Local youth boxing program searches for new home

The heavy bags are rolled up, the ring is quiet, and somewhere in Paso Robles a garage-turned-gym's worth of boxing equipment is waiting for a new address.

Impact Boxing Outreach, a free boxing program that has served Paso Robles youth and families for roughly eight years, is searching for a new home after the lease on its most recent facility ended, the Paso Robles Daily News reported. KSBY News also covered the program's search this week, bringing the gym's plight to a wider Central Coast audience.

For the dozens of kids who laced up gloves each week, the closure means more than missed workouts. It means the pause of a program that has quietly become a second home for many North County families.

From a Garage to a Full Gym

The program's origin story is a classic Paso Robles tale of starting small. Founded by Marcus Rostro about eight years ago, Impact Boxing Outreach began in a garage, expanded into a parking lot, and eventually grew to fill its most recent facility, according to the organization's website and Facebook page.

Along the way, it grew into something bigger than a gym. The program now serves more than 80 youth and families, with 50 to 60 participants showing up each week, the organization says. Its stated mission — "Build Relationships, Strengthen Individuals and Impact Families & Communities by teaching values and boxing fundamentals" — reads less like a sports slogan and more like a neighborhood covenant.

Classes are open to all abilities, ages 5 and up, including adults, and parents are encouraged to train alongside their children. Sessions mix strength training and circuit-style stations focused on conditioning, mitt work, and footwork — the kind of sweaty, structured routine that coaches say teaches discipline as much as footwork.

The program also works to lower every barrier it can. It provides primary boxing equipment, and a "50/50 gloves" program covers half the cost of a new pair for participants who want their own. The price of admission has always been the same: nothing.

What It Takes to Reopen

Keeping the program free is the organizing principle behind the search. According to the organization, reopening requires two things: 5,000–10,000 square feet of commercial space in Paso Robles, and $7,000 per month in operating pledges to keep the doors open.

The group is also running a "Gym Upgrade 2026" campaign with a $60,000 goal — enough, according to its donation page, to cover a full year of rent in a new facility. Regular training sessions remain on hold until a location is secured.

The ask is modest by commercial real estate standards, but in a tight North County rental market, square footage with the right ceiling height, ventilation, and floor space for a ring isn't easy to come by — especially when the budget depends on community pledges rather than deep-pocketed backers.

Why It Matters in Paso Robles

In a town better known for wine tasting rooms than boxing gyms, Impact Boxing Outreach has filled a gap that few other programs address. Free, year-round youth athletics with a values-based curriculum is a rare commodity anywhere on the Central Coast — and rarer still in a format that pulls parents onto the mat alongside their kids.

For families in north Paso Robles and the surrounding area, the gym has functioned as an after-school anchor: a place where a 5-year-old learning to stand in a stance and a teenager working the heavy bags share the same space, and where the lesson plan extends well beyond the jab.

Programs like this tend to measure their impact in increments — a kid who shows up more consistently, a parent who trains beside a son or daughter, a community that rallies when the gym needs it most. That last measure is now being put to the test.

How the Community Can Help

The organization is asking residents to pitch in three ways, according to the Paso Robles Daily News:

• Become a monthly partner at $25, $50, or $100 per month, or make a one-time gift. Impact Boxing Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so donations are tax-deductible.
• Send property leads — if you know a landlord or spot a vacant commercial space that might fit, make an introduction.
• Spread the word to local business owners who might have space, funds, or both.

Anyone with a facility lead can reach the program at [email protected] or through its website. Updates on a new location and a return date will be posted on the program's website and social media channels.

A Gym Waiting to Bounce Back

If the last eight years are any guide, this is a program that knows how to grow into whatever space it's given — from a single garage to a parking lot to a full facility. The next chapter just needs an address.

For now, the gloves are packed and the kids are waiting. Whether Impact Boxing Outreach gets back to work in the coming months depends on the same thing that built it in the first place: a Paso Robles community willing to step in.

If you can help — with space, with a monthly pledge, or simply with a phone call to a landlord you know — this is the moment. Somewhere in town there's 5,000 square feet that could become the next home for 80 kids and families who are ready to get back to work.