in off the street for more than 50 years. It was and still is Ray Rinaldi's idea. "We don't make boxers out of these kids. We make good citizens out of them," Rinaldi said.


A Life-Changing Commitment


Ken Layton, a Liverpool High School junior, said he has become a better person since joining the club six months ago. "I'm more outgoing. I feel better about myself physically," Layton said.


Damien Rinaldi, Ray Rinaldi's grandson, is one of the head boxing coaches. He said the kids' commitment to the program extends beyond the gym. "Outside here, you can't go out and drink and smoke dope with your friends," Rinaldi said.



And it's not just about the boxing. Trainers here want to make sure students hit the books as hard as they hit the heavy bag. They're building three classrooms at the West Side gym, and they require the kids to bring in their report cards so they can monitor their academic progress.

"It's great to see the progress, especially in their grades and their attendance in school. Everything just seems to go up," Damien Rinaldi said.

A Success

Frankie Alagna is one of the program's success stories. He boxed in Ray Rinaldi's gym after serving time in a reform school ten years ago. With his new skills in the ring, Alagna joined the Army, boxed three years on the military team, and finally went to college. He said kids relate to him because he was one of them. "I know what they're coming from. I know what they're thinking. When they look at me, they see a reflection of themselves," Alagna said.

Alagna said the kids have an agressive nature, but he insists boxing doesn't encourage violence but rather shows t here is a time and a place to fight. "If someone on the street wants to fight them, they know it's the wrong place," Alagna said. "We've taught them the only time it's right to fight is in that ring."

Alagna hopes in the years ahead to pass down the lessons of this neighbhorhood gym to his three month old son, what has been for generations of young boxers a pathway off the streets and a chance at a bright future.