Community Partners

Eastside Boxing Club: After-School Boxing Program

NICCSS- Vancouver Roving Leaders Program – http://www.niccss.ca/progams-amp-workshops/vancouver-roving-leaders
The Vancouver Roving Leaders Program is a flexible, community-based initiative that connects and engages vulnerable, at-risk children & youth in the Grandview-Woodlands, Hastings-Sunrise, Renfrew-Collingwood and Downtown Eastside neighbourhoods.

GOOD FOOD FOR ALL – http://goodfoodforall.org/
Good Food for All seeks to increase access, interest, and knowledge of healthy and nutritious food to improve healthy food security, empower individuals to make healthier food choices, and develop a culture of “good food” in communities, schools, and homes

How We Help:
Eastside Boxing runs a free after school boxing program 3 times a week. Head coach Dave Shuck and other ESB boxer mentors facilitate this program. ESB works with NICCSS case workers to help introduce youth participants to exercise and a variety of life skills through mentorship and relationship building.

As of December 2016, the Eastside Boxing Club Youth Program has supported 100 youth aged 10-20 who predominantly live and/or spend time in the DTES/East Vancouver area. Of this 81 youth, 43 have maintained consistency within the program.

Highlights of the Eastside’s After-school Boxing program include:

• Fitness: Free non-contact boxing classes five-times per week that provide a safe space for participants to exercise and learn basic boxing skills under the guidance of professional coaches and mentors. These classes focus on fitness and foundational technique.
• Food: Youth are provided with pre- and post-workout nutrition. ESB also offers a food pantry from which the youth can pick any item(s) they want to take home. This is fully accessible throughout the week. All food and drinks are provided through the Punch N Munch program created in partnership with Good Food for All.
• Clothing: Boxing gear and ESB branded clothing are provided through an incentive based scale for the participating youth. Hand wraps, water bottles, shirts, sweaters, mouth guards, etc. are provided throughout the progression chart designed by ESB staff. In addition, ESB openly accepts donations of new and used fitness and lifestyle clothing to provide directly to youth participating in the program.
• Support: ESB partners directly with community outreach workers through the Network of Inner City Community Services Society (NICCSS) to ensure that youth are provided with direct access to additional resources in the community. Skills learned through this program are transferable to many areas in the participants’ lives. By providing a safe space for individuals to engage in meaningful conversations and coaching that focuses on both physical and emotional wellness. ESB plans to build positive relationships between mentee and mentor which will lead to the development of healthier lifestyles.
• Health Care: Health care practitioners attend the after school program bi-weekly on Wednesdays. This gives the opportunity for youth to discuss their physical health and build relationships with health care professionals.

Eastside Boxing Club: Young Adults Boxing Class

Participating Organizations
Participants are recruited in one of two ways, (1) through referrals of participating organizations e.g. NICCSS; Covenant house; Inner City Youth (ICY) Program. (2) drop-in youth who hear about the program from current ESB members or friends who are participating in the program.

When:
Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:30-5pm.

Why:
This particular program was developed to provide quality recreational boxing & fitness training, as well as to provide nutritional snacks for young adults in the Downtown Eastside and East Vancouver neighbourhoods. The population recruited for this program are youth who would otherwise have difficulty accessing quality boxing or fitness training due to socio-economic status.

The recreational boxing program aims to give youth the opportunity to participate in constructive physical activities. Research suggests that participation in fitness programs can make a positive difference in the lives of youth.

The Young Adults program was developed after a gap in resources was recognized by ESB staff and youth workers. When the after-school program that is offered to ‘at-risk’ youth started to see an increase in attendance of young adults, ESB developed a similar program with a focus on marginally housed youth who struggle with mental health and/or addictions between the ages of 20-30.

Eastside Boxing Club: Self-Defence Class

Who:
All women, female-identified, and all members of LGBTTQQ2S. Eastside provides free self-defence classes twice a month to women, female-identified and all members of LGBTTQQ2S living in or around East Vancouver.

When:
Wednesdays from 8:00 – 9:30.

Partner:
As there were a number of violent attacks against women in our community in 2015 and 2016, Eastside Boxing Club has partnered with Black Lab Vancouver and Unfastened to provide self-defence classes to self-identified women and all members of LGBTTQQ2S in and around East Vancouver.

Services offered:
Instructors include Eastside Boxing Club’s head coach, Dave Schuck, and Judo instructor Abdul Fádel. The focus of the class is to teach the participants how to effectively protect themselves from an attacker by teaching them how to utilize their attacker’s force and weight against them as a form of self-defence. The techniques that are primarily taught originate from Judo. Judo literally stands for “gentle way”. It translates to this as judo does not require sheer strength or power to execute. Instead, judo teaches people how to use their mind and body to counteract the force and weight of their opponent, which is exactly what we teach the women’s self-defence class. This skill is especially important, as an attacker will almost always be heavier than their victim. Judo also teaches participants how to properly use their leverage points to protect themselves from being taken down, and how to effectively take down their attacker.