Manchester R.O.C.S. Brings Youth Boxing Back to Town

When the Manchester PAL had to close its boxing program at the old Broad Street Park several years ago due to flooding issues, there were some in town who felt that the youth of the community would be deprived of the opportunity to participate in a very valuable character building sport.

Two of those people, Kathleen Nicholas, a former member of the PAL’s board, and Paul Cichon, the former boxing director for the PAL, decided to do something about it and opened their own youth boxing club to fill the void.

Known as the Manchester Ring of Champions Society – or Manchester R.O.C.S. for short – the new non-profit, all volunteer gym located in a former warehouse at 52 Main St. opened its doors May 31; on a sweltering day in July recently it was already filled to the brim with eager young boxers.

“We knew that the boxing program was something that the kids of Manchester wanted, and we wanted to bring it back,” said Nicholas. “Paul’s been a coach for over 17 years, he has a way with the kids. And I had sort of the business knowhow so we decided, ‘let’s just do this and open it up.’”

For Cichon, who has been a boxing instructor for 18 years, including 16 through the PAL, teaching kids to box is not just about learning how to take and throw a punch.

“First I teach them to stay off the streets,” he said. “I teach them respect, and then we start to work on the boxing.”

Although Cichon has had a long and distinguished career coaching boxing in town – he was inducted into the Manchester Sports Hall of Fame in 2008 – he conceded that he has not always been able to help every at-risk youth that has walked through his doors over the years, no matter how much he wishes he could.

“That’s why it all starts with respect; that has to come first. So that even if they quit, at least you’ve taught them respect and to stay off the streets,” Cichon said. “You can’t reach them all, but you try to reach as many as you can.”

Cichon said that he gravitated to boxing at a young age for the same reasons that many of the kids he now trains first come, or are sent, to him – they are “at risk” kids who need structure and discipline in their lives.

“I was always getting into trouble myself as a kid, so I know a lot about what some of these kids are going through,” said Cichon, who grew up in Holyoke, MA. “No doubt about it, that’s why I like giving back to the kids – I was one of them.”

Nicholas said that R.O.C.S. is more than just an acronym of the club’s name, it also stands for the values she and the trainers try and instill in their young students – R-Respect; O-Order; C-Character; and S-Service.

Those are values that Valenz Santana, a 20-year old East Hartford resident who first started coming to R.O.C.S. about a month ago on the invitation of his brother, said he has already learned during his short time at the gym.

“You learn a lot of respect here,” Santana said. “You learn how to have fun and control our tempers when we’re outside, and to make sure we’re behaving and on the right track.”

Manchester R.O.C.S. will be holding its first boxing event on Saturday, July 23, at Nomads Adventure Quest in South Windsor.

The event, which is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m., will be dedicated to the Manchester Police Department and retired Police Sergeant Howard Beeler, because, as Nicholas said, “there is no better example to show our kids of Respect; Order; Character; and Service than these fine officers.”

For more information about the event or the gym, visit the Manchester Ring of Champions Society’s website.