Santa Barbara Teens Box Their Way to Better Mental Health
Patricia Martellotti
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – A new kind of training is taking shape in Santa Barbara.
It starts with a pair of boxing gloves.
“I really feel the movement in icing and boxing itself is a good outlet for the kids,” said coach John Sandoval of Paragon Academy.
The Santa Barbara Police Activities League has partnered with Paragon Goleta Boxing to offer free classes for local teens.
The goal?
Give young people a positive outlet, and the tools to face life’s challenges.
“I’m pretty excited about it, especially because I’ve been wanting to box a pretty long time … and so I feel like this has been giving me the opportunity to go ahead and box,” said student Oakley Salas of SB PAL.
“You give them an opportunity and you give them a goal. they will rise to it and we have a great instructors that are gonna ensure that they can get to the level that they want to be,” said executive director Judie Lugo of SB PAL.
The SB PAL team hopes to continue this new partnership indefinitely.
“Just as like a student in general it can get pretty stressful … but boxing helps me take that stress out in a healthy way,” said Salas.
“My hope is to get the kids interested in being able to spend more time inside learning a skill versus outside in the street,” said Sandoval.
“I want to continue forever … I want to be like a champion,” said student Beau Rainbolt of SB PAL.
For the teens, boxing isn’t just exercise.
It’s a path forward.
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