It took a lot of work, but thanks to the dedication of club president Steven Wroblewski, the Marquette boxing club began its first semester of existence on Oct. 1, holding practices at Ace Boxing Club, 2160 S. 10th St.

Wroblewski, a senior in the College of Communication, said trouble with deadlines and an approval delay by Marquette “higher-ups” based on the sport’s violent nature pushed the club’s inauguration from 2010 to this semester.

“I was not at Marquette during the spring semester last year. I was at home waiting to study abroad,” Wroblewski said. “I had to have club members show up at both approval meetings in my place, which also slowed (the process) down.”

Wroblewski kept contact with prospective members from his home in Dallas, Tex., via the club’s Facebook page where he posted updates on what each member needed and important dates for registration. Members had to purchase their own gloves, hand wraps and mouthpieces.

The club meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the gym and on Sundays at the Straz boxing room for training sessions. These sessions usually consist of learning the basics of footwork and punching followed by sparring.

Nicolas Eaglin, a sophomore in the College of Communication, said that before he started attending the club’s training sessions, he and most members knew little to nothing about how to box properly.

“The first day my patience was very low because you think you’re just going to walk in and beat the crap out of everybody,” Eaglin said. “You would think that throwing a punch is as simple as the motion, but there’s so much detail that goes into throwing the perfect punch. When you get that down, it gets even more difficult when you start having to move at actual fight pace.”

Despite the hard-hitting intensity of the sport, Eaglin said that out of the ring, the club members and coach Frank Porter are a tight-knit family.

“There’s tons of kids that go to the gym, not just Marquette students,” Eaglin said. “We all shake hands and goof off like family. Coach Frank Porter himself is a strict trainer, but outside of the ring he’s hilarious and makes all of those absurd jokes that make you laugh.”

While the club focuses mostly on training and sparring during the fall semester, it will begin entering tournaments and participating in “fight shows” in the spring at the discretion of Porter and Wroblewski. The actual location of the fights won’t be determined until members sign the fight contracts.

Eaglin said that the club didn’t gain the amount of respect it should have during the approval process but is looking to earn that respect next semester.

“We want to go out and win matches for Marquette and represent the school with some victories,” Eaglin said. “When we bring that news back to campus, hopefully we can inspire new members to join and become more recognized as a legitimate club.”