Two Times, Two Gyms

Today is Veterans' Day, and when the kids are out of school, the field houses are open.  It also means the field houses open and close at different times.   I had to be at work earlier than usual because LaFollette Park was closing earlier.

Only David showed up to train, and he put in nearly an hour and a half of work.  David has been trying so hard to master the speed bag.  He knows how to hit it with one hand at a time, but he's trying to learn how to use two hands to make the bag go faster.  I see his frustration, and I feel for him.  I give him tips to make it easier to get.  But I always remind him that it took me about a year to be able to hit the speed bag like that.

I also ran a slipping drill with him, something that I need to do with all the boxing participants.  David moved around the ring with his hands up, while I came at his head with the punch mitts on.  The object was for David to practice moving his head.  He's also been practicing slips on the cobra bag.

After I got off work, I went up to Loyola Park.  That field house opted to open later in the day, but close at its regular time.  The gym had several people present, then suddenly, they all disappeared.  Only Alan and I were in the room.  Then I realized that all of them had gone into the hallway in order to have room to jump rope.

"Look at my nose," Alan said to me.  A couple of days ago, Alan's nose got scratched while he was sparring.  It didn't happen while he was sparring with his son.  It probably happened during the time he was in the ring with Minh.  Alan continues to use the head gear that looks like a hockey mask in order to protect his eye.  The bars across the head gear must have scraped Alan's nose due to a blow.  When Alan took the head gear off, I noticed he was bleeding, and I pointed it out.  He just looked at me and shrugged his shoulders.  Today, Alan's nose looked more banged up.

"What did Reva say when she saw your nose?" I asked.  "It didn't look that bad the other night, but in the morning, it looked worse.  She gave me trouble about it.  'How old are you? You're a businessman!' she said.  What does one have to do with the other?" Alan said.  I chuckled, but I understood what Reva was talking about.  Alan is a salesman who calls on customers in person.  The customers might wonder, "What's up with this guy's face?"  But I'm sure Alan knows how to handle that. . .

I opted out of sparring again because my knees are still squishy.  I also knew that I would probably be sparring with David again later this week, so I decided to save my strength for that.