8 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY March 16-22, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com 831 A rhythmic left, right “thwackthwack” fills the room. Over a dozen kids, ages 5-12, form a line in constant motion, throwing synchronized punches at pads wielded by their coaches. It’s just another day at AVILA Victory Boxing in Greenfield. One of the young pugilists is 10-year-old Mia Zamudio. She has a committed face as her gloved fists smack the target. Her movement is a powerful dance, with balance and swiftness. When Zamudio first started boxing, she had little endurance. Even warming up before practice was a challenge. “I didn’t know how to jump rope,” Zamudio says. Now, she wants to become a professional boxer when she grows up. She attends the club every day with her father, David, who is part of the coaching staff. Zamudio says she feels at home at AVILA. “Everybody is like family here,” she says. And as with most families, there are fundamental rules: “I’ve learned to respect others [and] not to fight outside of the club.” AVILA Victory Boxing started informally six years ago, in a 700-squarefoot garage with one student. Rigo Avila, the club’s founder and head coach, says someone asked him to train his son, who was bullied at school. By word of mouth, one child turned into 10, then 50. It kept growing until the original garage space became too small. AVILA is both a name and an acronym. It stands for some of the values and traits Avila says the sport can instill: ambition, valor, integrity, loyalty and achievement. The club became a nonprofit in 2021, located a former industrial building, and now has 300 boxing pupils registered. It is volunteer-based, receiving support from local businesses, organizations and community members to keep the club running or to sponsor a child’s $45 monthly fee. AVILA offers different programs for children 5-12, including an amateur program for older kids, who participate in boxing tournaments as well as empowerment training for girls. The latter runs twice a week and accepts walk-ins. Former Greenfield Mayor John Huerta volunteers by writing grants and seeking sponsorships. “We need more of this in South Monterey County,” he says. Huerta points out that many families in the city are lower-income and can’t afford to enroll their kids in recreational programs. “It’s tough,” he says. “We are campesinos, we are farmworker families.” Avila can relate to this. “I never had an opportunity to go amateur,” he explains. Although he trained with a coach, the nearest boxing gym was in Salinas: “[I’m] kind of living my dream through them,” he says of the students. In boxing, kids learn discipline, how to move and control their bodies, self-confidence, self-defense and decision-making. “We’re creating young leaders one punch at a time,” Avila says. Structured programs like this, he adds, can allow children who might fall into trouble find a different path. Genoveva Montoya enrolled her son Guadalupe, 12, in February. She explains that he punches away his negative thoughts and emotions. Randy Villalobos, 14, has been part of the club for over two years. He joined once he learned there was a boxing club in town; his parents had been looking into programs in Salinas. “We gave it a shot, and I never looked back,” Villalobos says. Before his own training begins, Villalobos helps the coaches with the youngest members. He assists in training and offers tips from his experience. The club is part of the Central California Amateur Boxing Association, and the more advanced students compete at tournaments in the region. Avila says they want to produce their own Ruben Villas, a nod to the professional boxer from Salinas. “We hope to bring back some championships,” he says. “We hope and dream of bringing some Olympic medals and maybe creating a professional champion one day.” AVILA Victory Boxing is at 36 4th St. (Building C), Greenfield. Open 4:30-8:30pm Monday-Friday. info@ avilavictoryboxing.org, avilavictoryboxing.org. Upper(cut) Class Through boxing, a local organization brings opportunities to children in Greenfield. By Celia Jiménez Ten-year-old Mia Zamudio practices with head coach Rigo Avila at AVILA Victory Boxing in Greenfield. The boxing club is the first and only one of its kind in the city. “We dream of bringing back some Olympic medals.” TaLES FrOM ThE arEa cODE CELIA JIMÉNEZ 831.200.9700 • www.gocatrescue.org THANK YOU! Thanks to you, we raised $80,522.68 from 376 donors during the 2022 Monterey County Gives! fundraising campaign. We are so grateful for your generous support! Thanks to you, Golden Oldies can continue to help cats 6 and older from Monterey County whose guardians can no longer care for them or who are at risk in shelters—like 14-year-old Daisy-Lou, our first kitty adopted in 2023! You are awesome! If you would like to sponsor our next ad, please contact us! If you’d like to sponsor our next ad, give us a call. Marley Rita Marley, or Marley as her friends call her, is sweet and gentle with canine friends of all shapes and sizes. She loves exploring the environment with her nose, but her favorite thing in the world is people, especially when those people have treats! Marley is an 82 pound, 11-year-old, Spayed Female, Labrador Retriever Mix. If you’d like to meet Marley, please fill out an online adoption questionnaire. P.O. Box 51554, Pacific Grove 831.718.9122 peaceofminddogrescue.org SPONSORED by Kalman Weinfeld In honor of my late father, who taught me the value of volunteering.
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