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Its Where I Am focuses on the various mental health struggles that people all around the world face every day. Each episode covers a different facet of mental health with a new special guest. It's Where I Am airs on 91.5 Jazz & More every second Saturday of the month.
Unknown Speaker 0:00
This is a k u and v studios original program
Speaker 1 0:03
you're listening to special programming brought to you by it's where I am.com The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and more University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents, the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Zandra Polard 0:45
Good morning, Las Vegas, it's Zondra polearm. It's where I am here on your favorite jazz station 91.5 Jazz and more. You know, have a really cool guest. Today we're gonna be talking about boxing therapy. That's what I like to call it. I did some research about it. And I had no idea that it was beneficial. Mentally, I thought, you know, it was just good for kicking somebody's tail, you know, I don't know, boxing world is new to me. I have two sons who are interested in boxing. And so I've learned more and more about it. And it was such a delight. Because that was one of those scared mothers like, oh, I don't want nobody at my baby. And then after a while it was like, get in there and kick ass be, you know. So you get really excited. But in terms of boxing, without contact, it is very beneficial in terms of reducing anxiety, high levels of concentration. Things like ADHD, I mean, it's just totally helpful. And it was even compared to yoga, which was surprising to me. Yeah, so go to Danny is here, Danny Vela of undefeated boxing out here in Henderson, Nevada. And he's going to educate us more about the world of boxing, and how it can be beneficial. In terms of our mental health, our physical health. Yeah, all those things. So Coach, Danny, welcome. And thank you for coming. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Well, you know, I had to get undefeated. Yes, out on the airwaves. You know what I mean? Because it's like family. Yes. Right. Right. You care about your I will call them students. Yes. Yes. And I care about them, because my baby attends it. Yes. So welcome, again. And I want you to tell us, what are some of the positive things about boxing because we always hear about, you know, somebody has brain damage, someone has been injured for life, all of those scary things. But let's talk about the positivity. Well,
Unknown Speaker 3:17
just on a basic level of boxing, the first thing you have to have is a good work ethic to be involved with boxing. Yeah, right. So you spend 99% of your time working out, either running, doing push ups, sit ups, bag, drills, Mitt work, you know, the physical contact of boxing is very, very minimal, you know, in the training sessions, let's say, okay, so you spend 95% of your time working out, preparing, obviously, to be in the ring for any physical contact. But then again, I use the gym as a means of method for all types of people, you know, people who want to be competitive people who want to, you know, compete and move forward in the amateurs maybe even become a pro one day, something of that effect.
Zandra Polard 4:01
Why because undefeated is not like just like a workout gym, where, you know, your middle, like someone like me is coming in to, you know, make her body look better or something like that, right? No, this is for people who are trying, or who are becoming professional,
Unknown Speaker 4:17
we have classes, we do have classes that mix the both sides, you know, okay, I have I have beginner adults that you know, workout just come because they'd like to be involved in trying to learn something. And so maybe you want to use it for self defense purposes, some for weight loss. Um, you know, we also do a lot of strength conditioning and things like that on certain days at the gym, and other athletes come just for that, and I have baseball players who come just to be involved with that type of stuff. Okay. And like I say, so, like you were speaking earlier about boxing being therapeutic. You know, it's a character builder. That's the reality of it is like, you know, you don't get much more. You don't get much closer to what real life is other than being in the ring when forcing yourself through a lot of stuff. Because that's the That's what your life's gonna bring to you anyway, you know, unexpectedly. So if you can push yourself through all these things through the workouts, you know, those days, you don't feel like going, you know, you force yourself to go, you know, there's days, you don't want to hit the bags, but you do it anyway, you know, it's just, it's just that constant character that it's always building in that resolve, it's building inside of each individual. And for me, I don't expect everybody to be a world champion that comes out of my gym, you know, I do expect them to have good, good characteristics and be good. Just be good natured humans, you know, and obviously, the more they work out in the more confident they become as an individual, the more that light shines from them to others.
Zandra Polard 5:37
Yes, because it's also a self esteem builder
Unknown Speaker 5:40
it very much. Yeah, very much. So looks like you were saying, as far as being therapeutic, I've had kids who couldn't make eye contact with you, you know, they, they're actually in full blown competitions now, you know, like, competing in, you know, winning gym winning belts, and winning fights and winning tournaments and doing, you know, stuff that only confident people can be involved with, obviously, you know, you can't just be a fighter and not have no confidence that's kind of goes hand in hand, and
Zandra Polard 6:05
you have to have that built that hand eye coordination very much.
