Weather Or Not

Only three kids -- Anayah, Kayla, and Jamarion -- showed up for the youth class yesterday.  Sahia wondered where was everyone else.  "It's nice outside," I replied.  "So?" Sahia said.  I understood her point completely.  However, the weather has always had an effect on attendance in the gym.  It is automatically a given that there will be people missing if it is raining, snowing, very cold outside or if it's a warm, sunny day like it was yesterday.

Weather conditions are a sure sign of people's motivation and dedication when it comes to boxing.  A few winters ago, blizzard conditions closed most places for the day.  A friend of mine, Jay, messaged me to ask if Loyola Park was going to be open that evening.  If I remember correctly, it wasn't.  Jay was disappointed because he would have braved the snow to get his workout in.  To be honest, I would have trudged through the snow, too.

Unfortunately, the mindset of most of the kids, teens, and adults aren't like that when it comes to boxing.  To an extent, I can understand people not wanting to be inside a hot gym during the warm weather months.  Most of the field houses are very old buildings that were constructed long before air conditioning was invented.  It's costly for the park district to outfit the buildings with that.  I've never been inside a private boxing gym, whether it had been around for decades or was a newer place, that had A/C.  There must be some unwritten rule somewhere that boxing gyms should never have cool air flowing through them. 

Also, this is Chicago, and on average, we only get about two-and-a-half months of good weather.  People want to be outside as much as possible before having to bundle up under layers again.  I expect gym attendance to go down in June, July, and August.  Attendance doesn't go up much in September, either, even though that's when the fall classes have begun and all the kids are back at school.  The weather is still holding up. Sometimes, the good weather extends into the middle of October.  

If people do not have it on their mind to stick with the boxing program and take it seriously anyway, the weather is just another excuse not to train.