The Santa Maria Police Activities League (PAL) has been quite a friend for young people in the area. By offering programs directed toward youth, PAL has been helping in the fight to keep kids out of gangs and, for the most part, fitting gloves on their hands.
The boxing part of PAL began in 2004 when 400 teens applied to participate. Since then, boys and girls enrolled in seventh through 12th grade have been able to climb between the ropes for a chance to learn the ways of a boxer.
Willie Flores is head coach for the program. He started in the sport in 1959 and won the California Golden Gloves. Flores has also trained five boxers who have gone on to win their own pair.
PAL specialist Javier Montes believes the boxing program has been an important element in the effort to keep locals busy with
a positive activity.
“It’s helping kids getting off the streets,” he said. “We tell them that there isn’t any horseplay or foul language allowed, and they understand that boxing isn’t just a sport, but a discipline.”
According to Montes, many of the participating teens come from homes that don’t really emphasize the sort of discipline taught in the organization. The program also sparks motivation: Montes noted that boxing teens want to climb the ladder up to the next level.
As with all of PAL’s programs, boxing is essentially free; teens have to bring their own mouthpieces, boxing hand-wraps, and towel to practice every day.
Currently, nine officers help with the 500 teens in the organization. During baseball tournaments, they act as umpires, sell tickets, and tackle a variety of other volunteer positions.
“The police like to be a part of the community and help [the teens] get off of the streets,” Montes said.
So far, Montes sees PAL as a success. And, for 2011, he said the group is planning even more events. An upcoming fishing trip is penciled in for July, but PAL is working to fill up the trip with 30 teens and make sure the nine aforementioned officers have their shifts off.
Another popular event for the organization—perhaps popular enough to rival the boxing program—is the just-started paintball, which is bringing in more volunteers and teens eager to visit the Shack in Lompoc. Why has this new program been so immediately popular?
“You get to shoot another person,” Montes said.
As winning as paintball is, boxing still seems to dominate. Find out why on Dec. 11, when, for a $10 entry fee, the general public can see teens boxing firsthand during the Clash on the Coast IV, an amateur event. Buy tickets at the Abel Maldonado Youth Center in Santa Maria.
Thanks to recent rains, PAL’s baseball tournament has been rescheduled from the originally planned Nov. 27 and 28 weekend to a date yet to be announced in February. The tournament, which represents a chance for the nonprofit to bring in more funds, draws most of Santa Maria’s baseball clubs, which vie for the top team title, all while supporting PAL—and local youth.
Intern Henry Houston wants to the police to know he’s their pal. Contact him at intern@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 2-9, 2010.
