Floyd Mayweather, are you reading this? The Penn State Boxing Club needs your help. After traveling to West Point to compete in the ECBA regional tournament, the club team qualified six boxers for the national tournament in Miami, Florida. The team sacrificed its spring break to chase this goal, putting in two practices a day while the majority of students rested at home. They went into West Point with six fighters and all six made it to nationals, a truly outstanding accomplishment.

The competition is only a couple weeks away, running from April 10 to 12. Unfortunately, the team has run into a bit of a roadblock when it comes to funding the trip. The cost of airfare, hotels, and other travel expenses makes the trip financially unfeasible. The trip stretches across four days and three nights, and the team is desperate for funding in order to make these season-long dreams come true.

The club is turning to alumni, friends, family, and anyone else they can in order to gather donations to fund the trip. “We are calling out to our Penn State community to desperately help us raise money for the team,” said club president and competitor Chris Strauss.

Club teams like boxing run into these problems because they are unable to access the same level of funding as their fully-fledged NCAA counterparts. This makes sense for most club sports but college boxing is in a unique position as a longtime NCAA sport that eventually found itself turned into a club sport. It seems unfair that a sport as historical and popular as boxing cannot receive the NCAA treatment, often leaving promising young boxers to look elsewhere to further their careers.

If you wish to help out the team as they attempt to make their dreams into reality, then send donations to the address below. You can also contact the president, Chriss Strauss, at [email protected].

Penn State Club Sports
c/o Boxing Club
143 White Building
University Park, PA 16802

Image: Michael Misciagno/Onward State