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Boxer Michael Carryl finds that thinking out of the box boosts teens’ confidence

Jul 30, 2010 Sports

Michael Carryl, the president of the Long Island Amateur Boxing and Charities, is hopeful more than 500 boxers will participate in his Lawrence, L.I., tournament next month.
Michael Carryl got sanctioned this week, and he could not be happier. The 44-year-old of West Hempstead, L.I., is president of the Long Island Amateur Boxing and Charities, a group he started five years ago to bring boxing to West Hempstead teenagers.
Carryl found out this week that his fifth annual Long Island Amateur Boxing Championships had finally been sanctioned by the USA Boxing, the sport’s governing body.
That means the event can take off as scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 12 through Aug. 21 at the Five Towns Community Center in Lawrence, L.I.
A good thing, too, because last year some 300 boxers from across the country, ages 8 to 35, laced up gloves for the tournament. Carryl is expecting similar numbers this year, with fighters competing in flyweight to super heavyweight divisions.
“Two years ago we had teams come from Jamaica and Aruba,” Carryl said. “This year we’ve already had queries from Russia and Canada. So the tournament is growing.”
A former Daily News Golden Gloves boxer, he twice made it to the quarterfinals of the competition in 1989 and 1995. Carryl, who holds a master’s degree in exercise physiology from Columbia University’s Teacher’s College, said he planned the tournament for August because many amateur boxers are students and out of school at that time.
Boxing helps with concentration and self-confidence, Carryl said, two traits young people need to make their way in today’s world.  But he’s not sure what drew him to the “sweet science.”  “I’ve tried to psychoanalyze why I like boxing so much, and if you have a few days I might be able to come up with an answer,” Carryl said. “Why do some people like to drive fast cars? I don’t know!”
But he knows, and loves, that in the ring “this is me, and me alone. No teammates. Just me. Maybe it’s the challenge. I’ve always walked my own way in life.”
Born in Linden, Guyana, Carryl’s parents immigrated to New York with their 12 children in 1981 in pursuit of a better life.  It worked – 10 of the12 children have college degrees, including two medical doctors and three engineers.
Boxing had long been a part of Carryl’s life.  “It must be in my blood,” he said. “I remember, back in Guyana, going to the national boxing coach for help organizing a match between two high schools in Linden,” he said.
But Carryl didn’t make it to the match – a Seventh-Day Adventist, he was not about to risk his father’s wrath by boxing on the Sabbath.
Carryl boxed with several Queens clubs and after graduating Springfield High School, he organized a boxing club at SUNY Stony Brook.
“There is just something in my blood that makes me want to organize stuff,” he said.
Carryl graduated from Stony Brook with an associate’s degree in biochemistry and then went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy from York College and his master’s at Columbia.
“I did all that while I was boxing,” Carryl said. “The only thing that stopped me was I had the sickle cell trait.”   Sickle cell anemia is a blood disorder that primarily affects people of African descent.  “Right away, you got tired,” Carryl said of boxing with the ailment. “After a round I was finished.”
A move to West Hempstead had Carryl coaching boxers at that town’s Kennedy Park. That’s when he came up with the idea for the tournament.  “I started the tournament really to establish a scholarship fund to help young boxers toward their education,” he said. “It started, in 2006, as 17 bouts in one night. The second year we had three nights, with over 150 boxers.” Prizes include belts, trophies and sweat suits. Several boxers are given the $1,000 scholarships.  “Our goal this year is to have over 500 boxers, and I think we are going to make that goal,” Carryl said.
For more information go to the Web site, www.liamateurboxing.com.
(Article published in the New York Daily News)

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