Busy On Monday

Practically everybody was in on sparring action Monday night.  "It's busy in here tonight," Eric commented.  It reminded me of the old days when sparring was back to back, usually on Friday nights. 

I went two rounds with Shay.  "I'm going in with a professional!" she joked.  Not long ago, Autumn, a young lady at church, told one of the boys that I was a professional boxer.  Ruth, another person at church, often introduces me that way, too.  I chuckled.  Matthieu told Shay, "She beat me up when we were in the ring.  My eyes were shut for three days."  He was exaggerating, of course.  While sparring, I kept telling her not to turn her back on me, and so did Alan.  "You have to return the punches.  Hillari's not hitting that hard," Alan told her, and I wasn't.  Afterwards, Shay told Alan, "I need more practice."

Evangelina sparred with Joan.  Joan did not extend her punches all the way.  Meanwhile, the longer armed Evangelina came over Joan's punches with her own.  Like Shay, Joan kept turning her back a lot in the ring, which is a major no-no.  Joan did not want to go a second round, so Alan stepped in.  "Where's your headgear?" I asked.  "Don't need it," he said. 

I called out directions to Evangelina from the side, especially when I saw Alan preparing to use a bolo punch.  "That's Alan's sneaky punch," I warned her.  The coach usually has his left hand down, leaving himself open to left hooks.  Evangelina popped him right in the head.  "Whoa!" I exclaimed, before laughing.  Eric was on the other side of the ring watching.  He told Alan in-between rounds that Evangelina must have had a lot of brothers at home, which is why she punched so well.  "She hits hard, and keeps her composure in the ring," Alan would say later.

Alan and Matthieu sparred, and I noticed that the younger man often used both hand to deflect punches.  Not a good habit to have because that means both hands are down for a second.  The opponent can use that time to throw a good combination.  He was also crossing his feet which throws a boxer off balance.  Once I pointed that out, Matthieu corrected himself.  Alan caught him up against the ropes a few times, and Matthieu grabbed him to slow down the assault. 

Just realized that I forgot to tell Danny to check out my church's web site for White Sox tickets.  Danny's a big fan.  Pastor Roger has some that he got for participating in judging a youth essay contest.  Hopefully, Danny will come in on Wednesday.  I need to tell the other guys that, too, just in case they are interested in baseball. 

At the end of the evening, Alan, Nick, Matt (Alan's son), and I passed BK on the way out.  Alan mentioned that he heard about a fight that took place outside of the field house.  BK had broken it up.  It was the first fight that had taken place around the field house this season of which I'm aware.  "I'd rather them fight on the outside than inside the building," BK said.  On my way home from work earlier in the afternoon, I saw a group of kids scrapping briefly on the corner of Morse and Ashland.  One kid literally kicked the seat off another kid's bike.  Have no idea was the fight was about, but it looked unnecessary, as most youth street fights are.  Like BK said, it would better if they'd use that aggressiveness to good use in the boxing gym.