STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — There will be shiny new treadmills, bicycles and weight-training equipment, but when the new NYC Cops & Kids Fitness Center opens next week at the Berry Homes in Dongan Hills, Staten Island’s youth stand to gain more than just physical strength.
A commitment to fitness, whether it is sought to compete in sports or not, gives teens the power to resist the call of the street and stay on the right track, said Pat Russo, a retired police sergeant and founder of the free NYC Cops & Kids Boxing program, which is expanding its Richmond Road facility to include general fitness opportunities for kids ages 12 to 21 at no cost.
A RISING BOXER
The original facility is where 17-year-old Anthony Laieta of Dongan Hills trains as a boxer, and after months of hard work he won the NYC Ring Masters in the 132-pound weight division this past spring.
Laieta, a recent graduate of New Dorp High School, has been boxing since he was in seventh grade. He spent much of his final year of high school training for the NYC Ring Masters Tournament, formerly known as the Golden Gloves.
“I think it affected my life for the better,” Laieta told the Advance/SILive.com in an interview about his training. “And I’ve gotten in a lot better shape than I was in past years. And I always, you know, look forward to something when I’m working out, training.”
A NEW OPPORTUNITY
The public is invited to the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, Aug. 3, at 2 p.m. to celebrate the expansion of the boxing gym to include a general fitness center, located at 1754 Richmond Rd. And it will be a day to recognize the success of the existing youth boxing program, which also has locations in the Park Hill Apartments and in Brooklyn, and look to its future growth, Russo said.
The eight-year-old Dongan Hills boxing program attracts about 200 participants, he said, with 40 to 50 showing up daily. The goals of the program are simple, he said: “We need to distract these kids from abhorrent behavior. We need to mentor these kids and put them on the right track.’’
With help of the New York City Housing Authority, which provided the rent-free space at the encouragement of Assemblyman Michael Cusick, and several non-profit and corporate donors, renovations on the existing boxing facility began about six months ago.
The free boxing program sprouted after community policing initiatives revealed a need for a program to distract young people from drugs and gangs. It keeps humming, thanks to three NYPD volunteer coaches and additional volunteers, Russo said.
The program has done so much more than form a boxing team, he said, noting that many of the participants have gone on to become police officers.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
“It’s recruitment,’’ he said. “It’s crime prevention. And it’s building a relationship between local at-risk youth and police officers.”
The free NYC Cops & Kids program also has an educational initiative component to it, Russo said.
“Any kid that gets a 90 average on a report card gets a $50 bill from a cop,’’ he said. Additionally, the high schooler in the program with the highest average at the end of each school year is awarded a $1,000 check from the NYPD Boxing Team, he explained.
The planning of the ribbon-cutting ceremony was a lot of work, Russo admitted. But it was necessary to highlight the good the program has done and will continue to do, he said.
‘GOOD KIDS’
“We need to advertise the good kids in the neighborhood who are doing the right thing,’’ he said.
The program, including the construction of the new gym, is funded by the NYPD Boxing Team and sponsors, including: Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC); Dana Ford; the New York Giants; National Grid; the city Department of Corrections; the FDNY, and The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers foundation, among others.
“You talk to any football player, and they’ll tell you that if they didn’t have football in their life, they’d have been in the streets,’’ Russo said. “Boxing is a carrot on a stick to attract these kids and keep them off the street. Not every kid wants to box, but they all want to be physically fit and work out, and they all want to be part of a positive program.”
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new facility is scheduled for Aug. 3. (Courtesy of NYC Cops and Kids)