Tuesday, July 13, 2010

My Achilles Heel

Evangelina and I sparred.  I was thinking that it was going to be a good sparring session as it usually is with her.  She immediately went hunting for my head and connected.  I had no answer the first couple of times she clocked me. I thought all I had to do was regroup and get back in the game. Alan kept telling me to "pop the jab" and go for her mid-section.  I heard him, but I couldn't make it work.

Evangelina successfully kept up her campaign against my noggin.  I was backed up into the corners, and against the ropes.  A few times, I turned my back, which is never a good idea.  "Are you okay?" Alan asked.  "Yeah," I lied, as I backed away from Evangelina to get air and stave off a wave of nausea.  Stubbornly, I put my hands up, ready to go back into battle.  Evangelina's punches were harder than usual.  I attempted to move my head, but didn't get far.  It was as if a general called out "Incoming!", and I was the one dumb soldier in the clearing who thought my knife was going to work against a missile. 

The bell did ring finally, and I was hanging over the ropes.  "I don't know what happened.  I feel off," I told Alan.  "That's it, you're done, come out," he said, pulling off my sparring gloves.  Later he told me what I already knew.  I got foggy because of taking too many hits to my head.  It happened before while I was sparring with Chloe a few months ago.  It also was the case when I was fighting with Meg the second time at Brooks Park.  Once an opponent keeps consistently targeting my head -- and I become extremely ineffective in protecting it -- then they've won the contest. 

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