Boxing group teaches kids to pick up gloves, put guns down
AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - For years now, the Hankinson Boxing Gym in Aiken has shown kids the impact of having a good hobby.
“Gloves up, guns down” is their motto.
The gym is taking young men off the streets and turning them into champions.
Every day, Coach James Hankinson trains kids for the biggest fights of their lives.
“The generation here, once they start fighting with each other, they go get guns and they’re no longer here with us,” said Hankinson.
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It’s why he opened his gym nearly a decade ago.
“I went to my wife, and I told her, I said, ‘I want to do something.’ So, she was like, ‘Well, what do you want to do?’ I was like, ‘Well, I don’t play football. I haven’t played basketball. But I know boxing,’” said Hankinson.
But it’s more than boxing.
“When you first come to the program, my wife helps the kids with their homework. So, she tutors them. After tutoring, then we go into training,” he said.
It’s all with the goal of providing the kids with stability.
One participant said: “It has helped me become a good student. And it has helped me learn self-defense.”
Another participant said: “He’ll tell us like when we get in trouble or if we are arguing with another kid or something to just walk off.”
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When you walk in, you become family.
“They are like parents to me,” said a participant.
Hankinson said: “The kids may not have a mom and dad at home. But when they come to the gym, they have a mom and dad because it’s me and my wife. We raise them along the way as well. Just trying to get them to be successful adults.”
When they walk out of here, their lives change for the better.
“So many kids all over the world, they fail. So, if they just had that one person, they had like one, two or three people in their life, they can be pushed along the way to be great,” said Hankinson.
Hankinson Boxing Gym is a nonprofit organization that welcomes kids of all ages.
They train kids to not only be successful in the ring but in life as well.
If you want to learn more, the Hankinson Boxing Gym at 803-624-9185.
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