Unknown Speaker 6:09
So yeah, there is some learning. No, there's some crazy people out there that just like to fight and do some wild stuff. But if you want to be a legit, you know, sharp, educated boxer, it's gonna take a lot of work on your part, you know,
Zandra Polard 6:20
so what age group do you typically work with?
Unknown Speaker 6:24
Anywhere from? Roughly I'd say about six years old, like the youngest, due to their attention spans. I would train kids younger, you know, two or three years old, if I could, you know, but obviously, if I have them amongst a bunch of other students, their discipline factor is going to determine how much I can pay attention to the rest of the class. Yes, you know, so like six years old, I think is a good age to start, because they have a pretty decent attention span. They can't compete in box until they're eight. But my opinion is that why would you start boxing at the same year? You can start competing, right? Okay, that makes sense. Like you spend two years getting I know, the box, I would hope
Zandra Polard 7:01
it would carry over and help in the classroom as well. Well, that's
Unknown Speaker 7:04
the thing that's I'm saying about being cared about being character characteristic is that is that there's no such thing as a lazy person in one area of their life, you know, that does not happen. There's not a person that just walks through a bunch of filthy stuff at their home and then get in their car, and it's beautifully organized. Or then they go to their office and their desk is like that. No, no, no, no, no, the character to become a boxer is going to take your discipline gonna take dedication is going to take all these certain things are gonna have to be built inside of you, and then they're gonna translate to other areas of your life. Yeah, especially if you want to be part of that. You know, otherwise, if you're the guy that tells me you ran two miles, and you didn't, well, no, especially if it comes to competition, right? You know what I mean? If you're giving yourself 25%, during your workouts, you'll know when the rest of the class is advanced this past you, you know, in the next six months, and you're not on the same level as them no more, you know, and my thing is like this, if you improve in boxing, you become more confident, you get that discipline, you get that dedication, you you, you build all these characters that it takes to be competitive, obviously, those same characteristics gonna spill over to other areas of your life.
Zandra Polard 8:10
So tell us about the gym. Where is the gym, let the listeners know where to find you. If someone's out there listening, and you want to get involved in the sport of boxing. And you'd like to reach out to Danny, coach, Danny, you can?
Unknown Speaker 8:25
We're located in Henderson, Nevada 671 professional way. Let's give me professional Avenue suite. 515 Henderson, Nevada 89015. Okay,
Zandra Polard 8:35
and is there a phone number?
Unknown Speaker 8:36
702-782-1804. That's my direct cell. So you can contact me anytime? Okay, well, that's the phone number.
Zandra Polard 8:47
You gotta be careful with that one. Because you know, people will call. Yeah. All right. Well, just please know, you're listening. Because, you know, we're also not only am I on 91.5, yes, it's where I am, you can find it on all your major podcast platforms. So that would be like Apple, Spotify. Google, all the good ones, right. And if you want to listen, live turn into 91.5. But again, you can always find it when you're ready to listen on those platforms. Also, there is my YouTube channel. It's where I am.com and my website, it's where I am.com. All right. So sorry to cut you off, but you're going to give that information out because you're giving out your phone number. No, no,
Unknown Speaker 9:36
I get it. But you know how many calls I get a day from people. I did not get my phone number. And I'm sure everybody in America does. All day long. My phone rings from people trying to spam me sell me something off of me. I get more of those calls than anything. Yeah. So I mean,
Zandra Polard 9:53
call my good intent. Right, right. Yeah, that'll be nice. So now let's talk about your involvement how you got involved. because you have sons who are involved in the world of boxing, and some of them are most of them, or all of them are doing pretty well. So can you break that down for me,
Unknown Speaker 10:11
I got involved in boxing when I was a young kid, probably around two or three years old monka was a boxer introduced me to boxing. And to be honest with you, I just never had the opportunity to be consistently dedicated to box and I was always floating in and out, well, my uncle kind of let his box and dreams go and moved on. And I kind of floated in and out of boxing for a while, go back into my later teens, then ended up having a son never expected to train my sons, obviously, that will not fall far from the tree. Because once they were old enough, they were asking me to go to the gym. And then on my oldest son's eighth birthday, he asked me to take him to the gym. And we've never left. That just became and then I kind of just gave up on my any hopes of boxing for me, I dedicated myself to what my sons were involved with. And then from there, it just stemmed on to more community based. I was working at a pal program, Jim at one time, that's where I started with my older son was a pal program at the Police Athletic League. It's like sponsored by the police department. It used to be a pretty active gym down in Henderson is called Henderson Powell. That's kind of where I started, the gentleman that was running the gym there, he kind of mentored me a little bit into the coaching, you know, it's a different, it's a different, different, different mindset, when you're going from trying to be a boxer to trying to be a coach, you know, like, like a lot of people that are boxers and become coaches, they expect everybody to be them. And that's just not the way it works. You know, you have everybody's individually different. Everybody's physiology is different. Everybody has a different mindset. Everybody has a different personality.
