Freedom Park Boxing Center Getting Closer to Opening Day

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Inside the gymnasium at Freedom Park Community Center, the basketball goals are gone.

A brand new floor has been installed.  There are new bleachers–the kind that roll away when you’re done with them, or roll out for big events like boxing tournaments, set to happen here in the near future.

“When we look at Freedom Park and turn that into a boxing/conditioning facility, we expect people not just from the Freedom area to go to that facility, we expect them from all of the middle Georgia area,” says Dale “Doc” Dougherty, director of Macon-Bibb Parks and Recreation.  “(People) throughout Bibb County and maybe beyond will come into the Freedom Park location.”

Over the next few months, workers will install several boxing rings inside the gym–two for competition, Dougherty says, and two for training.

The room next to it will serve as an exclusive training room, complete with plenty of punching bags hanging by chains from the ceiling.

And what’s a good boxer without a little conditioning?

One of the things that made Freedom Park ideal for this center is the sidewalk around Freedom Park Lake.  Dougherty says its easy access to the building will allow for pre-workout runs and jogs. The center will also serve as a fitness facility for kids of all ages.

“…where literally parents three days a week can drop their kids off for an hour or an hour and a half and know when they pick them up, they’re going to be good and tired but they’re also going to be getting in shape,” he says.

The new look Freedom Park is just the first step in the parks and recreation department’s vision for the future.

“We’re also looking at the education side with robotics at one of our centers,” Dougherty says.  “Creating a full STEM program for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics for one of our centers.  We’re also looking at cultural arts–turning one of our centers into a theater as well as dance and just general drama classes.”

Plenty of facilities will still offer basketball, and the outdoor court at Freedom Park will remain open, but for the county’s 150,000+ residents, assistant parks and recreation director Reggie Moore says it was just time for something new.

“Typically in this community, there are great opportunities for basketball, football, baseball, but what about boxing?” Moore asks.  “I think that’s one of the things as a department we’re looking at is how we can expose our youth to more than just the traditional sports.”

None of the improvements at Freedom Park would be possible without funds brought in from the penny tax.  The park’s baseball and softball fields are also set for a facelift.  Plus, they’ll get new light poles and fencing around the property.

The total cost of renovations, including the boxing center, is about $3 million.

Dougherty stresses the goal of the boxing center is to enhance what Bishop Frank Ray and the Middle Georgia Amateur Boxing Club started at their downtown facility, not start from scratch.  That club was forced out of its building at the start of the year.  

Dougherty expects the new center to be up and running within two months.