Sports
Free Boxing Club Empowers West Side Youth: ‘They Feel the Confidence’
Within the walls of Out West Boxing in the Austin community, the sound of leather gloves tapping against pads and bags echoes across the gym.
It’s there that Roy Flowers, an Austin native and founder of Flowers Fitness Club, can be heard repeating “one-two” “one-two” while holding up pads for his fighters.
In 2021, Flowers started his boxing club in the hopes of creating healthy, supportive spaces for the youth in his community.
“When I was a kid, I wish they had programs, you know, more positive programs where I could come,” Flowers said.
As a teenager and young adult, Flowers found himself in situations that ended with him serving time in prison, where he was exposed to programs that allowed him to finish his GED and earn a bachelor’s degree.
Years after being released, he made a name for himself in the community as a barber and volunteer, often employing young adults at his barbershop who could use the work. After two decades of building himself up, he realized it was time for him to build up his community.
“I just wanted to be the mentor that I wish I had,” Flowers said.
Few get to know him as intimately as the young fighters he helps prepare for the ring.
Josiah Owens, a 15-year-old participant, said Flowers and the other coaches in the program are like fathers to him and the larger gym is “one big family.”
“They taught me lessons that I would never have learned in the outside world,” Josiah said.
Josiah joined the club after his grandmother signed him up. He originally just went in to have something to do and maybe learn to defend himself, but over time, as his technique improved, so did his mental health.
“It’s OK to be angry, but you can’t be angry every time,” Josiah said. “You gotta be calm at some point, and they really taught me how to be calm. … It helped me gain confidence in who I am as a person.”
While not all participants in the program choose to step in the ring, Josiah embraced the challenge, learning to love the sport and fighting to one day even make a career out of it.
Above all else, the impact of learning how to fight has left Josiah with structure and confidence in himself.
“Sometimes you get kids that come down here with their head down, but when they come out of this program, their head be up high,” boxing coach Terrance Ross said. “They feel the confidence, because of what they know how to do. Some kids don’t want to do it, but we drive them to do it and say, ‘You can do it.’”
Ross has been teaching alongside Flowers for two years. Ross said it’s the relationship with the kids that keeps him coming back. He often finds the children and young adults teach him as much as he teaches them.
“It’s (the boxing club) showing me how to calm down,” Ross said. “Shows me patience — how to be patient with the kids. It shows me, definitely, discipline skills with the kids.”
The program includes access to employment opportunities with local affiliated businesses. With funding for the next year secured via a state grant, Flowers hopes to expand the program to include tutoring services.
Flowers Fitness Club recently opened the doors to a new gym space on the second floor of a local church at 854 N. Central Ave. The club is currently accepting donations to ensure the program can continue when existing grant funding runs out.
