GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) -A boxing club that started as one father\u2019s search for a place to train his 13-year-old has grown into a gym where coaches and young fighters say the sport is helping them far beyond the ring.<\/p>\n
David Johnson founded the Grand Valley Boxing Club about three months ago because he didn\u2019t have a place for his son to train. Johnson found a couple of local coaches and asked them to start training his son. It evolved into the boxing club.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then David actually came up to me one day in the gym when I was training at Planet Fitness. And he was looking for someone to train his kid,\u201d said Roman Ramos, a coach at Grand Valley Boxing Club. \u201cDays go by, we start training them… Kids are doing great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ramos said he saw the inspiration and the light he could give to someone teaching boxing.<\/p>\n
Building discipline and confidence<\/p>\n
Xavier Wandell-Lincoln, a boxing club member, said he comes to the gym most days not wanting to do it, feeling tired after working 10 hours or not feeling right.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut by the time six o\u2019clock hits and practice is no longer going, I want to keep going,\u201d Wandell-Lincoln said.<\/p>\n
Wandell-Lincoln started boxing around his freshman year and got his first fights in the Golden Gloves. He won both fights.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst fight, came in very nervous. But once I won it, you know, I felt amazing. It\u2019s a feeling I can\u2019t really explain,\u201d Wandell-Lincoln said. <\/p>\n
Johnson said everyone at the club has gotten better physically, skill-wise and developmentally as a person. <\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely self-confidence. I\u2019d say I definitely walk different, I definitely talk different,\u201d Wandell-Lincoln said. \u201cAnd, overall, I just, I feel like I\u2019m a better person, too, when it comes to my family, my spouse, and just how I perceive life. I mean, yeah, I know how to fight, but it\u2019s honestly made me more respectful, more understanding of others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wandell-Lincoln said boxing has helped him through a lot of bad things in life and could change someone\u2019s lifestyle completely.<\/p>\n
\u201cI promise you, if you commit to it, you will become a better person,\u201d Wandell-Lincoln said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, don\u2019t be scared to try it, and who knows, maybe you\u2019ll end up loving it at the end,\u201d Ramos said.<\/p>\n