Stay Focused

Written by Joseph Fromuth

Spoken by Shakeem Hodge

Atop the stairs to the second floor of 470 Schuylkill Avenue in Reading stands a life-size sculpture of a knight, a nod to the high school team’s mascot. His presence suggests images of combat and chivalry, beyond mere fighting to the ideals of brotherhood and self-discipline. At Star City Boxing, the message is similar, but the imagery takes a different form.  

Noise fills all areas of the gym. Punching bags, treadmills, barbells, a boombox, an end-of-round signal. Go back downstairs, and you can still hear everything going on. 

Shakeem Hodge is at the gym whenever it’s open and holds a kids’ class on Sunday mornings at 11:00. Nevertheless, several kids come during the evening anyway. One of them comes into the ring, bashing his gloved hands against a padded mitt. Hodge can’t help but smile as he takes some jabs.  

Another kid may be young, but he is already looking like a professional, with two-color shorts and developed abs. He gets several punches in as well. 

A sign at the front of the room reads: “Never give up, GREATNESS takes time.” 

Shakeem was born in Brooklyn and moved to Delaware before arriving in Reading. As a personal trainer, he knew that he wanted to check out Star City Boxing. People kept talking about it, which led to his reaching out to gym owner Alex Betances. Betances then invited Shakeem over to the gym and agreed to let him use it for training others. 

In the weeks prior to and during our interviews, a wave of shootings in the northwestern section of Reading, where Star City Boxing is located, made headlines. Despite the risks of violent activity, gym members stay focused on progressing toward their goals. “They’re taking everything one day at a time, we never get distracted, we’re on a mission, so you’ve got to stay focused, no matter what’s going on around you,” Shakeem states. 

Neither the violence nor the traffic (Star City is on a one-way street) deters out-of-towners from taking lessons with Shakeem. “I bring another side of me not just to Reading. I bring them from Sinking Spring, Wyomissing, Mohnton… I’m obviously not going to slow down.” 

Aside from training young boxers, Shakeem also takes the time to make motivational speaking efforts at various high schools in the area, including Wilson High School, where he shares what he has learned from his teenage life. 

“If you wanna be a full-time boxer, or take boxing so seriously, you can’t have one foot in the gym, you can’t have one foot out of it, you gotta have two feet in the gym. To be great in the sport, it doesn’t come without sacrifices and things like that. But if you really wanna do this, that’s the things you gotta do.” 

Shakeem doesn’t seem to mind the sacrifices. Boxing is his life, and he’s always ready to do more for those he trains.