Mike (on the left) training with Os (on the right)
Titan Fitness & Martial Arts is proud to announce the addition of Osahon Omo-Osagie (“Os”) and Michael Kowalski. Os will be overseeing the Boxing II while Mike will be running the Boxing I class during the summer semester slated to begin May 17, 2010. The boxing program will be overseen by Head Boxing Instructor and Penn State Boxing Coach, Dave Vacco. Both instructors have ties to Penn State Boxing, one as an assistant coach, the other as a competitor. We invite you to review their bios at the following links.
Osahon Omo-Osagie (“Os”) is the Boxing II instructor for Titan Fitness & Martial Arts. Os has been involved with the sport of boxing for ten years. He boxed for four years in college at Lock Haven University. In that time, he earned two All-American awards, three regional championship titles, a National Runner up title, and in his final year, he won the 2004 National Collegiate Boxing Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada. After that, he competed in the amateur ranks until deciding he was ready to turn pro. In pursuit of his dream, he moved back to New York City to train at Johns Gym in the Bronx for two years where he worked with world class professional boxers.
As a coach, Os was hired as an assistant coach of the University of Lock Haven. In his second year of coaching, Lock Haven won the team National Championship. He later started coaching at a local fitness club he trained over 20 students. He served as an assistant coach for the Penn State University Boxing Team last year and will continue in that capacity in the coming season.
Michael Kowalski is a boxing instructor at Titan Fitness & Martial Arts. Mike has been boxing since 2006. Formerly, Michael was a student in the Titan Boxing program. Mike went on to become a member of the Penn State Boxing Team. He competed for the team during the 2009-2010 Collegiate Boxing season and fought five times. He took third place in the ECBA Regional Tournament.
Two Penn State boxers earned All-American status at the NCBA National Championships at West Point this past weekend. Long-time Titan members, AJ Williams (165 lbs.) and Jay Petraitis (175 lbs.) both advanced to the semi-finals of their respective weight classes to become All-Americans. We at Titan Fitness & Martial Arts would like to congratulate the fighters. Additionally, kudos must go out to Penn State boxing coach and Titan Boxing instructor, Dave Vacco, in guiding his fighters to such an excellent season and result at Nationals that also included two other national qualifiers, Matt Roy and Justin Portal.
Titan Fitness & Martial Arts is proud to have a continued affiliation with Penn State Boxing. As the unofficial “second home” of Penn State Boxing, we are proud to announce that we continue to offer discounted gym memberships and boxing instruction to all members of the Penn State Boxing team and club members. For more information, call us at 814/235-1015 or email us at info@titanfitness.com for more details.
For those interested in joining the Penn State Boxing Club, you can sign up Wednesday, August 26 at the White Building gym from 7 pm to 11 pm. If you miss that meeting, but still would like to sign up, contact Penn State Boxing Club President, Tyler Choura via email at tjc5107@psu.edu.
After you join the boxing club, be sure to enhance your training with a discounted membership at Titan Fitness & Martial Arts. We are located at 412 W. College Avenue in downtown State College. Remember to mention your club membership to get the discount. We look forward to having all of you as members at Central Pennsylvania’s only full-time, full service martial arts and boxing facility.
Titan Fitness & Martial Arts has a fan page on Facebook. We encourage all Titan members and people interested in becoming members to sign up to become a fan. Also, invite your friends to check us out. Sign up to keep track of all the goings on at Titan Fitness including class information, fighter results, upcoming events, and general information about Central Pennsylvania’s only full-time, full service martial arts and boxing facility serving the Penn State and greater State College communities.
Simply log on your Facebook account, and go to the link below to “join the club”.
Titan Fitness is located one block off the Penn State Campus and has been providing FREE Martial Arts lessons in the State College, Penn State, and Central PA region for over fifteen years.
Titan Fitness and Martial Arts offers a FREE lesson to any individual interested in pursuing Martial Arts training at the Titan facility. Free Lessons are normally offered weekly throughout the year. This FREE opportunity is valuable to the participant to help them make a decision if martial arts training is for them without having to commit any financial responsibility!!!
After a four and a half month layoff since his last fight, Titan Fitness boxing instructor and Penn State boxer, Dan Testa won a decision in his return to the ring at an amateur event in Uniontown, PA last Sunday on August 16, 2009. After a slow start, Dan dominated his opponent Eric Parker in the second and third rounds with a barrage of attacks to the body. Dan raises his record to 7 wins against only 2 losses. With one more fight, Dan qualifies for the open division of the amateur level.
Dan Testa serves as an assistant boxing instructor at Titan Fitness & Martial Arts. Dan has achieved much in his short boxing career. He started as a boxing student less than two years ago with his first fight (a victory) coming only eight months later. During that time, he compiled an impressive record of six wins against only two defeats with many of those victories happening as a member of the Penn State Boxing Team. In March 2009, Dan qualified for the National Collegiate Boxing Association (NCBA) national tournament after his second place finish at the East Coast NCBA Regionals. Dan continues to fight in amateur events throughout the state of Pennsylvania.
Dan has worked with many students both in the classroom and personal training setting bringing a high level of boxing instruction to his students. In addition to his instructional duties, Dan is the assistant office manager at Titan Fitness. Dan is a kinesiology major who will graduate from Penn State in the Fall of 2009.
Dave Vacco is the head boxing instructor and the Boxing I instructor at Titan Fitness & Martial Arts. He also coaches the Penn State Boxing Team. Dave became involved with boxing as a student at Titan Fitness & Martial Arts five years ago. Since then, Dave has several years of experience competing as an amateur boxer under coaches John Robertson and Tommy Wilt, out of Altoona Boxing Club. Dave has also learned from Walter Kravitsky, Steve Bumbaco, and Walter Blake.
As a boxing coach, Dave has coached dozens of competitive boxers in hundreds of bouts, including four All-Americans, seven NCBA national qualifiers, and one national runner-up. In the 2009-2010 season, Penn State Boxers had 52 fights.
Dave has a life-long love of the sweet science. He teaches the “Boxer-mover” style, which involves slick footwork, out-fighting, and counter-punching. Dave treats boxing as a chess match, teaching his boxers to strategize and out-smart their opponents. The Boxer-mover, commonly called the “European Style,” or “in-and-out” style, is the most successful style on the international boxing scene, most notably utilized by the Cuban National Boxing Team. By taking advantage of the scoring system of amateur boxing, the boxer-mover style teaches a boxer to score and get out, building up points and out-hussling opponents. Dave learned this style from a former member of the Russian Olympic Boxing Team.
Dave also teaches aspects of “pressure-style” boxing, which involves relentless forward movement, head-movement, and attacking combinations. Commonly this style involves steady hussle, trapping opponents on the ropes or in the corner. This is the style Dave’s coach, Tommy Wilt, used to win 6 open-class golden glove state championships, competing on the U.S. National Team, and gaining a 21-7 professional record. Dave’s boxers have the pressure-style in their toolbox, allowing them to “switch gears” when the time is right.
