Chris Valentine stroked his patchy beard as he stared out the window of the gym.
"I don't play anywhere right now, but I will be next year," he said.
The strength and conditioning coach at Crenshaw Boxing Club in Leimert Park intends on making a football comeback. Valentine, 25, uses the facility to supplement his football workouts. He may play for a junior college or a four-year school next year. Semi-pro and professional ball are also potential options for the diminutive defensive back.
Valentine relocated to South Los Angeles from Chicago this past winter. He works at Crenshaw Boxing Club to rake in income, and he has enrolled in boxing classes at the facility. In the process, he has become a student of the sport.
"I'm still learning how to control myself and breathe and understand that a boxing match is different than a fight," he said. "It's not a fight. It's a dance."
Boxing is a mindset. A chess match. A marathon.
"When I'm in the ring right now, my mind is wired for a fight. So I fatigue fast," he said. "I put my hands up. I'm fighting, so I'm going like it's war instead of maybe slowing down. But that comes with time--experience. The more you do it, the better you get."
Valentine's grasp of the sport is growing every day, just as his conditioning for his football career is improving.
"The end goal is just to get to a point where conditioning is not an issue," he said.
Although his primary sport is football, Valentine acknowledges that boxing's benefits are undeniable for virtually any serious athlete.
"You use the same footwork in boxing that you do in basketball, that you do in football, that you would use in soccer," he said.
To an extent, Crenshaw Boxing Club has enabled Valentine to embrace the uncertainty surrounding his future on the football field. He does not know where he will be playing at this time next year, but he knows that he will show up to his first practice session in incredible shape.
"Somewhere I will be playing," he said, nodding his head as he seemingly began to visualize himself in a Los Angeles Rams uniform. "The time is ticking."
Valentine has immersed himself in the rigorous yet rewarding curriculum provided by this cozy gym. Surrounded by fast food joints and a tobacco shop, Crenshaw Boxing Club may not physically stand out. But the health-oriented outlier in this pocket of South LA serves as a positive influence for the community, especially for the younger demographic.
As a trainer at the facility, Valentine has become a mentor to those in their formative years.
"What I like is when a young kid who needs some discipline who's not getting it at home or at school comes in and gets it here. We have a lot of that," he said.
While boxing has proved to be a learning experience for Valentine, he has also found himself playing the role of instructor when kids come in for strength and conditioning work.
"I do have kids that come in and love the science of understanding kinesiology and their body," he said. "That's neat."
Professional boxer Andrae Carthron, who also trains at the facility, explained that the gym's uniqueness stems not only from its intimate feel but also from its kid-friendly atmosphere.
"Right here, kids can actually walk around, put some gloves on and think they are the next big thing," Carthron said. "This gym, it's going to be a place of world champions."
The gym's motto reads: "Put down the guns. Pick up the gloves."
The motto is not blindly positive. It's not merely some catchy slogan. It represents a serious fight against crime in Leimert Park. According to data collected by the Los Angeles Times, Leimert Park claims the ninth-highest spot in the violent crime rankings of all 272 cities in Los Angeles County.
"In the low socioeconomic scale, people don't value life as much as they should," Valentine said.
Valentine praised Crenshaw Boxing Club for its mission. He pointed out that boxing serves as a safe forum in which emotions and frustration can be released.
"You get it out right there," he said. "You don't hold no punches. You don't hold it and build bitterness--because that's when you start plotting. Next thing you know, you're driving down somebody's street shooting them up."