Class Interrupted

Because everyone at the field house is not there at the same time, staff meetings are held at odd times.  A meeting took place in the middle of the eight-to-12 year olds' boxing class.  I hoped it would only run a few moments.  It ended up running until that class ended.

Before I went to the meeting, however, I had to once again contend with Michael about putting on the hand wraps.  Michael just about had one wrap almost all the way on when the whining started.  "I can't do this," he kept saying.  Michael refusal to focus and a tendency to want to be babied all the time was not something I was going to put up with yesterday.

Jaydon returned to class, which I was relieved about.  After that hit he took during sparring last Friday, I thought he would not attend class again.  The only other kid who showed up was Jaylin.  I had to leave them to their own devices when I went to the meeting.

The meeting cut into part of the teen class as well.  Meranda and her mother had just walked in.  I told them I would be back soon, but I ended up being gone another half-hour.  When I came back, Meranda was sitting next to her mother watching something on her mom's cell phone apparently for that entire half-hour.  She hadn't even put her hand wraps on.  When she finally did that, Meranda kept doing only the left jab and the straight right on the equipment, and not putting her punches all the way out.  "Meranda, you have to practice all of the punches, plus move around and stay on your toes," I said.  But Meranda continued not to show much motivation. She was the only teen who showed up for class.

I asked her mother once again about Laquan's (Meranda's cousin) whereabouts.  "Oh, he's been having a lot of basketball games," she said.  "I can't put Laquan in any boxing matches if he's not here training consistently," I said flatly.  Meranda's mother looked concerned, but I can't afford to take risks by pushing kids into fights for which they are not ready.  I'm not going to keep worrying about Laquan, Charles, or Elijah as all of them have the same excuse for not training in the gym.

I was happy to see Jessie and Yami show up for the adult class based on how unproductive the teen class was.  Both Jessie and Yami have pretty good form.  But Jessie gave me a bit of a scare yesterday.  "He didn't tell you what happened?" Yami asked me.  By that time, Jessie's dad and little brother had walked into the gym.  Jessie's dad look concerned about his son moving around.  Jessie had injured a muscle in his leg.  He told me the doctor said it was okay to work out, but I told Jessie if his leg is bothering him, he should take it very easy.  I worked on the punch mitts with Yami, but Jessie couldn't do it because his leg started giving him trouble.  Both Yami and Jessie were tired out, so they left early.

I have three boxing competitions to worry about:  the Golden Gloves (which any of the adult participants can register for), the City-Wide Boxing Tournament (that takes place in April), and the park district boxing shows (which start in mid-summer).  I understand I have to keep up with administrative issues because I work in a municipal/public gym.  But getting people ready for those competitions is more of a concern to me right now.