Zandra Polard 11:40
I'm sure you really learn that through the kids. You're your kids. Oh, yeah. No, how many boys? Do you have that four sons? Four,
Unknown Speaker 11:47
they're all opposite. Yes, there's some I mean, they have their traits, which are the same, but same thing like personality wise, I can tell some of them, hey, you know, you need to do this and that and it's done. Other ones no matter what I say it's a rebellious conversations, you know, so
Zandra Polard 12:03
you don't want it feedback. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 12:05
you know, but the thing is, you take all that, I take all that what I did with my own kids, and in the adjustments I had to make with them, raising them and teaching them boxing, obviously. And I kind of learned from them, and I passed it on to others at my gym, you know, so when people come into my gym, I don't have a expectancy right away of who they're going to be or what they're going to be, I try to learn more about them individually, you know, because everybody's going through things differently at home. That's right, everybody has different opportunities, every some people have no opportunities. Some of these kids, you know, you can talk to aggressively and they'll respond, other kids, you got to talk to passively to get them to respond. Yeah, so it's a constant, you know, psychological battle as well, to get kids to be motivated and things like that. And it's not just the kids, you know, I have adults as well. And some just like to come there, because it's a positive environment. And that's my focus is because my sons are all there, you know, my wife comes and she runs the gym in the evenings. As far as, like, the administrative work and all that, you know, all my family's involved with, with the keeping the gym active and things like that. You know, so I tried to keep it really positive there because everybody's around my family, you know. So once you're in my gym, you're really part of my family now, because you are friends with my sons, you're friends with my wife, you're friends with my mother. Imagine you're at selective, oh, you're you're getting kicked right out the gym. I don't agree with what you're doing. Like, I'm not putting up with the troublemaking stuff, I'll help you but I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna tolerate a bunch of, you know, shenanigans. No, no, no, no, no, I'm not gonna, I'm gonna help you get out of that. Because some people are stuck in that, like I said, they don't have another means of anything or whatever, we're taught nothing, we can work our way through. But if it comes to the point where you're just deliberately destructive, you know, and causing that I can't have that in my gym. I don't want to be part of it. I don't want my gym to stand for that for nobody, you know, like, the overall goal of the gym is just to help everybody become better. Yeah, that's it. Like I said, Not everybody's gonna be a world champion. You know, and, and I understand that, but my thing is like, this is doesn't mean I won't be part of your life. You know, you might be with me for three years. And I'm hoping that the time you're with me, I can impact you positively. And maybe when I bumped into you three years after that you might be married and have children and have a nice home. And that's the least I can do. Or at least hope everybody becomes successful and has a good, you know, good outcome with their life. far as my sons go back to that topic. Yeah, I raised all my sons in boxing, have a little one right now. He hasn't started competing yet. He'll be eight in October. His name's Albert. He's the firecracker. He's the baby. You know how they cute? Yeah, you know, but you know, they're challenging everybody being the baby of the family. Then my older son, he no longer competes and things like that. He's actually moved on. He's the Executive Director for the Athletic Commission for the state of Arizona. So he handles all the combat sports out there, you know, so his boxing background. He was always a little bit politically involved growing up, like like really into politics and just had that kind of mindset and very intelligent kid and stayed box until he was about 17 in Then from there we got kind of more involved into the like refereeing and judging and things like that with boxing got involved with USA boxing, like on like an Olympic level like being part of like the Olympic Committee or whatever they want to call it, something on the USA boxing team there. But then from there just opportunities opened up for him. You know, he got that got offered a position out there to do that with Athletic Commission. He moved on with that. My son Phillip, he just come back from Olympic trials. He's gonna be making his pro debut. And the next couple of years in LA, and now it's going to be in Phoenix. Oh, it's going to be in Phoenix Phoenix. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It'd be a phoenix. So it actually gets got postponed was supposed to be June 8. Things didn't work out. So it got postponed moved to July 27. So looking forward to that day for him. Yes. Then my then I got another son Angelo. He's actually very active in boxing as well. He's won quite quite
Zandra Polard 15:57
a few tournaments. Angelo, the one I see all the time.
