February 6, 2008

Providing support through boxing

Couple helps folks learn to box

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Every year for the State of the City breakfast, San Jose’s 10 city council members choose a person or group to honor. Last year’s District 9 honors went Irene Jimenez and Hortencia Garcia. The two have been active in organizing the Donna Lane neighborhood.

Vice Mayor Judy Chirco and her staff pose behind the Dreamland Boxing team including Maria and Sarge Neeleman, seated on the right, owners and operators of the organization that provides guidance and training for young people. Chirco honored the organization for its service to young people. Photo by Carol Rosen

This year, newly elected Vice Mayor Judy Chirco honored David and Marge Neeleman for their commitment to positive youth development through the Dreamland Boxing organization they founded 13 years ago.

With over 55 years of experience, Dreamland Boxing endeavors to provide, along with USA Boxing, professional champions, Olympic medalists and amateur champions, as part of its team and support structure, to give young people the best training and guidance offered.

The San Jose Training center at 2047 Woodard Road is home to students who have gone on to becoming boxing champions and Olympic medalists. Hundred have learned skills that have kept them out of trouble and off the streets.

The 15 instructors are all volunteers and are certified by USA Boxing. There is no enrollment and students pay whatever they can. The nonprofit is open Monday – Friday from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. to offer kids a chance to fulfill their dreams.

It’s also the fulfilled dream of David (Sarge) and Maria Neeleman, a couple who have had boxing in their lives since they were children. Both have fathers who boxed. Even though Sarge was more interested in baseball, “with a little persuasion, it became fun for me.”

Maria’s father was a contender and she got to watch him fight on Friday evenings. “Those, and many more memories of fun times with my dad, built in me the appreciation for the ‘sweet science.’ If girls were allowed to box way back then I probably would have become a good boxer. My dad was a good teacher and we had fun putting on the gloves and mixing it up. My dad is the one who chose the name Dreamland Boxing,” she said.

Years after she and Sarge married, they began talking about helping others through boxing. “We worked with youth on a small scale for awhile, providing a way for many young and older people, to fulfill their dreams through boxing. We were successful, but we knew we needed to open a gym that would provide a place to train and allow many more to fulfill their dreams and goals through boxing. We agreed to take our life savings, re-finance our home, and take a chance on opening up a place, nonprofit, staffed with volunteers, who also wanted to give back to the sport they loved. We knew we had to try.”

Today, the community has benefited because of Dreamland Boxing,” Marie says. “It is a place for families, fun, exercise, competition, offered in a structured, disciplined environment that produces champions in boxing, and champions in life. “

The club is a certified member of USA Amateur Boxing International, Inc. that reaches out to the public through Pro-Am boxing instruction. All coaches are certified by USA Boxing and Dreamland Boxing specializes in amateur boxing, pro boxing, fitness boxing, and self defense for men and women of all ages, instructing beginning, intermediate, and advanced.

For more information about the club, visit www.dreamlandboxing.org or call (408) 377- 1748.