Losing The Potentials

Here is one view of the boxing equipment room at LaFollette Park.  I put most of the stuff back in their places.

Here is a second view.  No, the kiln hasn't been moved yet, but someone is supposed to come and get it and take it to another field house.  Mitch, one of the swimming instructors, helped me set the little table back up and put the small refrigerator on top of it.  The extra heavy bags still need to be put back in the room.

I made the announcement that this is the last week of the winter session, and it's time to sign up for the spring session.  Earl and TJ waffled on whether or not they would return.  David said he's on a swim team, so he probably won't sign up again.  Michael just said straight out he didn't want to take the class again.

Xavier, Tyler, Terrance, and Ben didn't show up for the teen class.  I signed up a new guy, Jesus, for the spring teen boxing class, but I'm wondering if any of the guys who are currently in that class will come back next session.

It's so frustrating to have people in the gym, especially if they are showing mad potential, decide to walk away from the sport.  Nearly two years have gone by, and I still don't have a core group of fighters that will stick around.  I know the football/basketball/baseball coach deals with the same issue.  But then those programs have great methods of recruiting players and getting the support of parent/guardians.  Even though Coach James loses a lot of the kids before the season ends, he still has enough of a crowd to populate the games.  And a lot of those kids keep returning year after year.

The gymnastics instructor was shaking her head that only four of her girls are ready for an upcoming competition.  However, she has many kids in that class, and that class continues to grow.  Some of the girls who used to be in boxing ran off to be in that class.

I feel as if some people sign up for boxing intending only to kick the tires and window shop.  They determine what the "trial run" will be, which is usually very short.  When that time is up, people are gone, and I'm sitting around in an empty gym, twiddling my thumbs.  I would like to bring my fighters to competitions, but that's hard to do when they're not there to begin with.  Depending on how soon the competitions are coming up, there's not always time to get people ready for fights.  Then I'm back to square one.  Again.