Courtesy of Panda Athletic Boxing ClubSt. Louis was recently named the third most dangerous city in the United States, according to www.msn.com. It even edged out cities like Gary, Ind., and New Orleans, La. However, when the whole St. Louis Metropolitan area is included, St. Louis doesn’t rank near the top twenty-five. Most crime in St. Louis has been concentrated in several areas which comprise North St. Louis.
Reasons for this trend range from an inadequate city school system to poor economic performance. The city is trying to attract new business and had one of the biggest residential booms in 2005 due to the multiple loft projects. In addition, Washington University student-athletes are doing what they can to help improve the situation.
Steve Yu, an alumnus of the University trains at The Panda Athletic Boxing Club, located near the North St. Louis Housing Projects. After seeing the conditions around him, Yu contacted senior Ben Schaub, a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and the community service chairman of the fraternity. (Schaub is also captain of Washington University’s varsity football team.) After talking to Yu about what could be done to help the impoverished youth of the area, Schaub decided to jump on the unique opportunity. With the assistance of senior Jeff Bank and junior Brandon Kerne, they began coordinating more members of the fraternity to begin working with the gym on a weekly basis.
Panda Athletic was founded in Nov. 2004 by Steve Smith, a St. Louis local, who opened the gym with the intention of teaching young teenagers discipline, work ethic and respect through boxing. The gym particularly focuses on giving young men an opportunity to escape the influence of drugs, gangs and prostitution prevalent in the surrounding neighborhoods. Smith, also an owner of The Royale, a popular south-side bar and restaurant, is very involved in the St. Louis Boxing community.
When Smith first started his venture, he had some initial troubles that he had to get through, but managed to fix them with the help of the fraternity, which began working with Smith last September.
“At first, the kids weren’t showing up at the gym because of transportation and motivational reasons. We came in and provided rides and mentoring services to the kids,” said Schaub.
“The program has been going great, and the kids have already shown a vast improvement,” added Bank.
Part of the work the Phi Delta Theta brothers do with the gym involves picking the teens up from their houses after school and taking them to the gym where they help them with homework for an hour and answer various questions, ranging from academics to life experiences. The teens spend the remaining time training with their mentors, making sure there is still enough time to arrive home in time for dinner.
On average, Bank estimates that there are at least three to five brothers at the gym per week. It’s a bit of a time commitment, but it’s something that Schaub and the rest of his fraternity brothers are willing to do.
“We take around three hours out of our Mondays to help the kids and we plan to continue this project for years to come,” said Schaub.
Schaub, Bank, Yu, and Smith have been trying to improve the program, not only through mentorship, but also financially. The four of them recently entered the gym into the Olin Cup (Non-Profit) Competition, in which boxers from the team competed against other youths in their age group. The goal was to get more funding to provide this service for more days of the week with transportation and advertising, and to expand the gym itself.
The experience for both parties has been both quantitative and qualitative. Last year, the boxers traveled to Kansas City, Mo., for the 2005 Ringside World Championships where they competed against over 1,800 amateur boxers from around the world. The boxers represented their city and gym with great pride. In addition, one boxer took home second place in the 14-year-old division and another won walked away with the gold in the 12-year-old division.
“Personally, the experience is amazing,” exclaimed Schaub. “To see where these kids live and grow up, it’s an experience all in itself to just talk to them individually and feel that you have made some kind of positive impact on their life. Most of them really are good kids stuck in a bad situation and we are there to try to bring out that motivation and determination in them to succeed in life. And the kids have started to warm up to us. They are starting to bring their homework more often and have gained more interest in what we have to share with them,” said Schaub.
Phi Delta Theta has always shown concern for community service in the St. Louis area.
“In past years, we helped out with other after school programs in efforts to give something back, especially to the young children who still have a chance to develop their own identities and make the right choices to succeed,” explained Schaub.
The program is trying to grow. Membership for adults is $35 a month and is used to fund free programs for the young fighters who cannot afford to pay monthly dues. Smith is looking to expand the programs for the boxers and volunteers are needed. If you would like to volunteer or are simply interested in joining the gym please contact Steven Yu at (314) 808-7656 or via e-mail at ssyu@alum.wustl.edu.