Queens resident and owner of Eastern Queens Boxing Club, Al Alvir, has taken it upon himself to provide local kids with an after-school program that teaches both boxing and self-discipline.
Alvir started the program after hearing from the principal of Community Voices M.S. 356Q about past pupils of his school getting arrested for drug-related crimes.
He also heard about a lot of fights breaking out between kids and Alvir decided to try and find an after-school solution to these issues via his boxing gym.
The day after speaking with Dean Giovanni Jamieson, Alvir decided there was no need to go through ‘all of the red tape’ and just get the program up and running as quickly as possible.
Alvir went to the school to meet the kids and they haven’t looked back since.
“A big thing for me is the culture in my gyms. It started in my basement where I would have 100 kids making appointments, and every time they would come, they would have to say hello, and it just became part of the culture of respect,” Alvir explained.
“I’m noticing it already with these kids because boxing takes a long time in itself, but being part of a team, and it’s basically a rule now, they have to say hello to everybody when they come into the gym and say goodbye to each person when they leave.”
Alvir compares his gyms to coming into a family home, and he demands a certain level of discipline from his students regarding attendance and other qualities that can affect multiple parts of the kids’ lives outside of boxing.
Before his work in boxing, Alvir was a caseworker for the Families in Drug Rehabilitation and Treatment program in the late 2000s, under the guise of the New York City Administration for Children’s Services.
There, he helped local parents and caregivers with the challenges of the local drug epidemic. These experiences only strengthened his desire to give local kids an after-school resource.
After partnering with the Department of Education, Alvir sees an exciting future for his current program and hopes that more schools will get involved.
“I would love for boxing to be brought into schools with competition. Right now they don’t want contact, it’s just something that they shy away from. So we’ve minimized the contact in the school but they’re welcome to come to my actual gym for real contact boxing,” he added. “My goal is to bring sanctioned competition between schools in New York City.”
The school’s current program runs on a tight budget, but Alvir and co. have been helped out massively by the Joanna Sophia Foundation, which donated a boxing ring that is due to be installed at the beginning of December.
Owen Fraser and Frank Zinzi are other coaches who have been instrumental in this DOE program, as has boxer Raleek Born, a now 18-year-old professional who first started training with Alvir when he was 8.
Respect is the name of the game in Alvir’s gym and he will continue to pass on this message to hopefully many more young boxers who join the program.
Eastern Queens Boxing Club is located at 219-07 Hempstead Ave in Queens Village. The club operates Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and on weekends from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visit eqbcny.com to learn more.
