Lydell Spry Uses Boxing To Teach Youths Life’s Lessons

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By Gail Wood

south sound trucksAt first glance, it looks like any other workout for young boxers as they throw punches at a bag, jump rope or spar in a ring.

But, Lydell Spry will tell you, there’s more going on. The boxing is only the carrot, the lure. Education, teaching life’s lessons, that’s the key. That’s why for the past 14 years, Spry has worked with youth in Thurston County, mixing jabs with advice.

Partnering with the Thurston County Sherriff’s Department, Spry, once an Olympic hopeful in boxing, is the coach and director of the Thurston County Police Athletic League, or TCPAL. It’s a mentoring program that was started in New York City in 1915 and is now in over 3,000 communities across the country.

“It’s not just about punching someone on the side of the head,” Spry said.

olympia youth boxing
Lydell Spry discovered boxing as a 13-year-old growing up in Los Angeles. A policeman brought him to a gym throughout that first summer.

Under Spry’s direction, with his reminders about working hard, pushing yourself and being on time, boxing teaches responsibility, accountability and reliability.

“You have to have those three pieces in life to be successful in anything,” Spry said. “If you’re not accountable, reliable, responsible… if you don’t have those pieces, what are you worth to the company, to the place you work?”

Wearing black padded gloves on each hand, Spry instructs his students on one-two punching combinations. Left. Right. Left. Teacher and student drip with sweat. The students learn about pushing themselves and about not making excuses. The combinations come without rest.

“We teach that you can’t quit because you don’t like something,” Spry said. “Or you don’t like your school. Or your math class. It’s not negotiable.”

He works with 40 youths during the day in a gym he rents near South Puget Sound Community College. As Spry teaches how to throw punches, he’s also teaching how to make the right decisions. Sometimes, Spry teaches his students, you have to do something you don’t always like.

“You have to understand. It’s not about punching someone,” Spry said. “It’s about leaning responsibility, accountability and reliability.”

olympia youth boxing
Lydell Spry gathers a group of his boxing students in his gym near South Puget Sound Community College.

Four days a week – Monday through Thursday – Spry teaches boxing throughout the day. He has a 90-minute workout session in the morning and two workouts in the evening. On Oct. 18 – 19, Spry will host a boxing tournament that he anticipates will draw about 75 boxers from throughout the Northwest. Tickets are $16 for adults, $13 for military. Saturday’s sessions go from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 – 10:00 p.m. on Oct. 18. The championship bouts start at noon on Sunday.

Spry’s passion is to have an impact on the youth in Thurston County, to be a good influence and help shape lives.

“The program is to reach underserved boys and girls in the community, not only youth at risk,” Spry said. “We get all those folks together along with all the ones who are doing very well in school. We put them all together. We call that cross pollination.”

Spry, who grew up in in Los Angeles, knows the importance of mentoring through sports. When he was in eighth grade, a policeman brought Spry to a boxing gym. The sights, sounds and smells captured him. Throughout the summer of 1972, that policeman picked up a 13-year-old Spry at his home and took him to the gym for a boxing workout.

Because of a policeman’s concern, Spry got some insightful mentoring. Now, Spry is trying to provide that same guidance. He’s wanting to steer lives away from crime and toward productive avenues, but he knows he can’t do it alone.

olympia youth boxing
Lydell Spry teaches more than just a right-left-right combination.

“It’s our program,” he said. “It’s not my program. I need help with this.”

Spry’s lifelong infatuation with boxing turned him into an Olympic hopeful when he was a member of the elite U.S. Army’s boxing team that took him around the world. Following a 21-year career in the Army, Spry got into coaching boxing, first with the Tacoma Boys Club, then with Fort Lewis and then with the South Sound YMCA Olympia Downtown branch. After holding kids boxing workouts in his garage for several years, Spry began conducting workouts in a gym near South Puget Sound Community College and started a program through PAL.

Everyone wants to be a winner. But not everyone is willing to do the things to become a winner. Spry is the prod that helps youths realize their dreams.

“In order to be a winner you have to get ready,” Spry said.

That means be ready to train hard. That even means be ready to lose.

“You teach them at a young age how to be prepared,” Spry said. “You be ready for tomorrow today. If I have to tell you to get ready, it’s too late.”

It’s just another lesson Spry teaches along with how to throw a left jab.

 

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