(Publisher’s Note: The cover photo and all photos included in this article were provided by Sheri McAninch, owner of MacSnaps Photography at 3395 Belmont St. in Bellaire.)
It began with only three children at Nelson Field in Bellaire.
The program moved to the Martins Ferry Recreation Center after Rick Leigh appeared on the “Positive Push” podcast. And then, Rick’s R.L. Strength and Conditioning youth program relocated to the Nelson Jordan Center in East Wheeling. With each step taken, growth was realized.
Leigh is a 36-year-old native of the First Ward in Bellaire; he’s married to Keshauna; and the couple has five children. His parents divorced soon after he was born, and they left him to be raised by a grandmother. He describes his childhood neighborhood in south Bellaire as, “gritty and rough,” and such a place, “where a kid can get in a lot of trouble real easy and very quickly.”
And Rick Leigh did find trouble.
“In life, you’re going to have to deal with things,” Leigh said. “People telling you what to do, and there going to tell you things you don’t want to hear. If you don’t have personal discipline, you’re going to have a tough time. You have to deal with it without retaliating. If you do, you ruin so much.
“I know that because I lost and ruined so much when I was growing up. I’ve been in trouble, and I’ve been in jail,” he admitted. “I have been through so many things that I don’t want to see any other kid go through. Me and my wife have raised our five kids to high standards so they don’t get in trouble like I did, and now I want to help do the same for the kids in this Valley that need the direction that I needed when I was young.”
And that is exactly what the R.L. Strength and Conditioning youth program delivers. Oh, and get this: the program is free.
“This isn’t about money to me,” Leigh insisted. “I have a good job, and I am also a certified trainer, and I do that, too, when I have the time. Naw, this youth program is about the kids and helping them get on the right path while they are young.”
Kings of Life
Rick Leigh’s youth program is open to children from four to 18 years old, and when the group gathers at the East Wheeling athletic complex, they are split into groups based on age. Each session lasts about two hours, but the younger children are given several breaks so they can regain their youthful concentration.
And yes, one of the primary messages Leigh attempts to deliver to the children is to become the king of the jungle called life.
“Listen, everyone wants to become somebody, so if I can help make that happen for just one of them, then I’ll feel like all the time and effort was worth it,” Leigh said. “Saving just one isn’t the goal, though. I want to save them all from the things I’ve gone through, and if they are committed to what we are doing, then that just may be possible.
“I just want to make a positive impact of these young people because that’s what I needed when I was their age,” he continued. “If I have to point them the right way, I feel this can just keep growing and growing as it needs to. I do wake up every day feeling blessed that I am able to do it.”
Leigh recalled experiencing rough and tough times as a First Ward kid because he felt that because of where and how he was raised, no one thought he could amount to anything but a man with a prisoner number on his chest. The bars on his jail cell woke him up a good bit, though, and so did his wife and their children.
“If someone didn’t believe in these kids, they could get lost. Trust me; I know that,” he explained. “Why lose these souls when you can save them? These are good people, and they can make positive impacts on other people if they learn the right direction in life. It is a hard world to live in anymore, and it’s gets harder every day. That’s why I always thank them for their hard work.
“They impress me, and they teach me, too, because I get to watch them rebuild themselves,” he continued. “It truly does impress me, and they touch my heart.”
Sweat and Some Tears
On occasion, former professional boxer Josh “The Juice” Fisher visits the children at the Nelson Jordan Center to offer lessons in and out of the ring. That’s because there are a right way and many wrong ways to use the speed and heavy bags in the gym, and Leigh wants the kids to learn right from wrong.
“Right from wrong sounds pretty simple,” he said. “But it’s truly not easy, now is it? Not in boxing and definitely not in life.”
When the youth program first started, most of the children came from single-parent families with the parent having to work two, sometimes three jobs. These days, though, children from all of the demographics in the Upper Ohio Valley are participating.
“What these children get out of this program really are life lessons,” Leigh explained. “On its surface, the program teaches them how to work hard, and it teaches them they have to continue working hard to realize the benefits to better fitness. But it goes beyond fitness without them even realizing it.
“They also learn how to act like a man and like a woman so they can live their lives the right way,” he said. “Anyone who lives an honest life knows that it takes hard work. If you don’t work hard or you don’t show up to work, you can’t pay your bills, and that gets you in trouble. But if you go to work and work hard, you just might have a chance to make even more money. They learn that through this program.”
The opioid epidemic has been a nationwide issue for more than a decade, but it has impacted East Ohio and the Northern Panhandle especially hard. The abuse began with massive distributions of opiates like OxyContin, Percodan, and Vicodin, but for many addicts, it was heroin that replaced the pills.
In 2020, even with the coronavirus pandemic drastically minimizing social interaction, local law enforcement witnessed an alarming increase with methamphetamine abuse.
“And that’s another bad choice a kid can make around here,” Leigh said. “Sometimes, they don’t survive that choice.”
For a child to become involved with the R.L. Strength and Conditioning youth program, all a child, parent, or guardian needs to do is contact Rick Leigh through his business or personal Facebook timelines. Each week’s schedule depends on Leigh’s work schedule at a Belmont County care facility, but all sessions now take place in East Wheeling.
“And I really hope even more kids want to get involved because, believe it or not, the children have responded to this program way better than I expected they would. I thought at least some of them would complain about the hard work, but that’s not what’s been happening,” he said. “We break them down and then build them back up and show them positive things about their work ethic. If we didn’t do that and they just continued going about their life the way they were, they probably would have ended up in jail like I did.
“I couldn’t ask for better kids than what we have right now, and I love when they bring their friends with them because not only does that help grow the program, but it also gets more of them on the right track,” Leigh added. “They also learn how to pick up after themselves because that’s up to them when our workout is over. That’s their responsibility and sure, sometimes we have to remind them about it, but after all, they are children.”
