Wednesday Warpath

Alan had to work late, so he was not at the gym Wednesday night.  When I got there, a man and his two kids were standing a few feet from the gym entrance.  Jilberto came down the hall to open the door.  "Mary said to make sure no one is in the gym that hasn't paid to be there", he told me.  He gave me the impression that Mary was on the warpath that evening about that, so I was a bit suspicious about the guy who was there with his kids.  It never fails.  When the coach is out, someone always shows up to check out the gym.  Sometimes, there's no problem, but at other times, I end up having to corral someone who wants to do a workout without paying.

The guy didn't seem to have a good command of the English language.  He gave Jilberto and I the name of a guy who told him to come and see the gym.  Neither Jilberto or I recognized the name.  Jilberto spoke to the guy in Spanish, then told me that Mary wasn't happy about the guy and his kids hanging around in the hallway.  She had said as such to the guy earlier, but he decided to keep waiting until the gym was open.  Colonel came in, and he also spoke to the man in his native tongue.  Information was given to him about when the gym was open, and the days his kids could train, if they wanted to learn how to box.  That satisfied the man, and he and his kids went on their way.

Joe Frazier's name was mentioned during the course of conversations last night.  "Smokin'" Joe passed away from liver cancer the other day; he was 67 years old.  The night before, I fell asleep with the TV tuned to ESPN Classic. They were showing some of Frazier's most famous fights, including the "Thrilla In Manilla", where he went up against Muhammad Ali.  Ray explained the way Frazier moved in the ring was called the Philly Shell.  I noticed that Frazier was constantly covering himself up with his hands and arms in front to ward off punches.  It was effective as it made it very hard for opponents to get their punches through to land. 

Reggie asked me why the boxing show at Seward was canceled for today.  I remember Meg mentioning that several Park District shows had been canceled this season.  "I have no idea, Reggie, but it's been happening a lot.  Usually the canceled shows are rescheduled, but they haven't been," I said.  Only one more show is left this year, and that will be at Brooks Park next month.  If that is canceled, there won't be anymore Park District shows until next summer. 

Last week, I didn't exercise as much as I should have.  This week, I fooled around and forgot to exercise on Tuesday.  I was so busy writing that I lost track of time.  I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month, and I'm already behind in my word count.  I believe people are supposed to write about 1,667 words a day.  Ha!  I know how my novel begins and how it is supposed to end.  It's the scenes in-between the beginning and end that are hard to figure out.  The novel is about a middle-aged woman who's an amateur boxer facing a milestone birthday (sound familiar?) whose life seems to have come to a dead stop on so many levels.  The story line follows her as she tries to make sense of what's come before and struggles to make going forward better.

When I got home, I called Alan to give him a heads up about Mary's concern about people using the gym for free.  She's been complaining and giving warnings about that for the longest.  Yeah, there have been people who've come in and out for free over the years.  But not everybody who has done that is from off the street.  Some who are participating in other programs at the field house have an attitude of, "I've paid for this one, so I should be able to take part in other programs/classes -- without paying the extra fees -- since I'm already here."  I also don't think many are aware that none of the boxing gyms in the Park District are drop-in gyms.  Maybe extra steps need to be taken to make that clear to everyone who walks into the field houses.  People often hear the timer bell ringing, they see the door open, and they think they can just waltz in and hit the bags.

It's no problem if someone wants to come in and look around the gym to see if they might like to sign up for boxing.  There's no charge for that.  Alan and I are happy to answer questions of those who just want to check it out.  But trying to get freebies is another thing altogether.