40 Years Older

No sign of Kishaun today.  Ashanti called her cousin via cell phone, only to be told that Kishaun was hanging around with another set of cousins somewhere.  I know I told him last week there was a boxing show at Harrison Park going on this week.  "Kishaun shouldn't be missing days at the gym," Ashanti said, and I agreed with her.

For a brief moment, Shanita and Julius made another appearance.  As usual, Shanita did all of the talking, while her brother just looked around.  She's fully into basketball these days, so she (nor her brother, for that matter) are returning to boxing any time soon.  The both of them seemed surprised to see Derrick, his parents, and Ashanti in the gym.

I had Ashanti and Derrick do sparring drills for a few rounds.  Then Derrick asked if I would do some rounds with him.  The drill was made up of just us moving around and throwing punches, but not landing any.  The point was to work on footwork, head movement, getting out of the corners, and defense.  Derrick is very quick, but I managed to get him backed into the corners several times.  Once there, he easily turned out of the corners.

At some point, I realized that I was chasing around a 13-year-old kid.  "I'm forty years older than he is," I thought, as I struggled to keep up.  That's one of the benefits of being a boxing coach.  The coach has to practice their skills in order to keep time with the people he or she has in the gym.  I got a good workout today.  "You've got some skills!" Derrick exclaimed afterwards.  I try to do my best.

Ashanti's mom doesn't want her to spar, I learned.  "Accidents could happen," Ashanti explained.  I guess that means she won't be taking on any boxing matches.  Yet she has a good pair of strong hands.  Sigh. . .it seems that I've lost Ashley, even though she won her one fight.  Now it looks as if I won't have Ashanti facing anyone in the ring.  Girls show up expressing their interest in fighting, but the challenge is getting them to really get into it.