'The moms will be here no matter what': Topeka's Three Shields Boxing Academy gets help from unlikely source
Seth Kinker
The Three Shields Boxing Academy is getting new energy thanks to some mothers who were sitting on the sidelines.
The year-plus-old academy, a program of the Salvation Army in Topeka, is revving back up after classes were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Founder and coach John Alcala, a member of the Kansas House, D-Topeka, knew he needed more volunteers.
“The moms were already there," Alcala said.
Alcala asked fellow coaches, Will Lister, a Topeka police officer, and Mike Watkins, a former amateur boxer, what they thought of recruiting and training the mothers.
"The thought pattern was, ‘Man, what a great idea to have them working with these kids,’” he said.
Alcala approached six of the mothers with the idea of getting them certified as coaches.
Three Shields Boxing Academy found help
“I thought he was crazy at first,” said Elizabeth Nelson, whose son has been coming to TSB for the past four months. “But I wanted to help everyone. Knowing I’m usually here, I said, ‘That’s fine with me,’”
USA Boxing has 8,481 registered coaches. Of those, 931 are women.
“John said they were thinking about getting a women’s clinic together, a training clinic, and it was just so casual,” said Corey Watson, who has two sons in TSB. "They love it. Every Monday, Thursday and Saturday, if we have something going on, we may miss a day out of the week or two.
"Other than that, they’re asking, ‘Are we making boxing today?’”
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Sherrelle Stewart’s son had only been a part of the program for about a month. Stewart has experience in martial arts but compared the two to different sports like football and basketball.
After hearing Alcala’s vision of having the mother coach the youths, she said yes.
“I haven’t been active since I had my last son,” said Stewart. “Then with COVID, I’ve really just been sitting around so I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll come in, bring my kids, get active and help some of the other kids.’”
Megan Rose and her son have been in the program for the past couple of months, looking for a gym to go to before stumbling onto the academy.
“He just sort of asked if I’d be interested, and some of the other moms, if we’d be interested in becoming a stronger female presence in the gym,” said Rose. “And I said, ‘Sure, let’s do it,’”
Mothers going through weeks of coaching clinics
The second coaching clinic took place on Sept. 19, a week after the first. That first clinic was essentially an indoctrination into boxing, with Alcala going off of his experience, as well as the USA Boxing handbook.
Clinics are planned for the next five Sundays with a written test planned at the end, with plans to bring in a boxing official from Wichita to go over the rules and regulations.
“Then we'll implement what we learned in those seven clinics,” said Alcala. “We'll move to the next level, which will be a little more advanced in the clinics.”
April Adame has been bringing her three kids for the past three months. She said yes to the clinics because she liked seeing how TSB worked with the youths.
“I thought it’d be neat,” said Adame. “I never thought of trying it, but it looked like they were all having fun.”
“I see how motivating it is,” said Christi Evans, who’s been coming with her son for the past three months, “It makes me want to be a part of that and let him see I find it important to, so he keeps up with it.”
Right now, the mothers are attending the coaching clinics on Sundays and some of the classes during the week to work with the youths.
“It was kind of shocking to me,” said Adame of going through the classes herself. “Actually, going through one of the full-on classes, I didn’t realize how much of a workout it was.”
Watson said moving from the sidelines to helping with the practices is a good feeling.
“It gives you a sense of accountability and responsibility,” said Watson. “It makes you glad to know you can be there to help these boxers. Some of these boxers are training for actual fights. It’s not just the little kids training.”
More experienced boxers also helping mothers, youths
A common saying around TSB is “a good boxer is a good coach.” Alcala also enlisted some of his more advanced boxers to teach at the coaching clinics.
“I can do the demonstrations, but it's easy for them to do it, and then I can point things out and stop them,” said Alcala.
Adame said the more experienced boxers are taking it easy on them for now.
“They’ve got a lot of strength,” said Adame. “I know as we get more experience, they’ll be able to go more powerful with us, but they're gentle with us right now, so we can feel our arms next day.”
Tray Wheeler has been coming to TSB for about seven months. He’s been helping with the coaching clinics and the youths.
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“From the coach's perspective, you can see the whole thing, the breakdown,” said Wheeler. “As a boxer, you’re going off the reaction. As a coach you see way more from the outside. It’s crazy.”
Wheeler said teaching the mothers is easy because they have a blank slate. He said they’re genuinely interested in learning and have longer attention spans than the youths.
"The moms will be here no matter what," he said. "We all thought it was a great idea, I’m just happy to help."
Eventually, the plan is to send the women's names to USA Boxing, through which they’ll have to take a test. If they pass, they’ll be awarded a coaching license.
That would allow them to not only coach at TSB but also represent the academic in the boxer's corner during competitions.
Getting the mothers certified would allow the academy to expand its days and beginning/intermediate levels.
“We'll be able to have more kids per night versus advanced kids and intermediate kids on the off nights,” said Alcala.
Mothers say they have surprised themselves
Evans said the experience has been fun and she hasn't missed the sideline time.
“I actually feel like it’s giving me lessons I can work with him at home on," she said. "I love interacting with kids anyway. It’s my passion. I love it.”
Rose said Alcala's tutorials have made her a better observer.
“Even with my son, I’m noticing a lot more footwork,” said Rose. “When he’s not keeping his hands up, when he’s lax and not keeping his elbows in, I’m learning the fundamentals.”
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Stewart said she's now holding the bag while the youths are hitting it.
“I’m having fun," she said. "It motivates me after work to come in and participate rather than going home and not being productive at all.”
Nelson said she has surprised herself.
“I figured I’d be a benchwarmer,” she said. “Paying attention and watching, I was quite surprised I got involved.”
Rose said she now has big dreams.
“Like, I’m taking him to the Olympics,” said Rose. “We’re going all the way. Big dreams!”
Seth Kinker can be reached at skinker@gannett.com or 417-312-1300. Find him on Twitter @sethkinker