Unknown Speaker 16:00
And those one had to cast on his arm just recently. Oh, okay. Okay, that's Angela. Okay, let's see, those boys also played baseball. So. So there's me as a boxer, I mean, boxing coach and the gym guy, you know, but I'm also a dad. So you're on the baseball field. Doing that, in fact, I leave tomorrow to Reno for a one week national. Okay, for baseball, you know, but me, I'm just motivated by whatever the kids are doing. You know, I try to try to stay absorbed, observed in involved as much as I can and what the kids are doing while they're kids, you know, so
Zandra Polard 16:28
this is going to air in July. So what's happening in July? Is there anything that listeners may want to know to show up for your son to support him? As the laws are, you
Unknown Speaker 16:41
know, open to the public.
Unknown Speaker 16:43
It's a it's a live event. It's a professional event? I'd say it's going to be hosted in Phoenix, Arizona. Oh, it's in Phoenix. So that's gonna be hosted in Phoenix, Arizona. There is a obviously a website and things like that nature. You know, Del Sol promotions is who's promoting it on all that you can find all their stuff on their website. As far as address and all those stuff if you want to come and check us out. All right. Phil Avella making his pro debut, Phillip Vela.
Zandra Polard 17:10
Yeah. And he's rooting for you, man.
Unknown Speaker 17:12
Phillip Phillips, uh, he's one of them. Kids, it's very hard work. You know, like, like, sometimes parents are always pushing their kids to be something and do something. I gotta say, with my kids, especially Phillip being one of them. It was 40% meat on the skin, excuse me. 60% Meat pushing 40% in Poland. And that makes a difference, you know, because sometimes you get wore out as a parent, you know? And then other times, I know. Sometimes when the kids show a little fire, you know, and a little tenacity and a little bit of hard work. It motivates you to do more for them. Absolutely. AMS and I'm blessed to have four good sons. And that's how they motivate me.
Zandra Polard 17:50
Now. Who is the one? I don't know if I missed it or not. But there's one sometimes he's helping to coach. That's Phillip. That's Phil. That's the one that's going to be fighting. Yes. Oh, he's awesome. Yes, that filler. Now, he's the one that is doing the Olympics.
Unknown Speaker 18:06
Yeah. Well, then he was in the Olympic trials in December. Trying Yeah, we didn't go our way out there. Okay. He did well, though. I mean, he has
Zandra Polard 18:13
I'm just trying to get it together in my mind because he I saw him actually doing some coaching. Yes, with my son while he was in the corner. And he was showing him some footwork. And I was like, wow, yeah, I was really impressed. Yeah, I've never seen him fight. I'm not into boxing. This is new for me. Yeah, again. So but I was definitely impressed. Wishing, wishing him all the best in his endeavors. But can you please tell us the name of your gym, where we can find it? And the phone number once again?
Unknown Speaker 18:47
That's undefeated. It's in Henderson, Nevada, at 671 Professional avenue, suite 515. Phone number 702-782-1804.
Zandra Polard 19:00
All right. So now I want to get into some other things. So we're talking about boxing. We're talking about being a parent. Yes. Your transition into coaching. Yes. What's next for you?
Unknown Speaker 19:15
You know what? I'm just highly motivated by what the kids are involved with. Like I'm, I don't really have a lot of selfish means. I'm just what are
Zandra Polard 19:24
you thinking about expanding the Jimmy? Oh, no,
Unknown Speaker 19:27
actually, oh, sorry. Actually, you just reminded me we always spend at the gym. The we're actually getting the building next to us in July sometime. So the gym is going to be getting is going to be getting bigger. Yes. As far as that. Yes. As far as like expanding is like a franchise or anything of that nature. Nothing like that. You know, like, I like to be involved. I'm not I don't do this for money. Let's just clarify that but you got to make money but you have to make money. Yeah. And like I say with with with boxing, like I've explained before. People don't just have a place where they can He's got boxes anytime they want or gym, you know, kids can play baseball, field baseball, there's baseball fields all around the state, here's, you know, all the time you kind of need a place to. And that's what I provide in a boxing gym, not a good good environment for everybody to to grow. And give me a chance to help. You know, I mean, I have kids in my gym that I trained, where I grew up with their parents when we were in elementary school, and now their kids are in my gym, and I'm training them and helping them just with it with whatever I can, you know, a little bit of a good hearted person when it comes to certain things. So I'm not that good of a businessman when it comes to the kids. You know what I mean? How do you tell kids that your parents didn't pay the dues? You can't come? You know, I mean, like, it's unfortunate, but that does happen sometimes. But you know, my family supports everything I do. I got a good wife who supports me and all the crazy things I come up with, you know, and in my kids as well, you know, haven't been a perfect parent, nor perfect coach, because of trying to balance the two out, you know, sometimes you get emotionally caught up in what you're doing. And I'm sure a lot of parents have when kids maybe are too young to understand, you know, and I've learned, you know, you learn and luckily for me, my kids obviously, don't hold no grudges on me for maybe things I've done to him. It's been a little hard. Yeah, you know, Oh, wow.
