Laying Down The Law and Calling The Law

Tough and Talky showed up late as usual to the gym.  Marine had already done half of the workout, and then he and I worked with the punch mitts.  I used the new punch mitts that I had ordered.

Luckily, I went through the boxes of new equipment yesterday and took out the stuff I remembered that I had ordered.  Today, the only boxes in the gym were those that contained parts for the new ring.  If I hadn't taken my other stuff out, it might have been mistakenly given to another gym.

Tough and Talky were goofing off, like they always do.  The both of them kept talking to me while I was holding the punch mitts for Marine.  I missed answering one of his punches.  Luckily, the punch didn't get me in the face.  "Talky, you made me miss.  Do NOT talk to me while I am in this ring working with someone.  How many times do I have to keep repeating that?" I snapped.  Then Tough decided she wanted to work on the punch mitts.  But according to the gym routine outlined on the bulletin board, she hadn't done any shadowboxing (which comes before punch mitts work).

She claimed she had done shadowboxing, but she did not.  She aimlessly walking around swinging her hands in an unfocused manner.  "Four to five rounds of shadowboxing takes twelve to fifteen minutes at three minutes a round.  Tough, what you have been doing is not shadowboxing.  If you don't remember how to do it,  your next question to me should be, 'Miss Hillari, how do I shadowbox?' " I told her.  Instead of asking for help, which I would have gladly given, she decided to do what she wanted to do, which was basically nothing.

But you see, I can be a stubborn little chick, too.  I kept working with Marine, and I ignored Tough.  When she figured out that she couldn't give me orders, she finally gave up and left the gym.  Later, Talky told me that their family was moving in a few weeks.  Maybe that's why their mother didn't say too much when I reminded her about signing her kids up for the spring session.  It's not good to lose kids out of the program, especially since I'm still trying to get it up and running.  But I won't miss T1's disrespect, nor Tough and Talky's disinterest in the sport.

Another one of the girls in the boxing class was assaulted just outside of the field house.  She was asked for her number by a guy, and when she refused, she was grabbed and slapped.  Her mom remained at the field house to wait for the police, and I walked the girl home (she doesn't live that far from LaFollette Park).  Summer hasn't started yet, but already some of the more unpleasant aspects of the season have begun.  I wish I had seen the assault because I would have put a stop to it with a quickness.  It is suspected that whoever hit her is someone who hangs around the field house on a regular basis.  This attitude that some boys and men have that women who refuse their advances should be punished has got to stop.  I hope they catch the guy soon and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.