Learning in the boxing ring, not streets
New gym offers youth constructive alternative
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/04/2011 (5374 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
THE string of dumbbells along the wall screams louder than any piece of workout music could: This is a gym.
A line of four or five treadmills and recumbent cycles leads to a boxer’s dream, there waiting in the basement — a ring, complete with bouncy floor shocks and surrounded by protective padding.
The third floor has medicine balls and punching bags, extra space for aerobics and wresting and maybe karate classes in the future.
That’s if the owners can find volunteers for The Underground Gym, which opened its doors to at-risk youth on Monday.
“I was one of those kids,” owner Peter Panetta said Tuesday.
The gym is modelled after The Underground Gym in Thunder Bay, Ont., also run by Panetta.
The idea for the gym came out of “passion,” he said. And that passion for helping kids is contagious. His son Cerone, daughter Chyenne Casmey and son-in-law Charles Casmey are at the reins in Winnipeg.
“I think it’s going to be just as useful for the kids (of Winnipeg),” Charles said.
Currently, The Underground Gym in Winnipeg has three programs: weights, boxing and cardio training. Panetta would like to see nutritional and cooking as well, which is a program offered at the Thunder Bay location.
While the gym was derived from passion, passion doesn’t pay the bills.
The rent is $1,200, plus utilities, which isn’t bad. However, when there isn’t money coming in, it can make for a tough go in the beginning.
Despite this, The Underground Gym crew is pumped about the future for area kids.
“We want to start this way,” said Panetta, of the small building in the strip mall. “… Make this grow, make everyone comfortable with this atmosphere, and then introduce different programs,”
If those programs mimic Thunder Bay, kids could see anything from pottery to music, to cooking to gymnastics.
“It’s like anything,” Panetta says, “… never underestimate passion.”
tammy.karatchuk@freepress.com
Volunteers will make it work
The Underground Gym is located at 251 Henderson Hwy.
Hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Volunteers are encouraged to contact Charles Casmey at (204) 898-6584
For more information: www.undergroundgym.ca