Interviews and Rounds

All of the women present in the gym except for Amy, sparred: myself, Sarah, Vachel, and Lania (I still don't think I have the spelling of her name right).  I sparred with Sarah, Vachel, and also with Colonel, who was in the mix.  Vachel sparred with Sarah, and just like me, ran into the two challenges of Sarah being tall and having a long arm reach.  Alan told her that she had to go for Sarah's body, just like I did when I was in the ring.

Lania looked good in the ring against Colonel.  She kept her stance and her hands up the entire time.  "Dad, stop dropping your right and stop raising your feet!" Kenny told him from the sidelines.  Before he went into the ring with Sarah, Colonel told me, "Really give me a critique afterwards.  I don't give a s&*t, because I'm too old to be embarrassed."  Colonel was pawing at Sarah and Lania a lot of times.  Sarah backed him up against the ropes, and Colonel could have got some punches in to her middle, because Sarah's hands were way out.

Louis and St. Louis went in for several rounds.  St. Louis has got some moves like Kenny, and it was no wonder - Kenny had trained him in the past.  Louis would go in on St. Louis, but he'd take his eyes off of him, and not see the quick shots that came back at him.  They took a rest, then went back in.  Vachel commented that Louis looked tired.  It appeared that St. Louis was getting in more punches, while Louis wasn't throwing too many back.

In the above photo, Sebastian runs some drills with Louis using the punch mitts.  Sebastian's brother, Gabriel, is off in one corner watching them.

The gym was pretty busy tonight.  Alan mentioned to Gabriel later that in another week or so, it probably wouldn't be that many people coming in.  Several were not present, including Josh, who true to his word, did sign up for the gym.  I noticed a few people hanging around outside the gym door, craning their necks to see what was going on.  As the weather starts to get warmer, the "looky-loos" show up more often.  One woman had a exercise mat in her hand.  She had a look on her face that said she had wandered into the wrong room; the yoga class meets upstairs in the field house.

I learned that Colonel was also at the Battle of the Badges match last Friday.  He was sitting ringside next to the ring doctor and among the boxing judges and top brass of the police and fire departments.  I don't know how I could have missed him.  "You should have called me!  We could have met up there," he said.

Amy and Sarah had their usual workout with the medicine balls -- something I need to start doing again -- in the back of the gym.  Every time I see the two sisters together, I often imagine what it would have been like if my younger sister had lived long enough. She might have been good at it, but I couldn't see Cynthia actually signing up to take boxing lessons.  She thought I was crazy for participating in the sport.  But she might have visited the gym several times just to see what was going on.

A Television major from my alma mater, Columbia College, came in to do interviews with people.  He had a ten page project to do for a class.  Alan, myself, and Colonel all helped him out.

Alan and I might go to the first night of the Chicago Golden Gloves finals tomorrow night.  The final battles at the Gloves are usually the most entertaining and the most intense.