There were several important accomplishments to celebrate at Garland’s Ninth Street Boxing Gym Saturday, May 20. Mayor Scott LeMay, former Mayor Lori Dodson, as well as council members Deborah Morris, Carissa Dutton, Margaret Lucht, Dylan Hedrick, Chris Ott and Jeff Bass were there to recognize the achievements of five boxing program students. Some received scholarships that were funded by Greg Fowler at Taco Casa, Jeff Karnuth from AAI Trophies and Linda Price.
Retired GPD officer Dave Swavey, who founded the boxing program over 25 years ago, praised the students for their hard work and dedication as he introduced them.
Mary Jane Zapata
Swavey said that Mary Jane is an inspiration to everyone. She gets to the gym early in the morning and stays there late in the evening. Mary Jane joined the gym two years go and will soon begin training to become a city jail detention officer. After two years, Mary Jane hopes to become a police officer.
Mary Jane said that everyone at the gym has helped her. She added that before going to the gym, she didn’t feel that she would be able to have a good career. But because of the people there, Mary Jane feels that she can.
Alex Espinoza
Alex started boxing at the age of 8 but initially wasn’t interested in it.
“I wanted to play soccer,” Alex said. “I wasn’t good at boxing at first and I kept getting beat up.”
Swavey wasn’t sure that Alex was going to stay with the program. But things began to change after a while.
“He never quits, never complains, stays late, gets here early, is always willing to help,” Swavey said. “He’s worked so hard to get to where he is.”
Alex is the first boxer from the gym to become a national Gold Glove champion as well as the first to qualify for the Olympic trials.
Celia Ornelas
Swavey said that Celia started coming to the gym in a bassinet. Her brother, who now has a degree in engineering, boxed at the gym before Celia was able to walk. She started working out at the age of 6.
Celia, the South Garland High School 2023 Valedictorian, will attend the University of Texas-Dallas and major in biology. When she graduates, she plans to go to medical school and become an anesthesiologist.
There is no doubt that she will be successful. She is a determined young woman who isn’t afraid of hard work.
Chris Espinoza
Chris and his siblings started going to the gym when they were young children, and being in the program has been important to them.
“It’s helped me stay on track at school and do good things,” he said. “I never wanted to get in trouble at school because I knew it wasn’t just my parents who would get mad at me. They [his parents] were going to bring it up with Officer Swavey, Officer Chris and Coach Americo. That definitely kept me out of trouble.”
Chris will go to Texas Tech this fall to study nursing. His goal is to become a traveling nurse.
Abriana Avilas
Abriana has already won first place titles in her weight class. In addition, she has been invited to go to the national junior Olympics to fight. Swavey said that there has been talk about her being invited to one of the training camps in Colorado.
In a previous interview, Abriana said that she has a “don’t give up” mentality which helps in all aspects of life.
She is a sophomore at Garland High School and has been boxing for seven years. Abriana’s siblings participate in the boxing program and that made her want to join.