Trinity's Boxing Club Mentors Hartford Students

MADISON VAUGHN  ’21
STAFF WRITER
Established in 2012 by Oliver Lykken ’16, the Boxing Club started off in the Ferris Wrestling Room with just a few students getting together to box. In the past couple of years, this program has changed and grown immensely.
The Boxing Club at Trinity has formed a partnership with the Charter Oak Boxing Academy as of Fall 2015 and practices in COBA’s facility off campus today. Johnny Callas, who is referred to as “coach” by all the boxers, opened this gym with the goal of training inner-city Hartford kids in boxing as well as men-toring and tutoring them. Callus, with the help of government grants and donations, has finally completed an education room inside COBA with tables, laptops, printers, and touchscreen boards so that the kids have a safe space to work on academic assignments. Callus has turned to the Trinity Boxing Club to help in mentoring and educating the children.
COBA is currently setting up a tutoring/mento-ring program for 16 of the young Hartford boxers. They range in age from eight to eighteen. The goal for this tutoring program is not only to help the kids succeed in the classroom, but also to help them become more well-rounded and instill the values of determination, hard work, and consistency. The Boxing Club has reached out to students here at Trin-ity to come tutor the kids twice a week for one hour. COBA is excited to see how this new program will help the kids in their lives.
Boxing Club president Josephine Tannuzzo ’18 hopes that the tutoring program will mutually benefit Hartford and Trinity students. She believes the program to be valuable in a place like Hartford because of the negative stigma placed on the city. She hopes that this program will be able to prove to bridge the gap between the Hartford community and the campus.
“This is one of the best ways Trinity has integrated themselves into the Hartford Community,” Tannuzzo said. “It’s one of the most wonderful community service opportunities; there is nothing mor that the school offers right now; there is nothing more rewarding than working with these little kids.” This club is not just about boxing; it is about helping and being there for the kids at COBA as well. They treat the kids as if they are a part of the Trinity family. They get to watch these kids grow up and fig-ure out who they want to be and watch them succeed. “I have known one of the COBA kids, Isaiah, since he was 12. He’s now 15, and I feel like I have watched him grow up in the past couple of years,” Tannuzzo said. “It is so amazing to be part of an or-ganization where you can see these kids grow up and turn into wonderful people. It’s like having a group of little brothers and sisters.”
The club encourages anyone and everyone to come check it out; anyone is welcome to join the boxing family.