Hampton Bays Social Workers Create 'Hampton Bays Boxing Program' To Help Students Cope With COVID-Related Stress

The past year and a half or so has been one of the toughest times for children to attend school, given the circumstances surrounding the pandemic. And it’s no surprise that schools have seen an increase in stress-related incidents.

Social workers in the Hampton Bays School District wanted to think outside the box when it came to providing students with an outlet for relieving stress. Christopher DeRosa, a social work intern under the district’s full-time social worker, Yoeli Vargas, did just that.

DeRosa came to Vargas a few weeks ago and suggested taking a few students to Hill Street Boxing in Southampton, where they could get proper instruction in the sport by certified trainers while also relieving their stress.

Vargas agreed, and since April 23, DeRosa and Vargas and the members of the Hampton Bays Boxing Program, as it’s been coined, have gone to Hill Street for an hour every Friday after school, and plan to do so right up until the final weeks of the school year.

It’s only been two weeks, but the overall consensus is that the program’s been a hit.

“Hearing from the other teachers and administrators, the kids are all taking about the program,” DeRosa, a 2006 Hampton Bays graduate, said. “We have other kids who have come and asked to join, but unfortunately we’re full right now with COVID regulations in place.”

“I have to say, the first week was amazing,” Vargas added. “To see kids who you know really don’t want to come to school, or possibly have a hard time coming to school, and say to you, ‘Wow, thank you for allowing me to do this,’ or, ‘This was amazing.’ Just getting that from a student …”

DeRosa, who is due to receive his master’s degree in two weeks from Stony Brook University, is a member at Hill Street, where his good friend, Avery Crocker, is one of the lead trainers and a manager. He thought it was the perfect fit for the students.

“Ms. Vargas is always teaching me about all the different ways in which we can bring different aspects of mental health awareness,” he explained. “We call them ‘tools for their tool box’ — coping mechanisms — that we can teach them throughout the year. I just thought it would be a perfect place to have the kids come and learn some new coping skills for their health, because boxing encompasses the whole triangle of mental health — physical, emotional and mental — so we wanted to bring that and make that available to our kids.”

“We know because of the pandemic it has been so hard for students to reach out to mental health services. Maybe therapy through telecommunications, but not an outside outlet, so we wanted to connect the kids, not only to an outside outlet, but also connect them to the community, which is the biggest piece,” Vargas added. “So letting them know that, not only we’re here to support them counseling-wise and therapeutically, but also teaching them that this is an appropriate, healthy coping skill for them to use when they’re feeling stressed or anxious or feeling some type of aggression.”

Dylan Ottati, a junior at Hampton Bays High School, said he was glad when DeRosa told him about the program because he had been wanting to get into boxing for a while.

“It’s something I’m really interested in. I get a lot out of it, like with stress and stuff. I put it to the bag ... not to someone’s face,” he said with a laugh.

“I mean, all of us love it,” Ottati added. “I haven’t heard one bad thing. It’s awesome. Avery is a really good guy. He cares. He wants to see us succeed.”

DeRosa, who’s older brother Mike DeRosa is the athletic director at Bridgehampton High School, said what makes the program great for all parties involved is that they don’t have to only make it a one-day-a-week program. They can become a member at Hill Street and work out whatever aggression they have seven days a week.

DeRosa said Crocker and owner and trainer Tommy Haynia “are such well-known and high standing members of our community out here in the Hamptons, and now the kids have this great connection with them. The kids can come anytime they want. This is like their exposure, but they can come here seven days a week if they want to come and take advantage of it.”

Which Vargas said goes back to her point of connecting to the community.

“We want them to be a part of the community, not only the academic community and their school community, but the community — Hampton Bays, Southampton,” she said. “Anything we can do to connect the kids and teach them that this is also a positive outlet for them.”

Both DeRosa and Vargas thanked the Hampton Bays administration for allowing them to put together the program, in particular High School Principal Chris Richardt, Superintendent Lars Clemensen and Athletic Director Drew Walker.

“We’re really lucky because our administrators at Hampton Bays take mental health very, very seriously,” DeRosa said. “They do a really great job with pushing mental health for our students, and we have a hashtag in Hampton Bays — #WeareHB — meaning we’re our community, no one is alone, we’re all here for you, and basically anything our kids want to do, our teachers, our administrators, will connect them to the things that they need to take care of that, to help them succeed, to help them achieve anything that they want.”