Good People
boxing association board
receives prestigious Yuma Parks and Rec year-end award
by Matt Paulson - Staff Writer
The Board of Directors of the Yuma County Youth Boxing Association has been named to receive the
Yuma Parks and Recreation Department's Volunteer of the Year award for 2000.
| For Fred Block, chairman of the Yuma County Youth Boxing Association, and the other members of the governing board, their goal is to encourage local youth to make something of themselves. "We want to develop them, not only as good athletes, which this sport will do, but also as achievers in life." said Block, who helped found the organization in 1999. "We don't want them to look at the system and be a floater. We want the kids to feel they can climb the ladder." |
So far the YCYBA has raised close to $50,000 to buy equipment and pay for travel and registration fees at tournaments, staffing, insurance and other expenses said Block. The YCYBA has over 100 youth boxers certified by the USA Boxing, Inc. The organization has produced teams that have won Best Team Tournament Trophies in Glendale and Tucson. It has also produced one gold and one silver |
medalist at the Arizona Junior Boxing Olympics. Yuma recreation supervisor, Don Fishel said YCYBA was a unanimous choice for this first-year award. "This boxing organization came from a bare building." Fishel said, "and they've come out and gotten a tremendous amount of boxers involved. They've done most of the work themselves. This is a very, very active board. |