INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Inside the gym at Vegas Boxing Club on Lafayette Road, the gloves are up and so are the aspirations for youth in a Saturday program run by the non-profit New B.O.Y.<\/p>\n
Led by founder Kareem Hines, New B.O.Y. (short for New Breed of Youth) has been operating since 2006 and is dedicated to cultivating and empowering youth through programs, activities and relationship building. <\/p>\n
WATCH FULL STORY BELOW<\/p>\n
Mentorship boxing program aims to change young lives in Indianapolis<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really made me think about life in a better state,\u201d said participant Nykeahme Anderson. \u201cBefore this, I didn\u2019t really see myself going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hines describes the program as not just boxing, but mentorship, self-development and discipline. <\/p>\n
New B.O.Y. serves system-involved youth boys ages roughly six to 18 who may be on juvenile probation, referred from the Indiana Department of Child Services, or drawn from the community. <\/p>\n
The program emphasizes the mantra \u201cconnection before correction,\u201d providing martial arts, sports leagues, leader circles, dinner sessions and field trips to help participants grow in a supportive environment.<\/p>\n
One parent, single mother Shadonna Crittenden, brought her son and nephew to the gym. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are just older adults that may have went through something\u2026 they can impact him, like keep my son\u2019s life on the right track,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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WRTV<\/p>\n
This weekend marked the first boxing event of what will be many sessions at the gym. With the city facing a troubling climate of youth gun violence, Hines and his mentors are hopeful the program will offer a constructive alternative.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo much gun violence is going on right now \u2014 kids his age, kids younger, kids older,\u201d Crittenden said. \u201cThis gives them something different to look forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n
With more Saturday boxing sessions scheduled, Anderson says this is just the beginning. His message to others: \u201cYou\u2019ve got something you can aim for. Come here. It\u2019s more than boxing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Inside the gym at Vegas Boxing Club on Lafayette Road, the gloves are up and so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-271331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}