The Tulsa Boxing Gym is a safe place for teens after school

TULSA, OKLAHOMA. — “I always thought I wanted to fight, so I always finished the fight,” said Samuel Rosales. I was on the wrong track. I was basically a hothead. I would take everything hard. I wouldn’t communicate the way I wanted to. I was always getting into unnecessary trouble.”

Until a friend brought him to the HAC gym in East Tulsa. Thanks to the Home and Courage Athletics charity, he is learning to channel his love of fighting into amateur boxing.

“Samuel, when he first got here, he was a little confused,” said HAC co-owner Scotty Kramer. “Maybe there were some problems with the law and there really wasn’t the nuclear home life that a lot of kids need.”

Hope and Courage Athletics empowers at-risk youth through boxing and more.

“If, say, a kid in our local community doesn’t have a safe place to go after school, we allow them to come here,” Kramer said. “We’ll take the same kids who maybe don’t have the best home life or parents to take them to scrimmages, practices or games. We will go to their games, sit with them and show them that someone is proud of them. “

After two years in the boxing ring, Rosales’ flying fists are winning fights and possessing large trophy belts.

Gonzalo Parra told 2 News that he always loved boxing and even had a bag in his backyard, but he came to the gym shy and tense, wanting to find a way to release him and his anger.

“Whatever anger I have, I just take it out here in the gym,” he said. I don’t let that anger come out of other people. I let it all out here.”

“When they come here, they have expectations,” Kramer said. “If they agree with these expectations, they are welcome here. That’s right, you clean up after yourself. You respect the people around you. You work hard. You put in what they put in you, and that’s how we build community.”

A community that allows Parry to feel safe while developing her love of boxing.

And encouraged Rosales not only to finish school, but also to take extra classes and get a job while working toward his dream of one day becoming a professional boxer.

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