Out of his comfort zone, Reading basketball coach Rick Perez steps into a new arena

It’s not like Rick Perez didn’t already have challenges.

He’s been head basketball coach at Reading High for more than a decade. That’s a job that presents challenges by the boat load. They dump themselves at your feet 24/7, in season and out.

He’s the head of River Rock Academy’s Sinking Spring campus, and has three children. He faces challenges at every turn. Yet he was looking for another, maybe something more personal, more internal, so he laced up boxing gloves and stepped into the ring.

Saturday he’ll go toe-to-toe with a local firefighter and EMT, Justin Edling, and it’ll be for real.

“It’s serious,” reminds Alex Betances, who lured the 39-year-old Perez into the ring to help promote his “Box Out Violence” event at the Olivet Boys and Girls Club, 325 Walnut Street in Reading, starting at 4.

“Listen, that headgear only provides so much protection,” said Betances, who runs Star City Boxing, where Perez trains daily. “There’s always danger in boxing. Any contact sport should be taken seriously; any of those kids can get hurt.”

Perez played football and basketball at Muhlenberg and still mixes it up with his guys at the Geigle on a regular basis. Until a couple months ago he had never ventured into the boxing arena.

Now he’s hooked.

It only took a few visits to the Star City gym on Schuylkill Ave. to fall in love with the sport and the people who populate it. After Saturday, Perez says, he’ll take the gloves off and turn his focus fully back to basketball, where the Red Knights will soon get to work in pursuit of another state championship.

His heart, though, will remain with the kids and staff at Star City; their lives, their stories, their struggles have touched his soul.

“Being here reminds me of why I committed to doing what I do in the city,” said Perez, taking a break from throwing punches at a heavy bag. “You know, basketball is a privileged sport. Baseball and football, too. Boxing, not so much.”

His Red Knights practice and play in the finest facilities. They wear shiny new uniforms. Use the best equipment. Some may not realize how good they have it until they move on.

“This city is full of boxers, but they’re not glorified,” Perez said. “They’re not making the front page of the paper. These guys are fighting on a daily basis. Hearing their stories, their commitments, that they’re chasing the dream. It’s humbling. That’s what I’m fighting for.”

Perez is stepping into the ring to draw some much-needed attention to Betances’ effort to help provide local kids with structure, guidance — and love. Things like that are in short supply.

“Boxing, it’s a character-builder,” says Lindsay Bates as he leans against the ropes in the second-floor gym.

Coach Bates, as he’s affectionately called, is 64, a former paratrooper and retired welder “and garbage man,” he informs. He makes his way to Star City each afternoon to provide instruction and encouragement for aspiring young boxers, or kinds just looking for something to latch onto. You could drop him into any scene at Mighty Mick’s Gym in “Rocky” and he would fit like a glove.

Like Balboa, Bates hails from Philadelphia. He moved to Reading when he was 11, went to Southwest, then to Reading High, where he played football for Andy Stopper.

“I’ve had a lot of good men in my life,” he says proudly.

In boxing you can’t half-ass it. Not in here. If you play games in here, you’re gonna pay the price.

Lindsay Bates, Star City boxing coach

He has been in Perez’s life for the past two months and the basketball coach is the better for it. He has dropped a few pounds, tightened his core, added some bulk to his biceps. In a few short weeks he has been transformed, more internally than outwardly.

“It’s a beautiful experience,” Perez says. “It’s about getting out of your comfort level, getting in a different space. It’s helping me see and understand things. “I’ve been reflecting on this lately. I’m gonna be 40 (in December). I want to take myself to different places. It takes courage, it takes exploration to do that.”

Betances, a local realtor, approached Perez about the event, thinking the man who has taken Reading High to a pair of state championships would draw attention to it. He’s gotten more than he bargained for.

“He’s dedicated,” Betances says. “It’s impacted his life. Now he’s an ambassador for the sport, for my program. It’s accomplishing what I was hoping for, but more.

“At the end of the day, we’re not trying to rip anyone’s head off here. It’s about engaging our youth. Its about spreading the word of our awareness. We’re using boxing as a tool to spread that word.”

Perez admits his new venture is “scary,” but that’s what he signed up for. He shrugs off any hint of danger; he feels he’s learned enough in this short time to protect himself once he steps through the ropes.

Bates and Julian Cruz, his trainers, started at ground level. They taught him the jab, the right, defense, footwork.

“The basics,” Bates says. “It’s all about repetitive, repetitive, repetitive. Once that looks okay, you get him used to getting hit.”

How do you do that?

“You don’t.”

Bates isn’t being funny, he’s being honest. No one gets used to being hit. The key is to avoid it, at least as much as possible.

“You work on defense, head movement, the jab to keep your man outside,” Bates explains. “Footwork, pivot, lateral movement all the time. You don’t want to be like a railroad track, straight. You need to keep moving laterally.”

The conditioning — sit-ups, pull-ups, push- ups, road work — will toughen you to the point that you can absorb some hits.

Bates gives his new student an ‘A’ for effort.

“Let me tell you: His work ethic is second to none,” Bates said. “He has a coach’s mind; he’s been successful. He’s a winner. He knows what it takes to win at a high, high level. He knows the sacrifices it takes.

“He wants to give his all. In boxing, you can’t half-ass it. Not in here. If you play games in here, you’re gonna pay the price.”