SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — School is letting out for summer vacation, which means that a lot of kids are now looking for something to fill their time.
One local Syracuse boxing gym hopes to help with that.
USA Boxing Coach Joe Stray hopes to continue to help train as many people as he can.
But now that summer break is here, he is promoting his program to the younger crowd.
He has rolled out a new monthly pass at Primetime Boxing that allows kids to have more access to the gym during the summer.
Stray has been coaching for about 10 years and loves to see the progress that gym-goers make.
“It’s awesome to just notice sometimes from someone’s first day into their first month or their first year and how they’ve excelled. It’s a valuable thing,” Stray said.
He says he gets a lot out of being a coach.
“Passing on skillsets, sharing a sport, sharing values. Being boxing,” Stray said.
His members also notice how Stray takes pride in his work and how it affects them.
Sixteen year-old Aithan Cirmem says it’s only his third class with Stray and he loves it — boxing is his passion too. With summer vacation, he plans to be more consistent with the program,
“I’ll have a lot more time for it. And I heard there’s an event in September that I would love to go to,” Cirmem said.
He has already recommended Stray’s boxing gym membership to several of his friends who plan to join this summer.