Crushers Club Reshapes Englewood Men

Martavier Lover, who recently turned 19 years old, attends the Crushers Club, an Englewood youth organization that cultivates young men through boxing skills, respect, discipline, ownership and love. Photo Credit: Christopher Shuttlesworth
Martavier Lover, who recently turned 19 years old, attends the Crushers Club, an Englewood youth organization that cultivates young men through boxing skills, respect, discipline, ownership and love. Photo Credit: Christopher Shuttlesworth

Crushers Club Reshapes briefly Englewood Men

Crushers Club is an Englewood youth organization created in 2015 to help serve young men by restoring their lives mentally and emotionally through daily boxing sessions and four ideals— respect, discipline, ownership and love.

Sally Hazelgrove, President of Crushers Club, located on 1406 W. 64th St., said it has always been her dream to build something for young men

to prevent them from dying or going into the jail system. Hazelgrove explained that Crushers Club has served as a safe haven for each of the 40 young men who come daily, especially for the youth on probation.

“The Club is youth operated with 22 young men on the payroll and six on the leadership program,” Hazelgrove said. “This place is a way for them to stay safe, out of trouble and to find their purpose.

Our number one rule is no gang banging, so you don’t have to have a hard exterior in here.”

One young man named Jamari Edwards said what led him to Crushers Club was a “stupid mindset” and his probation officer who allowed him

to see how great the organization was.

“I like it here because everyone is cool, calm and no one is jumping around or arguing and fighting,” Edwards said. “I be mad sometimes (sic), but when I get in [Crushers Club], I’m cool with everyone. So, they ask me ‘what’s wrong?’ and that calms me down because I see that they care enough to ask me.”

Hazelgrove said the young men have shown her that the toughest young men who are committing crimes can actually turn it around and show their gifts to help them move on, get off of probation and

have secondary life choices like college.

“Youth aren’t defined by their actions or the crimes they do,” said Hazelgrove. “These kids are some of the most amazing young men who are full of love, humor, hope and they just want to feel valued like everyone else.”

Martavier Lover, who recently turned 19 years old, explained that he was ordered to begin probation due to a car theft when he was only 15 years old.

Lover said his juvenile probation officer first introduced him to Crushers Club at 17 years old and Lover says since then, he has learned to be more

responsible, mature and humble.

“You get assigned different jobs every day,” he said. “Sometimes we train and mentor the younger kids during [boxing sessions] or clean up the place.”

Hazelgrove said her dream is to give young men in Englewood hope so that they can live to be able to have choices after they’re 18.

“I always tell them that the way you think now, is not how you will think five years from now because our brains change,” she said. “I don’t believe that they are evil when they are young and committing shootings. I believe it comes from the need to belong.”

Hazelgrove said Crushers Club will continue to be a vital source for Englewood youth to be loved and cared for. For more information, visit http://crushersclub.org/.

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