Interviewing and Uppercuts

This morning, I went downtown to the Chicago Park District's main office to interview for the boxing coach position at Simons Park.  I was surprised to find the offices inside the building where the Time-Life office used to be.  Way back in the mid-1980's, I was a temp sent on an assignment at the Time-Life.  It wasn't the most exciting assignment; I spent eight hours a day typing addresses on postcards.  Most of the regular employers and the boss there didn't hide their contempt for the temps.  I remember one temp ended the assignment early because she'd had enough of the boss' attitude.  I suffered through the rest of it because I couldn't afford to bail out.

My interview was with two people -- a pleasant woman named Esther, and Jimmy, who's the head of the park district's boxing program.  I hadn't seen Jimmy in a long time.  It was a short interview, but packed with a lot of questions that pertained to coaching a boxing program.  I thought I came across well, but I was aware that I was probably up against some good competition from other applicants.  Just before I went into the interview, I saw a neighbor of mine who works as an attendant with the park district.  "Getting one of those type jobs is hard because they require a lot, including having a degree," he told me. "A better way to get into the park district is to apply for a seasonal attendant job.  That way, you're already in, and you can apply from within for other positions as they come up."  I told him that I would keep that in mind.  It'll probably be several days before I hear the verdict about whether I got the job or not, so for now, it's a waiting game.

At the gym later on, a couple of cousins came in to check out the place.  Alan and I gave the women information about how the gym runs.  From the way they were talking, it didn't sound like they were interested in sparring, but they would be happy to do the workout. 

Both Melinda and I had our chance to spar with Jacob.  I noticed that Melinda loves throwing her jab, but she holds her right back, letting it loose mainly to throw hooks.  Jacob worked on defense, allowing Melinda to back him up against the ropes and into the corners.

When I got in, Art asked, "Am I going to see the uppercut?"  He had showed me how to slip the jab and then come back up with an uppercut the last time we were in the gym.  I had been going over in my mind what Art had showed me ever since last week.  However, executing the movement was another story.  Jacob is very good at protecting his torso, and he has long arms.  When I couldn't get the uppercuts in, I tried hooks.  But my hooks were hitting his hips more than they were his sides.  Afterwards, Art gave me some more good pointers about how to get the punches in.  "If you focus on working on one punch, getting that one in, then it'll get easier to execute over time," he said.

Alan had a few of us doing burn outs on the bag.  Jacob was on one bag with a new guy who's name I didn't catch.  Alan noted that the new guy, who's over 6 feet tall and is about 280 pounds, would be a good match up for Leon.  Melinda was on the red bag with Sarah.  When that round was over, Max and I got on the red bag for one round.

The finals for the Chicago Golden Gloves are later this week.  I would like to see if the woman who won over Brandy will win the belt in her category, as well as view some other fights.  Due to the fact that my new apartment still needs to be put in order -- more books need to be given away/thrown out because there is simply no room -- I may not be able to go all three nights.  But I plan to go at least one night to check things out.