Coach Daysi Garcia is a law student and community leader using boxing as a tool for play equity and gang intervention in Los Angeles. She is the founder and head coach of the PUC Excel Boxing Club in Lincoln Heights, and also coaches at El Centro Del Pueblo, the Pico Union Boxing Team, and Homeboy Industries—creating structured, demanding spaces where young people build discipline, accountability, and self-respect.
Her work uses boxing as a stabilizing force. Structured, rigorous training helps youth regulate emotional intensity, reduce impulsivity, and build resilience. Through repetition and physical effort, they learn to manage dysregulation, stay focused, and gain control over their choices—offering a way out of the patterns and pressures that often define growing up under-resourced in LA.
