Lateness and Attitudes

Nassir waltzed into the gym 35 minutes late, and I pointed it out to him.  "What's going on?" his mom asked, and I explained the situation to her.  Then Nassir mostly wasted what was left of class time:  taking too long to put on hand wraps, talking with the other kids, being distracted by other activity in the gym, and generally just standing around.

I worked mainly with Little Jordan, because Rocky and Derrick Sr. were working with Kishaun and Derrick Jr.  Little Jordan was not turning his fists over properly while hitting the punch mitts I was holding.  I kept thinking about how badly Little Jordan's last fight went, and I got on him a little hard about not being focused.  Little Jordan didn't appear to be enthusiastic about the rest of his workout, either.

However, I gave up on Nassir after several minutes.  At ten minutes to the end of class, I told both him and Little Jordan to take off their wraps and finish out with floor exercises.  Nassir mumbled some excuses, but I wasn't in the mood.  "Nassir, when you're late, that's training time that's being missed," I said.  Nassir's last fight was a disaster as well.

I compared how hard Kishaun, Derrick Jr., and later, Andre, were working to Little Jordan and Nassir's attitudes.  I wanted to ask Little Jordan and Nassir if they wanted to win their next fights.  Concerned about how my tone would sound, I kept quiet.  I would really like to hear their answers, however, since Little Jordan and Nassir's attendance has been sporadic as of late, and I can't seem to get any cooperation out of them when they are in the gym.