CLEVELAND — Jabs breaking out in the school cafeteria might catch you off guard, but when it comes to Coach Jerome Turner and the kids he’s working with inside the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, it’s by design.
"I'm not trying to turn you into a boxer. What I'm trying to do is turn you into a model citizen,” Turner said about his GLOVES mentoring program, which stands for: Getting Leaders Organized Vision Education and Strategy.
I met the coach’s family at a local park and got invited to learn how the program is retraining the minds and behaviors of young men and women.
Last week, I showed up at John Marshall High School and found Turner and his students on a theater-style stage in the cafeteria, practicing hits and combinations.
“There’s no excuses at all,” said Jerome Melton, a freshman.
The tough hits are teaching students like Melton, freshman Jahzir Pace, and senior Sean Goins self-control, confidence, the courage to see life differently and walk in peace.
“I don't always need to get mad about everything. There are other ways to handle it… learning how to cope with my anger,” Pace said.
Goins said he and the other students are working on themselves and showing youth in a different light.
“Where we can actually learn how to build something together and also build discipline as well,” Goins said. “Because it's a lot of that going on already—where it's just senseless violence.”
Turner said success starts with listening.
“And I learned when I give them a platform to speak and I sit back and I don't judge them, I don't point the finger, they open up,” Turner said.
Turner said he wanted to bring the program to CMSD because he’s seen too many teenagers lose their way. He said he’s a former CMSD employee who worked in the planning center, which helps students solve and develop appropriate school and classroom behaviors. He also volunteers at the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center.
“I get to talk to a lot of young men and young women who made decisions in the spirit of the moment, and it cost them a few decades of their life,” Turner said.
Which is why he’s now teaching not only his students, but his own children, that trauma and anger don’t justify self-harm or taking it out on others.
"Let's use the boxing to get out the aggression,” Turner said. "And while they're punching that pad, it's therapy—they're telling you their problems."
Every punch and every combination is setting a new rhythm.
“Did you ever kind of figure out where that anger was coming from?" I asked Melton.
“Me not getting what I wanted to get,” Melton said. “I just feel like I was being treated unfairly, from mostly everybody, even though I was being treated fairly, but in my mind at the time, it wasn't clicking.”
Melton said GLOVES and Coach Turner have changed his trajectory in life.
“He got not only my fighting skills more precise, but my mind is more precise,” Melton said. "Instead of like a scattered line, it's a perfect straight line. And it's strengthened my mental—like I can control my anger.”
Goins said trust has grown since he started boxing.
“It's teaching me that discipline, you know,” Goins said. “Keep going even if you don't necessarily feel like continuing.”
"Coach Jerome, he's inspirational overall. Very good coach," Pace said.
Turner has earned students’ respect in many ways, including by sharing his own lived experiences.
"I let them know my circumstances growing up on 116th and Buckeye,” Turner said. “Yes, my father was on drugs. I shared that with them. Why do I do that? I share that with them so they can understand you're not the only one dealing with abandonment. Open up."
Turner was a standout high school and college athlete who later fell into a boxing career and has worked on projects and trained with celebrities including Hulk Hogan, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade.
He wants his students to learn that hard work, focus, and making the right choices in life have meaning.
"I just want to give them the tools to be ready for the world,” Turner said.
I asked him what changes he’s seen in his students.
“Attendance has increased. Grades have improved,” Turner said.
And, he said he's seen fewer students getting into trouble.
“So there really are no excuses,” Melton said.
The GLOVES mentoring program is also at Ginn Academy, Whitney Young and Valley View Boys schools. The sessions take place before, during or after school.
Turner said in his 20 years of boxing, he’s never been in a street fight. He said he tells his students that they may have the skills, but their job is to stay calm and defuse situations.
Damon Maloney is a Cuyahoga County and We Follow Through anchor at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on X @DMaloneyTV, on Facebook DamonMaloneyTV or email him at Damon.Maloney@wews.com.
