Say hello to Richard Pelcz! Teaching boxing at the Kerrisdale Community Centre for the last year and a half, the Hungarian-born instructor was bitten by the fitness bug early on. Moving to Canada with his family at age 10, he was first introduced to judo, then taekwondo, before running dojos in the Fraser Valley.
Boxing since he was 23, Pelcz won the 1993 Golden Gloves Championship in Portland, Oregon, in the 168-pound division. He also earned his third-degree black belt in taekwondo at age 25.
Part-time weight lifting and aerobics training eventually led Pelcz to full-time training and membership sales at a couple of local gyms. After a stint as boxing instructor and personal trainer at Ringside Fitness, he co-founded Contenders Boxing Studio in 2004 in downtown Vancouver and remained there until its sale in 2020.
Armed with multiple ISSA and BCRPA certifications, Pelcz is now an aerobics instructor, and boxing, weight and personal trainer, at various Lower Mainland community centres including Kerrisdale. If he could make one wish for his students, Pelcz says: “I hope that the people I teach get or stay motivated to make fitness a way of life, for life.”
Learn your way around the ring with this Golden Gloves champion by signing up for the spring programs below:
• Junior Boxing with Richard – Level 1
• Boxing with Richard – Level 1
• Junior Boxing with Richard – Level 2
• Boxing with Richard – Level 2
• Group Fitness – Boxerfit Drop in or purchase a 10-visit card at the centre; online registration not available for Group Fitness.