KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The first jabs landed politely, like the boxing students were tapping the punching bags on the shoulders instead of pummeling them.
Then the music started blasting -- hard, driving beats, the kind that push everyone in the club onto the dance floor. Ronnell "Bigg Ron" Jones, an aptly named wall of a man, barked instructions over the music.
"Jab, right-handed! Jab, right-handed! Jab, right-handed! Who's the champ?"
"I'm the champ," a couple of kids called out meekly.
"I don't believe you. I don't believe you," Bigg Ron goaded. "WHO'S THE CHAMP?"
"I'M THE CHAMP!" 14 teenagers cried out in one voice.
As Annie Beurman punched at the bag in front of her, she couldn't help but think: "Nobody better mess with me."
The new Fight Club classes at Title Boxing Club in Prairie Village, Kan., are free to teens who are being bullied, teens wanting to stand up for friends being bullied and any teen needing to let off a little steam.
Annie Beurman, 14, of Olathe, Kan., punches a bag during Fight Club at Title Boxing in Prairie Village. Fight club is a new anti-bullying program for the Kansas City area.
Debbie Garelli, owner of Carolina Karate in Mount Pleasant, says instructors there teach anti-bullying techniques in all regular curriculums, summer camps and in community classes.
"It gives them a lot of self-confidence and teaches them tools they can use throughout their lives, self-value, self-worth ... so they feel great about who they are."
Holly Reynolds, who started Fight Club, said it is about getting fit, feeling strong and fighting the good fight.
Todd Carroll, owner of Japan Karate Institute, which is part of an organization of four schools in the Charleston area, also teaches anti-bullying techniques and develops programs locally working within schools to help educate about how to identify and handle bullying situations.
Prevention can be as simple as understanding and being aware of what a bullying situation is, saying he's come to realize that bullying isn't a rite of passage for children and it is a "very serious problem that shouldn't be ignored."
The victims also should know that it's not their fault they are being bullied. "We try to empower the victim to be able to speak up about the situation and to give them avenues of being able to go out and seek assistance from adults."
"Also empower the bystanders who may have witnessed the bullying going on to try to encourage them and give them the self-confidence to go out and to help others -- not necessarily standing up with them to the bully, but being able to go to the person and to help that person seek out help."
Reynolds knows the pain of being bullied. Growing up in Kansas City, she was a target in high school, as was a friend who was harassed about his sexual orientation.
Bullying is such a huge problem that "we're not hoping to change the world," Reynolds said. "Just at least create that spark."
Shannon Brigham of The Post and Courier contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2012/feb/20/boxingteens/
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