Nobody likes doing squats.
Especially not when you’re six-years-old.
Dylin Clarke – co-owner and head coach at Four Corner Boxing and Fitness – is well aware of this, which is why he makes his ‘Little Mitts’ class a little more engaging.
“Pretend you’re sitting on a chair and it explodes and launches you in the air!” Clarke yells, as the nine children do their best imitation of a jump squat.
“When we’re doing different exercises and stuff like that, I like to give it fun names,” Clarke said. “If I just said ‘we’re going to do jump squats,’ it sounds kind of boring. But if I say, ‘OK, pretend you’re sitting on a chair and then it explodes and launches you in the air,’ they kind of have a bit more fun with it.”
Simple workouts involving squats and push-ups may be how this particular class ends at 7 p.m. on a Wednesday evening, but that’s not really what Four Corner Boxing and Fitness is really about.
In addition to their ‘Little Mitts” program for children aged 6-9, the club offers competitive boxing lessons, krav maga lessons, and adult fitness classes, including an all ladies one.
The boxing club opened in 2014 in Battleford and just moved to their location above Sound City, across from 7-11 on 100th St. in North Battleford on Jan. 1.
“I boxed as a kid from about nine-years-old until I was 19,” Clarke said. “I actually got injured, couldn’t box anymore and once everything healed up, I had contacted Canadian Amateur Boxing Association, and said ‘I want to open up a club.’
“Couple weeks later I got a phone call from my business partner Mark Babcock, and he said…‘I want to do the same thing as you,’ [so] we got together and opened up a gym.”
The gym is a non-profit organization and coaches work on a volunteer basis. Most have full-time jobs in the auto industry outside the gym.
While most join the gym for a work-out, there are those who’d like to take the sport to another level. Before Clarke puts anyone in the ring, he has to be sure his boxer is ready, both physically and mentally, and they are at least 11-years-old.
“First [thing] is are they determined? Are they in the mindset to be able to do it?” Clarke said. “Second of all is they have to be physically ready. A first amateur bout is three rounds, two minutes a round. For people that have never boxed, two minutes in the ring is a lot. You don’t realize how intense it is until you get in there. So they have to be able to go for at least three hard rounds, sparring and everything, before I can take them to compete.”
For those not sure about getting involved with boxing or krav maga, Clarke emphasized it’s about more than just the work itself.
“When you join the boxing club, it’s not only a place to go work out,” he said. “Everyone here kind of becomes a family. Everybody here helps out with each other – everybody from ages five-74 that comes here. And each and every one of them has a good time. Not only is it a workout, but it’s fun.”
That’s right, there is a 74-year-old who regularly goes to the club – Gordon Smith.
The best part? His great-granddaughter Aliyah is enrolled in the ‘Little Mitts’ class. Now that’s full circle.
Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11
