Hudson Valley Parent

HVP January 2015

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28 Hudson Valley Parent ■ January 2015 and carefree. All that changes when the door opens and Coach Ray Rive- ra walks in. 'We came here to ght' Rivera is the owner and founder of the Newburgh Boxing Club, but even for those who don't know him, it's instantly clear who's in charge. With a wide barrel chest, arms like dock pilings and a steely-eyed gaze, he quiets the room down just by looking at it. Rivera then saunters over to three teens in street clothes who have been silently slouched in chairs for an hour, and locks eyes with the tallest one. "You come here looking to fi ght, man?" "Yeah, we came here to fi ght you." Somehow, the room gets even quieter. "Well, you better get more than the three of you down here if you want to fi ght me, man. You better get the whole heights down here." The two stare at each other for fi ve more seconds before the kid cracks, smiling. Then Rivera's face blossoms into an impossibly wide smile accompanied by the thunder of laughter. The whole club joins in, the music turns back up, and Rivera works the room, checking up on kids. A sense of normality returns, some- thing that's missing from the lives of many of the kids training here. Murder capital of New York For all of the hard-won progress Newburgh is continuing to make, the city still leads the state in homi- cides. (The unfl attering moniker of "The Murder Capital of New York," bestowed upon the city by New York magazine a few years ago, hasn't exactly helped matters either.) The odds are that Newburgh kids on the street will end up involved in gang violence sooner or later — either as a perpetrator or a victim of it. Rivera is trying to make sure that doesn't happen. Rivera grew up in the South Bronx and started boxing when he was just 9 years old. He loved the discipline, the hard work, the dedi- cation. The local boxing clubs held fi ghts every Saturday. It was fun. Now he's trying to give that same experience to the kids of Newburgh who don't have anywhere to go after school, and to keep them away from the temptations that come from hanging out on the corners outside. Discipline. Hard work. Dedication. But also a shot at something bigger. There are other afterschool pro- grams run by the city, some of which even offer boxing. But Rivera's club offers something the others don't. "The majority of the people running those programs don't really know what they're doing," he said. "And I'm religiously down with USA Box- ing so I don't like to bend the rules." The road to turning pro USA Boxing is the national governing body for Olympic-style amateur boxing, and Rivera wants club members to learn how boxing really works. If a kid shows promise, Rivera takes them down to New York City so they can fi ght in actual amateur tournaments. Which may lead to kids turning pro. Which may lead to big payouts, a thriving career, a better life. And, just maybe, the chance for Rivera to keep training NEWBURGH BOXING (Continued from Page 27) Coach Ray Rivera helps a young fi ghter prepare for the ring. The Newburgh Boxing Club offers the kids of Newburgh a place to go after school to keep them away from the temptations that come from hanging out on the corners outside. The odds are that Newburgh kids on the street will end up involved in gang violence sooner or later — either as a perpetrator or a victim of it. Rivera is trying to make sure that doesn't happen.

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