Box Office Boxing

Box Office Boxing is a non-profit amateur gym in New Plymouth. “We run a boxing gym, as well as a wide range of classes that cater to different groups of the community,” Jacob Rapira, Head Coach and Founder of Box Office Boxing, said.
 
“One of our classes is Counterpunch, for people with Parkinson’s Disease or physical ailments that restrict them from being able to participate in the usual classes.” 
 
“The issue we had was that our old flooring kept falling apart and became quite uneven. It was unsafe in some areas, for example in the Counterpunch class, where the participants may already be quite unsturdy. That was our big need for funding.”

A grant of $10k from Toi Foundation enabled the organisation to upgrade their flooring.

“We were able to replace all of the old flooring. This has been great for Counterpunch, as well as Kickfit, where they train in bare feet. It’s a lot easier for them with the new flooring," Jacob said.
 
“We were also able to get new equipment to increase our capacity to run the Kickfit class and new equipment for our Junior Boxing Youth Academy, which is for young people aged 8 - 12 years working on social development skills, coordination and goal setting. The junior programme has increased this year from ten students to 80 students.”
 
“When Covid-19 arrived, we weren’t able to use the gloves we had, so we sold them to members who couldn't afford to buy new gloves themselves. We ended up with no gloves, so we had to replace them when classes started up again.”
 
“The grant has had a huge impact on our organisation, in terms of being confident enough to run our programmes in all areas of our gym. Our community all love it, and they love the new gear too."