Boxing to Help Others

Box Like a Champion Today (BLACT) is an exciting new aspect of the Play Like A Champion Today(TM): Sports as a ministry program as well as Notre Dame Boxing. Working alongside both the Men’s and Women’s Club boxing teams the purpose of BLACT is to organize the local impact arm of Notre Dame boxing. I felt it would be important to integrate both of the club’s charitable purposes within the surrounding community.
Starting in November, I along with Chris LaCosta and Kieran Bulger have volunteered at the South Bend Police Boxing Club. The SBPD Club was founded by Chief Boykins in order to try to prevent kids from joining gangs as well as for them to take advantage of everything the sport of boxing has to offer. The club is free of charge, partly thanks to the donations we have provided. Boxing is an appealing method to teach kids everything from work ethic to proper nutrition. With the help of the other volunteers I also began implementing a tutoring program at the club. This club is run by the Chief of Police assisted by Officer Scherer. On top of the Police presence the club also has Rod Parchman hired as an expert coach and Cody Yazzie as an expert trainer too. After months of observation, practicing, coaching, mentoring, tutoring, and of course boxing we’re finally ready to take the next step and really bring sustainable impact for the club. The fundraiser on 4/30/10 @ 5:00pm, hopefully in the JACC, will be in an effort to raise money for the club in order to buy mirrors for the clubs walls as well as mounts for the heavy bags (hopefully some other equipment as well). We hope to continue to utilize our creativity, education, and ability to continue to support the club in any way possible.
Our second club of our expanding list is the Chicago Youth Boxing Club, located on the Southside of Chicago. Robert Ramos, a former gang member, who wanted to provide kids an alternative to the devastatingly violent life of “gangbanging”, founded this club. Located on the boundary line between two warring/rival factions the club serves as a beacon of hope in a rather dangerous neighborhood. Although very different from the SBPD club, this club is equally beneficial and has a lot of members. The club serves as a connector between the youth of different races who wouldn’t otherwise come into contact with each other because of the racial emphasis in gang culture. This club currently charges $15 a month in order to cover its costs. We plan on implementing various sustainable business practices as well as help coach, mentor and train everyone involved at the club.
Furthermore after speaking both to Chief Boykins and Robert Ramos it seems that creating a relationship between the two clubs would be mutually beneficial. Although located about 2 hours away from each other, the future prospect of charity boxing exhibitions between the two clubs is definitely not out of the question. On top of that the ability to exchange methodologies between the two clubs will be invaluable. Already I’m implementing things at both clubs, which I learned at the other. It will be very exciting to see how this relationship pans out.
In an effort to raise money for both of these clubs, I personally also began my own charitable entity called “Team Carnevale”. Most professional boxing fights are marketed as one on one test of skill, strength, and agility. Using this concept I, along with Bengal Bout champion Greg Bennett, agreed to market our fight in Bengal Bouts next year in this manner. This is in order to raise money for our separate causes. Greg plans on using the publicity for our fight to raise money for the Holy Cross Missions in Bangladesh (where the money for Bengal Bouts goes). This will allow Greg to go above and beyond the minimum donation amount and hopefully continue the club’s legacy of consistently increasing its annual donation. I on the other hand created my own unofficial entity called “Team Carnevale” whose purpose is to raise as much money as possible for both the South Bend Police Boxing Club, the Chicago Youth Boxing Club and various other causes (for instance the upcoming Relay for Life received a donation through the collections at Rolfs). Team Carnevale will actually be making its first significant donation to the CYBC next week. Furthermore I plan on trying to raise about a $1000 through t-shirt sales for Team Carnevale (which can then be worn at the big fight).
Tom Carnevale
Notre Dame, 2012