Inconsistency vs. Boxing

LaFollette Park's boxing gym is looking a lot better.  The ceiling and the walls have finally been painted.  If the painters keep up the pace, the class should be able to get back in the gym by next week.  Tough and Talky have been getting on my nerves because they won't stay in the Park Kids program, nor will they rehearse properly for the Black History Month show coming up soon.  Marine, Curly, and Angel have been allowed to go into the fitness center, but they spend most of their time talking and playing around.  I do more of a workout in that room than they do.

Steve, the supervisor and myself attended a meeting of boxing coaches where Tommy promised that the new boxing equipment for LaFollette should arrive in a few weeks.  I set a date for the field house's boxing show -- August 20th.  I figure that should give me a little more time to get the kids prepared for that.

However, the Chicago City Wide boxing show (formerly named after boxer Tony Zale) is happening in April, less than two months away. Steve encouraged me to get some kids involved with that.  The truth is that right now, I don't have anybody who will be ready for that.  A lot of training time was lost due to the gym being painted.  When I'm able to get back in there again, it's going to be like started all over with the existing kids.

A lot of the kids who haven't signed up for the program, and seem to have an aversion to doing so, keep asking me when the gym will be reopened.  One kid had the nerve to ask me had I quit because the gym hasn't been opened.  Why in the heck would I be hanging around at a place where I had quit?  Common sense ain't common, because all humans don't have it.  I got news for the ones who continue to think there is open gym -- they're all getting thrown out as soon as they hit the door.  No more showing up just to play around or to "try it out".

Solved a mystery concerning the kids signed up for my class who came via that neighborhood organization.  They showed up today, and I expressed concern to their chaperon about the kids only showing up once a week or not at all.  I was told they only can be there two days a week because they have other activities.  I wondered why I hadn't been told that up front.  I already have problems with that from the kids who regularly hang around the field house!  Boxing involves building one skill on top of another.  Kids who are not consistent with training can't hope to build those skills up and be decent fighters.  Inconsistency also makes it hard to build a strong boxing program, which I am trying to do.