It's given kids like Cato Palma a renewed sense of self-confidence and a new enthusiasm for life.

"At first, I wasn't really wanting to go but it was very fun. I learned some basic boxing moves and I learned how to work with partners," said 11-year-old Cato, who attended the recreational program's initial series of Saturday afternoon classes, missed the summer session but said he's eager to join the next round.

Held this past spring at Harbourfront Community Centre, the weekly program open to youth ages eight to 14 was affected by the city workers' strike and was only able to run a three-session summer camp in August at Parkdale's Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre.

At this point, organizers are still unsure when the next session will get underway due to the lack of available space for the free-of-charge program at the downtown west community centre.

Cato, who lives in the St. James Town area with his mother, Elsa, said he also made some new friends at MJ's Rockys, which is focused on mentoring, building skills and boosting the self-esteem of its participants while teaching them the art of boxing.

"He benefitted a lot from this program," Palma said, adding she started to see a change for the good in her son.

"The biggest change I saw in him was motivation. As a parent, there are a lot of things you can do but the one thing you can't give them is motivation. It has to come from within."

A single mother who came to Canada from Mexico City in 1995, Palma said MJ's Rockys is the first time she's seen her son express such motivation and enthusiasm.

"At the end of the second lesson, he told me that he really loved the boxing program," she said, adding that her Grade 7 son is at an age where he wants some independence but still needs positive role models to stay on the right track.

"As a parent, the program means so much to me because for the first time ever I saw my son in a positive environment that he had never experienced before."

Palma said raising her special needs son in a low-income neighbourhood has been tough enough and that it's encouraging to have a program like this to help him along the way.

"My son went into Miranda's class with a heavy load of luggage, a lot of sadness," she said. "This environment was so supportive. All I saw in that place was love."

Jollymore, a Bathurst Street and Lake Shore Boulevard West resident, is a mortgage broker by day who got into boxing back in 2005.

Recovering from a back injury, the longtime Youth Assisting Youth volunteer wanted to make good use of her time away from competing to help others.

"I always thought I wanted to run a boxing program for youth," she said of MJ's Rockys, which is her way of giving participants a sense of leadership while helping build their self-confidence.

"It's been amazing. I feel so blessed to be working with the kids," said Jollymore, adding that a lot of participating youth were the victims of bullies.

"Their self-esteem, you can just see it. Even in six months, you can just see how much it has grown."

Visit http://www.mjko.ca/rockys.html for more information about the program.