Fights and Frustrations

Ryan (in the headgear) and Gilbert (on the right) came in for a little sparring Monday evening.  Professor (in the middle) gave the young men some instruction.  He has a pair of my punch mitts on.  Professor was showing Ryan how to punch and pivot, and Gilbert jumped in the ring to help show how the technique is done.

I was a real witch (change the first letter to a 'b') to Igor today.  He started in with his usual repeating questions over and over.  Igor must have asked me four times how I was doing.  "The answer is still the same as it was before, Igor--fine," I snapped.  I came back from filling the water bottles up, and for the umpteenth time, he's walking behind me going, "Excuse me, excuse me."  "What is it?" I hissed.  "Water, water," he says. "It's over there," I replied in frustration.  This is why Steve stayed irritated with him all the time, I thought.  I wanted to really tell Igor off, and it took a Herculean effort on my part to bite my tongue.  Alan grinned at me and said, "Your tolerance is low today."  "My father's temper is coming out in me," I said. 

Ray learned that his thumb had been fractured.  "It would have healed up earlier, but I kept re-injuring it," he told me.  Jacob's thumb is still on the mend, but he said he felt some twinges of pain while sparring with Kevin.

As reported here many times, Kevin spent most of the sparring session laying on the ropes.  He told Alan, "I'm waiting for him (Jacob) to punch himself out."  Alan turned away from the ropes, and looked at me, shaking his head.  "He doesn't listen," Alan said.  Professor sat off to the other side of the ring, watching Jacob and Kevin carefully.  "Please don't stay in the corner," he told Kevin. Kevin came back with, "Keep quiet!  If you want to do this, step into the ring.  I don't need mouth from the peanut gallery."  "Oh, wow," Professor said.

I would have sparred tonight, but I did something that I've not done before in nine years of going to Loyola:  I left my mouthpiece at home.  It was still in the other bag that I brought with me to Brooks Park last week.  My only sparring option would have been Alan, or maybe Jacob.  Amy and Renee were there, but they weren't going to spar.  I was on the black heavy bag for awhile, and I felt good about my punches.  Where is that confidence when I'm in an actual fight, or during sparring for that manner?  I bet that I won't be as fresh on Wednesday if I get a chance to spar. 

Later, Professor and Alan asked me when the winter session begins.  "So this is the no man's land period?  I can come in on Wednesday and kick his ass?" Professor said, pointing to Kevin.  Before Kevin left near the end of the night, he promised Professor that he would be in the gym on Wednesday.  "I'll be here, too," Professor gleefully told him.  "Yeah, bring your mouth, too," Kevin shot back.  Have mercy, I thought to myself.  I've heard of guys in gyms having beefs with each other and settling their differences when they came in the next time.  Alan may have to jump in and do some hard regulating if Kevin and Professor have a really rough meeting.

It may look like Paul really clocked Alan here, but this is a gag shot that the men asked me to take.  They did spar earlier in the evening, but did not go the distance.  Paul was throwing a lot of punches and got burned out quickly.  He's getting better at keeping his hands up, however.