Zandra Polard 21:17
Thank you for that. I thank you for opening up because you know, you're never alone. You are never the only person in this world feeling as you do. So testimonials here are super big for me. So let's do a little bragging now. Okay, more bragging. Aside from your wonderful, beautiful wife and your fantastic kids. Tell us about some of the success stories that have come from your boxing gym? Um, because I've seen some belts on the wall. Oh, yeah, no, no. And I know there's some women boxing in there too yummy. Some stuff. So let's tell our listeners awesome. Oh, yeah, no,
Unknown Speaker 21:56
no, we definitely have had our fair share of winning. I'm not a braggart by no means. But you gotta brag. You do gotta brag. Yes. Okay. No, I mean, I have I have some kids that I've trained in the past year, so that they're all ranked in the top 10. Now, you know, some, a couple of them have moved on to other gyms and, you know, to go further their, their situation with whatever is best for them and their family. Which is fine by me. You know, like I say, my, my time with everybody is sincere, you know, and I can do it. It
Zandra Polard 22:27
doesn't always mean it's forever. No, no, it was always a season. Yes,
Unknown Speaker 22:31
yes, exactly. Exactly. Right. There's always a season and you know, it's the individuals themselves, you know, I'm just there every day, you know, so if you come there every day, and you're willing to show up and work and put in the work, I can help you, you know, but I can't do nothing without you putting in those efforts. You know, and I think that's another misconception when it comes to boxing is that people watch TV, and they see this, this coach that has all these champions, you know, and sometimes they're given this coach a lot of credit for what he did, but they're not realizing the person who let them train them and believe in them and stuck by their side, and let them learn all their mistakes as a coach on that individual who was maybe that boxer, when you see that for I see that a lot. You know, there's there's fighters who have 150 amateur fights and, and their coach is now now now their world champion and other coaches, one of the recognized coaches of how good of a coach he is, but without that person effort, without their effort, and then believing in that coach as well, that would never had a chance to be that person, you know, so nothing's ever, ever about you. And that's just the way it goes, you know, I know a lot of people in the world today they want to, they want to post stuff and make everything about them. Right? But take all the credit, but that's not how this world works. That's right. You know, like, like it takes two takes to to have a good relationship. You know, it takes good to to win a championship as a fighter and as a coach, you know, what I mean? In, in you each kind of benefit each other, you know, and take each other to another level, you know, so it's hard for me to brag about anything I've personally done, when a lot of these kids have achieved things on their own, you know, and then and then what I say my son's they show up every day, and they work out and do their thing. And they're a good example. They're a good example of what could happen if you let me coach you. Okay? Do you see what I mean? Because they're there and they're trained every day and they're with me every day. You can look at them and say, okay, the discipline this kid has what he's being taught. He's really, he's really advanced for his age, you know? That's, that's, that shows the person who's coming into my gym who wants to be the best in the world in two weeks, that in due time, you'll be good. You have to, you know, you have to dot all the i's and cross all the t's. That's right. You know,
Zandra Polard 24:49
I appreciate you coming on the show. I recognized your efforts. And I just wanted to, you know, put you out there a little bit. You know, I like some things that you've had to Say, I like the way that you are shaping my son to be a better man, aside from his own father, and I just think you know, I appreciate you. Yeah, thank you for coming on the show. Awesome. So that was Coach Danny Valley ya have undefeated in Henderson Nevada. You can find him on social media. If you are interested in the sport of boxing you or your kid it's there for you he's there for you. And as for me, you know you can always find me on 91.5 Jazz and more every Saturday at 7:30am and before I let you go you know I gotta hit him with a little bit of rocky hey, let's get that rocky song going man. Everyone ever energize Day All right. See you next week Bye?
Unknown Speaker 27:43
Stop
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