In the Elite Boxing gym on the city's east side. They are fighting to keep kids from going down the wrong path.
“A lot of these kids come from broken homes and broken backgrounds for the most part. I came from a single-parent home. My mom struggled to raise me. I can relate to most of these kids,” said coach Rashad Scott.
“An idle mind is the devil’s playground. A lot of these kids are just hanging out,” said Ephraim Washington Laidley, part-owner of Elite Boxing.
So far this year in Columbus, five kids have been murdered. Seven juveniles are suspects in a murder.
“We create programs and things that fix those versus creating an opportunity to put those in jail. That's the difference. We prevent the issue from happening further,” Laidley said.
The whole goal here is to keep kids out of trouble and off the streets. One of the boxers here tells me he doesn't know where he would be without this program.,” Laidley said.
“I don't know if I'd be in jail, on the streets, this keeps on the right track,” said student, Aaron Granger.
Granger was one of the first kids to sign up for the program.
“These are my coaches, but I see them more as father figures, all of them,” Granger said.
Granger explains he's learned self-respect and discipline that will carry him forward, outside of the ring.
“Try to get the kids to understand we are creatures of habits. Whatever you habitually do is what you become. If you are working on good habits, that's what you'll become,” Scott said.