While
the Center can boast of supporting the coaches and mangers of the Caribe Little
League, the Friends Soccer League and the basketball program at St. Martin of
Tours our greatest accomplishment in providing sports activities to youth and
adults is with our burgeoning jujitsu program. Jujitsu became part of the
Center’s activities four year ago when Sensei Will Lawton came to the Center
with the vision of sharing his talent with the children who live in his
community. He began by offering jujitsu classes to children in the after school
program. Soon, volunteering his time, he expanded the program by offering
evening classes to children and teens. Within two years the youth were competing
in tournaments and winning! Most recently, Sensei has developed a self-defense
class for women who are victims of abuse and violence and living in protective
housing.
The jujitsu students come from the Crotona community. They are largely poor and
working poor. They face the challenges of the neighborhood including violence
related to the drug trade and gangs. They are ethnically diverse including
Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, African-Americans and Central Americans. The lessons
they learn are about martial arts and about successfully meeting the challenges
of life. One student, Vonnelle says the class, “gives you courage and
confidence that you can do something good and at the same time be good at it.”
Brian, an 8-year-old student who attends class with his older sister, won awards
in three divisions in his first competitions and says, “I always feel like
just a little brother but now I feel like one of the big guys.” It is
especially important for youth to have positive opportunities because there are
many negative opportunities lurking behind each corner. As Andrea says, “if it
wasn’t for jujitsu I would be in the street getting into trouble and not going
to school or having a baby by now.” This program makes a difference.
With very little funding the jujitsu program has impacted the lives of over 150
youth and 30 adults. Though the support of the Laureus Sports for Good
Foundation we will be able to take these wonderful beginnings and build our
capacity to insure that this program is a permanent component of the Center and
that it expands to serve even more people. In the coming year the youth program
will develop a martial arts / self-defense component for high school students
at-risk of dropping out of school. The adult self-defense program will expand to
provide mobile classes allowing for on-site training within the shelter system.
The youth program will make an effort to attract teens involved in gangs and
violence and provide them with skills and an alternative environment to the
streets. These are lofty goals but we are confident because of our experience in
having sports positively impact the lives of youth and adults and because of the
commitment of Sensei Will to this program and this community. We will continue
to use sports to further the mission of the Center, which is simply to improve
the lives of families in the Crotona section of the Bronx.