Last September, Park City boxing and martial arts gym, RISE Boxing, held its third annual charity boxing event, Mountain Mettle.
The event raised about $15,000 for the Parkinson’s disease community and RISE’s youth fighters in need of scholarship money.
The nearly $8,000 that went to the Parkinson’s community helped build an app called RISE Strong, which helps people with the disease plan their workouts. RISE founder and coach Maryguenn “Mg” Vellinga said anyone can use the app, not just people who are members of her gym.
RISE leads Parkinson’s classes because non-contact boxing has been shown to help improve the motor skills of those with the disease.
Since the app doesn’t cost much to upkeep, RISE will be fundraising entirely for their youth in need at this year’s Mountain Mettle on Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m. Because the former host venue for the event, The Corner Store Pub & Grill by Park City Mountain, recently changed ownership, Mountain Mettle will be held in RISE’s parking lot this year. Vellinga hopes the event will return to The Corner Store in the future.
“I would love to take it back to a prominent Park City location,” Vellinga said. “But I also like the idea of people having an opportunity to come into the gym, see the gym and know where we’re at, which is something I think we lost.”
Vellinga said fundraising for youth in need at RISE is important because it helps the gym be more reflective of the demographics of Park City. She said the gym modeled their youth scholarship program off the Park City Community Foundation’s Youth United program, which helps offer sporting and other opportunities to kids in Park City and Summit County. Vellinga said a little-known expense in combat sports is the cost of travel to competitions like Mountain Mettle.
There will be 20 fights on Saturday night across various age groups. Villenga didn’t have the fight card in front of her Wednesday night because she was busy coaching and helping some fighters get final preparations for the event, but she believes there will be fighters from ages 8 up to 36. There will be six fighters in Mountain Mettle, including Juliana Lucero, Kevin Alexis and Jesús Gradle, who were training Wednesday night.
The three are confident they’ll win Saturday. Lucero, 14 years old, will be fighting for the first time, which Villenga said is a big accomplishment in itself because, in boxing, you can’t fight until you reach a certain level, and Gradle predicts a knockout victory in his first Mountain Mettle fight.
“I know for sure I’m knocking this guy out,” Gradle said. “This camp has been really hard. I’ve been getting my 100% every day. The coaches here push you hard, but it’s so we can give the best performance to the people. And we’re doing it for a good cause, too.”
Tickets for Mountain Mettle are $20 for adults, $10 for kids 6 and older, and there are also group packages. To buy tickets or to learn more about the event and RISE, see the gym’s website: riseboxing.com/events/event-one-5pmbj-w2lt9.