Recently, we visited Canal Street Gym. Canal Street Gym is located in a large, clean, well kept space of an old Lawrence Mill located at 250 Canal Street.
At the gym, we watched around 30 young men of all ages exercising, mainly practicing the sport of boxing, under the watch of Coach Jose Bugzy Martinez and trainer Tony Pelletier.
We enjoyed seeing the devotion of these young men, coming to the gym every evening to practice, to improve their style and maybe, someday, see realized their dreams of becoming a professional boxer.
We were particularly impressed by the discipline prevailing in the space and that brought to mind the days when gyms at several schools were open under the direction of Frank Benjamin, better known as Mr. B where his army of kids of all ages came together, in the evenings to have a good time, play sports especially basket ball while receiving discipline, so much needed these days.
The program was sponsored by the Lawrence Police Athletic League and grants from the Justice Department as well as C.D.B.G. from HUD and sadly it was eliminated by the lack of funds.
These youngsters demonstrate that when given the opportunity, they take advantage of them. They want to keep busy and learn new skills.
Let’s give them choices!
