Jacob had both of his thumbs wrapped up with tape. He said that the tape helped protect his thumbs, especially the one that was fractured. I might do that myself. My right thumb still hurts a little from when it connected with Kevin's head last week.
Ray and Professor sparred several rounds, as seen in the photo above. Collette taped the action as she stood on the side of the ring. The two men had a good session, as they worked with each other as they traded punches. That's what sparring is supposed to be -- practice, as well as an exchange of information via movement.
Paul, Alan's boss, said that he was still hurting somewhat from the last time he and Alan sparred. They went around again. Afterwards, Alan asked me, "It's true that Paul goes after me hard, right?" I told Paul, "You start out hard in the beginning, then Alan starts going hard." It's always true that even when everybody agrees to "go light", all it takes is for one person to throw a few hard punches. Then the other person feels they have to respond in kind. But it's not about people being angry because somebody put more force in (but sometimes, it is, depending on who's sparring). It's about keeping up with the pace of the other opponent.
Alan kidded Renee about sparring to give me some work. Amy didn't want to spar, so I ended up in the ring with Alan. I threw overhand rights, even got him with some straight rights. But I kept getting crowded into the corners, and several times, I could neither punch or turn my way out of them. I tried to get shots to his mid-section, but Alan's long arms protected his torso well. Mine was wide open too many times. Alan hit me in the middle about three or four times. I went "Oof!" each time. "I got her!" Alan said each time he landed a shot there. I could hear some of the guys making comments. Ray said, "Good overhand", during one of the few times that I actually caught Alan with that particular punch. Reggie said, "Hillari, put Alan in a body bag!"
Paul took pictures of the sparring.
"Hillari, you were moving so fast, you were a blur!" Paul said. One of the pictures he took is above. I thought I was struggling and bumbling around at various points. "You did good work, and you hit hard" Alan told me. He noted that I always come at him harder during sparring than I do anyone else. After thinking about it, I had to admit that I do pound on Alan more than I do others during sparring. It's probably because, of all the guys in the gym -- with maybe the exception of Kenny -- Alan pushes me to do more when we are sparring. He doesn't let up, that's for sure. I have to remain focused or take some rough hits.
During the last round we sparred, Alan had me on the ropes. "I'm not hitting you that hard," he said, after I took another hit to the stomach. "Yes, you are," I gasped. "No, you just breathed in air as I threw the punch," Alan said, as I tried to move out of his reach. My nose took a hit, and I was stunned for a second. Another crack to my head rocked me on my feet, too, but I had to shake it off. The photo above is also courtesy of Paul.
Alan thinks that I'm ready to do four rounds of sparring instead of the usual three. I want to try to do four rounds. There was a time I could do five rounds, but I wasn't as old or as heavy as I am now. I'll push myself to do an extra round.
The coach joked that I don't seem to show much love to Pastor Roger on this blog. I'll have to re-read some of my posts. . .eh, I don't doubt that I have been hard on the pastor here sometimes (and on Facebook, etc., etc.). Believe me, I hear about it from Pastor Roger. The protest usually start with, "But Hillari, you've made a wrong assumption about me." The pastor met Steve, the former coach, a long time ago, but one day, I'll have to introduce him and Alan to each other in person. Pastor will probably ask Alan like he asked Steve a few years ago, "Is she any good in the ring?"
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