Saturday With Nay-Nay

The first full day of spring acted like winter, which is the usual in Chicago.  I expected another slow Saturday filled with no shows. The 12 years and under class went empty.  But Nay-Nay showed up for the teen class.

She was impressed with the new equipment that came in.  I'm still in need of new bag gloves as well as stands to hang the heavy bags, speed bag, and double-end bag, but I'm happy to work with what I've received so far.  I pulled out a pair of new punch mitts and put on the new body protector so Nay-Nay could practice some punches.

Then we did some light sparring.  Neither one of us had mouth pieces, but we did use a couple of the new headgear that came in.  The one I had on really needed to be broken in.  It was as tight as a vice on my head.  Nay-Nay and I threw very light punches, but I should have encouraged her to put a little more force on them.  She's good at defense.  Most of my jabs and rights were tapped down as soon as they came out.  But I have to encourage her to throw more punches to answer those being thrown back at her.

It's always a pleasant time working with Nay-Nay when she comes to the gym. She shows up ready to train, which is not the case with some of the other youths who are signed up.  DJ was a no-show again, despite the fact that the City-Wide Boxing Tournament is approaching quickly.  I have a feeling that DJ is planning to rely on street fighting skills to win a trophy instead of boxing training.

The park district boxing show schedule has come out, and LaFollette Park will host the first show of the season on the second of July.  I told the youths they've got three months to train.  Marine told me he can do that show, but due to a family vacation, neither he nor his brother Curly will be able to participate in most of the other shows until early fall.  Because of sporadic attendance and lack of attention to training, most of the other kids will not be ready to participate in the boxing shows.  There's also no guarantee that any of the adults who will sign up for the summer session will want to compete.  Plus, there's the pressure on me, as a new coach in a re-started program, to put on a good boxing show.  This will be interesting.