By Jonathan Nguyen-Au

SAN JOSE, CALIF.— The boxing club at Silver Creek had its first meeting in the weight room on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, learning drills, basic forms and cardio for the 50+ members present. 

Starting last year, the boxing club is for students who want to learn how to box, as part of the “After School Safety Enrichment Teens” program or ASSETs for short. Meetings are every Wednesday and Friday at 2:30 and 4 p.m. respectively. The club is run by the president Vincent Tran, a Silver Creek High School Senior and taught by Boxing Instructor Coach Ted. During club rush on Sept. 6, 2023, the boxing club amassed 133 signatures from students.

The club gets its funding via the ASSETs program from Goodwill and personal funding from Coach Ted. Although the club does provide resources to students, members are encouraged to bring their own equipment to meetups. This includes hand wraps and boxing gloves. 

At the first meeting this year, members signed in for attendance and prepared their equipment. Once everyone was settled, new and old members were separated so new members could learn the basics while old members were doing their own drills. The drills themselves include shadowboxing, punching bags, jump roping and routines involving focus pads that focus on punching forms. 

Shadowboxing is when a boxer pretends to fight an opponent, this form of training can also include weights to further train on more than just form but also to increase punching power. Focus pads are used to absorb hits from boxing gloves to train boxers in various boxing forms and to make punches feel more impactful.

The new members learned how to do proper stances and basic punching forms. Punching forms that include the jab, cross, hook and uppercut. They also have access to the punching bags and do other routines once Coach Ted starts training the old members.

At the end of the meeting, everyone is gathered around a circle in the room. Then they move while doing a basic punching form for a few minutes. Coach Ted also incorporates the focus pads into this exercise. 

The following meetings are said to be similar to the first meeting with some new exercises and routines. As time goes on, new members will get used to the flow of boxing and the club to where they will follow the same regimen as old members with given time. 

“I started the boxing club because I am interested in it and had the opportunity to do so with a coach. I believe this club would be beneficial to the student body because boxing is one of the best forms of self-defense and a great hobby to get into,” Tran says.