I found another Cobra bag at the field house. The base is filled with water. I pushed it out of the storage room where it was located into the gym area. Only three youths showed up, and they had fun knocking the bag around.
Yesterday, I received the boxing fliers, so I hurried over to Lewis, the closest grade school to LaFollette Park, to hand them out. Most of the boys were happy to get the fliers. A few of them showed up in the gym not long after they got a flier. The girls were a different story. One girl's eyes widened in terror. "Oh, no! I don't want to box!" she said, as she rushed away. Another girl said smugly, "I already know how to fight." "Not in the ring you don't," I told her.
I never liked fighting with girls when I was in grade and high school. Most every girl fought the same -- wild windmill and round house punches. Then came the scratching and hair pulling. I remember some girls taking off their shoes and hitting people with those. I didn't know how to box back then, but I would wait for an opening then, boom, try to knock them to the ground. I cut one girl's chin open with my fist back in third grade. We're currently friends on Facebook. I don't know if she remembers the fight. After all, that was 44 years ago.
Looks like I'm going to have a boxing program that is filled predominately with males. Currently, there are two girls in the 12 and under class, but I wish there were more. It's tough to get the girls interested. But I know this -- the females who are involved in boxing and stick with it have an edge to them. A lot of them are tomboys. Unfortunately, boxing is a tough sell to "girly" girls and women. Nothing wrong with being very feminine. However, it seems that the females who are very feminine don't last long in the gym, if they sign up.
I guess the best way to convince the girls to come in is to talk up the health benefits of the sport while assuring them that they do not have to spar if they don't want to spar.
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