Maybe if I had changed out of my boxing shoes and back into my tennis shoes before running sprints, I would have done better. Maybe not. Junior, Ben, and one of the new guys whose name I don't know, ran the length of a fence next to a baseball diamond outside of the fieldhouse. They did all five sprints. I managed to do two.
Some time ago, Junior had suggested that I do sprints, or at least run most days. He runs just about every day, but he's 19 years old. I used to love to run when I was younger. Even had a track class while I was in high school. I would jump the hurdles like a gazelle. Yesterday evening, I was wheezing like a long-time cigar smoker.
Back in the gym, I was awarded something that very few in the gym are: I was given a locker. There aren't many in the gym, about five, I think. The lockers are reserved for the coaches of course, then the guys who consistently train and compete, like Montrell and Junior. I'm actually sharing a locker with Junior. The only thing inside was a cornerman's jacket. Junior usually takes his gear home with him. I locked my gym bag up inside.
Steve, one of the new guys, is built like a professional wrestler, with tatoos on both of his huge arms. "Could you teach me how to jump rope the next time?" he asked. "I was watching you earlier, and I can't jump like that." I told him I would. I guess I think all guys should know how to jump rope from when they were kids. But now that I think about it, I knew very few boys who did jump rope when I was a kid. I guess the skill wasn't encouraged because that was something that girls did. There was one boy I knew in grade school named Jimmy, who could jump double-double better than most of the girls. The other boys picked on him about it.
Seems like half of the new people showed up last night, and then the ones that came in didn't stay long. The coach did have them working on the pads, doing the ol' one-two-three: left jab, right cross, left hook. In one of the women's eyes, I could see boredom setting in. Truth be told, doing the same six punches over and over can become routine. The fun is in seeing how you can perfect them, along with footwork.
1 comment:
Funny I should read this today. I was watching very briefly the International skipping (or as you call it jumping rope in England we call it skipping) contest which was held in Toronto today. There were boys and girls all competing and as well as remembering how well I used to be
able to skip, I was amazed at what those boys and girls were able to do!
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