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Boxing was there for Catalina’s Restaurant Owner/Operator, Joel Caldera, now he wants to make sure it’s there for the kids today
KATHI BRENNAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
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| Family man, student and Light-Heavyweight (178 lbs.) amateur boxer Marcus Pernell spars with boxing Coach Joel Caldera at a recent 'Knott Street Boxing Club' practice session. MID-COUNTY MEMO PHOTO BY TIM CURRAN |
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| Coach Joel Caldera (right) deflects a punch from 10-year-old Corey Hill at a recent practice session held at “Knott Street,” otherwise known as the Dishman Community Center. Hill is an undefeated, Golden Gloves Regional Champion boxer. MID-COUNTY MEMO PHOTO BY TIM CURRAN |
With two boxing rings packed full of kids, male and female, all ages and sizes, I hear Caldera shouting out cadence filling the Matt Dishman Community Center, located at 77 Northeast Knott Street, with powerful instructions. All involved hit the mat and jump back up giving him all they’ve got, no letting up here. I was working up a sweat just watching.
As the Rap music blared these fine looking young people were pushing the canvas with every ounce of strength they could muster. I saw muscles quiver, heard grunts, groans and gasping as they struggled to ‘hold-it!’ as Caldera instructed, asking their bodies to pass up the idea of collapse. All the while, Coach Caldera is right there beside them, on the canvas, “holding-it” too.
You can hear the conviction in Caldera’s voice. He want’s these kids to feel the power of believing in themselves. To know they can achieve their goals by pushing themselves farther than they thought they could ever go.
Caldera informs me of how he arrived here at the Matt Dishman Community Center, or ‘Knott Street’ - as the kids call it. “I boxed in high school at Jefferson. I won the Northwest Regional Championship”. Caldera continued, “After a few years of working on other things I went looking for a place to work out. Some place that offered boxing.” He found the program at the Dishman center and was told they were in serious need of a coach. They offered him the position of volunteering his time, energy and expertise and he jumped at the opportunity. “I want to give back to the community. It’s important to me and I’m determined to make a difference”, he asserts, and so he does.
Caldera has approximately 30 kids with whom he works and at least half of them are actively competing at any one time. This includes the ladies of the group, who are no slouches. These ladies are right there with Caldera giving him 100 percent.
I had the opportunity to speak with two of Caldera’s young boxers. One of them was Jonte McKenna, a 21 year-old father of two young children. McKenna says “I’m back in school, working hard here at going professional and I’m going to take care of my kids. I was boxing at a friend’s house and someone told me about the program at Knott Street, I’ve been here ever since”. McKenna has been scheduled for a couple of matches so far in his weight class and is doing great, Caldera boasts. He’s in the amateur Heavyweight class and has plans on competing in upcoming matches scheduled at the Dishman center. McKenna is a good-looking young man with smiling eyes, but make no mistake, he’s focused and motivated thanks in part to Caldera and boxing instructors Rudy Garza and John Peters, who keep these kids positive, physically fit and on the right path.
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