Practicing To Coach

I brought a book called Boxer's Book of Conditioning & Drilling.  It's written by Mark Hatmaker. There are a few pages in the book covering punch combinations.  When I have down time in the gym (i.e. no youths show up for class), I practice the combinations.

Some coaches have told me there are some things they no longer do, like holding the punch mitts and sparring.  Some have legitimate reasons, like old injuries, for example.  But I'm finding I need to keep up on techniques so I can effectively communicate how to do them to the youths in the gym.  My focus on getting the moves and punches right during my lone workouts is more intense than it was when I was competing.  I count that as a good thing.

Sometimes during those workouts, I think to myself, I wish I had that focus when I was actually competing.  Might have made a difference.  But I doubt that it would have gained me more fights, especially being a woman in this sport.  I often feel a bit awkward only having had six fights during a brief amateur career.  But there are boxing coaches who've never had any fights outside of regular sparring.

I have to make a correction from my last post -- it wasn't Montrell who participated in an USA Boxing tournament in Wisconsin, it was Nate Jr.  Barry gave me the right information.  I saw Nate Jr. at a church service this morning.  He didn't win.  "It's all good; I'll get it next time," he told me.