Robert Conrad, an actor who is best known for his role on the TV series "The Wild, Wild West" (CBS; 1965-1969), was a boxer for a time. I discovered that he has a radio show. You may find it at http://crntalk.com/robertconrad/. Check it out.
I was reminded of one of Will Smith's biggest rap songs, "Parents Just Don't Understand", a couple of times in the gym yesterday. Jermaine sparred with Justen, TJ and Suave. Jermaine's mama raised an objection to her son sparring with Justen because they had sparred a couple of weeks ago. Justen had got the best of Jermaine that time. Jermaine did not bother showing up to the gym last week when it was Spring Break, first of all. Second of all, there were not a lot of kids he could choose from to spar. Third of all, I'm the coach, and what I say goes.
Justen did not finish his session, whining about how he got hit in the head. I was NOT in the mood yesterday. "That's normal in boxing. What do you think this is?" I snapped. It was later brought to my attention that other than one session he had with Jermaine some time ago, Justen has never finished three rounds with anybody. Justen always cuts it short with an excuse. The next time he does it, he won't be sparring again for a long, long time.
Jermaine delivered low blows to both TJ and Suave, regardless of the fact that I warned him to keep his punches above the belt. Both of those sparring sessions had to be cut short because of that. Jermaine started bragging about "winning" again, and I went off on him in front of his mama. It has just about become impossible for me to hide my frustrations with Jermaine.
Suave didn't want to leave the ring, refusing to accept that I had to stop the sparring in order to keep him from becoming seriously hurt. I admire that the boy has heart, but Suave's pride often won't allow him to listen to reason. Eventually, he accepted that sparring was over for that day. I made a point of then working with him to teach him how to get out of the corners and off the ropes when someone pins him in.
X, whom I hadn't seen for nearly two years, showed up with his son. His son and his older daughter were a couple of the first kids who signed up for boxing when I was hired to coach. Both kids dropped out early on. X wanted to sign his son up again, but the class is full and five weeks have already gone by. However, X wanted me to bend the rules, not only for his son, but for X to volunteer in the gym without going through the proper channels to be a volunteer. In addition, X also planned to tell his adult male friends that they can show up to the gym to volunteer and perhaps get a free workout in, presumably without following registration procedures.
This is where I get pissed off. I do NOT appreciate anyone insisting that I go against what I'm allowed to do within the parameters of my job. Outside of being disrespected, X's attitude said in so many words that he did not care that I would reap negative consequences for allowing him to do whatever he wants. I already informed my boss of X's actions. Now I'm just preparing myself for the inevitable showdown to come.
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