After five years in the community, co-owner Fernando Garcia said Conroe Pound 4 Pound Boxing continues to instill a competitive spirit in young boxers.

The gym specializes in competitive boxing training for students as young as 7 years old through adulthood. Daily training includes cardio training, such as jump rope and running, as well as a circuit consisting of heavy punching bags, double end bags and speed bags.

Fernando and his wife Dalia opened the gym in 2011 after a boxing gym in which their four children were enrolled relocated to The Woodlands—leaving a handful of local students without a nearby gym to train.

“We opened up just for our boys at first, but then there were a lot of the other kids that used to train at that gym back in the day that wanted to join,” Dalia said. “We didn’t know how [to operate a business], so we learned how to open up our own boxing gym, registered with USA Boxing, and went around and got permits. That is how we got started.”

The gym first entered the competitive fray in 2013. Since then its boxing team has participated in about 36 competitions per year. Tournaments are coordinated through Gulf Boxing, an association of 78 regional boxing gyms.

Dalia said it takes about a year to learn proper footwork and punching techniques before a boxer is considered ready to enter a competition. After that, the gym expects competitors to train diligently before participating in a tournament.

“If they are not dedicated to the sport, we are not just going to throw them in the ring because the kids from other gyms train hard,” Dalia said. “They need to be training 30 days straight before the tournament. If they are just training two days per week they are not competing because their safety is our main concern.”

To improve safety, Fernando said he teaches boxers proper footwork and movement skills, rather than encouraging them to simply brawl.

“I teach my fighters to move. They just throw their punches; then [when other boxers] try to counterpunch, they are not there to get hit anymore,” Fernando said.

Gym members also keep each other motivated. The camaraderie that has formed among them has helped the gym succeed, the owners said.

“Everybody that comes in or leaves [the gym] shakes hands first,” Dalia said. “They motivate each other to train. They go and they run as a group; they train with each other; they do pushups and sit-ups together. It is just good sportsmanship.”

Although a majority of the gym’s boxers compete in tournaments, Dalia said the gym also provides a recreational and fitness avenue for noncompetitive members.

“We get grown-ups in here that sometimes have medical problems like diabetes or high cholesterol, or they just want to get back in shape.”