Pizza and Punches At Loyola Park

Caiden, his little brother, his mom, and his aunt beat me down to Loyola Park's boxing show today.  There was a good turnout, especially among the fighters.  I arrived just as pizza from JB Alberto's was delivered for the coaches and officials.

Mary, who is now retired from her position as supervisor of that park, came out to see the show.  It was very good to see both her and Carolyn, an attendant at the park.  "I miss seeing you," Carolyn told me.  I realized that I miss going there on a regular basis.  I also saw Manny, who tried to get a fight but couldn't find a matchup.  Sebastian, Kevin, and Shelia were in attendance, too. 

Ten fights were presented.  Caiden's fight was the sixth of the evening.  The boy he fought was from Humboldt Park.  They were close in weight and it was the first fight for both.  Caiden was doing okay.  I kept yelling for Caiden to keep his eyes on the other person, to stop pawing, and to throw straight punches and strong hooks.  Caiden fell once, but Shifty the referee pronounced the fall to be a slip.  The other boy won because Caiden was gassed out.  We'll have to work on that back at LaFollette Park.

I'm waiting for Ivan, who backed out of going to Loyola Park, to say anything out-of-turn the next time I see him.  At least Caiden made the effort. 

A Cool Night For Boxing

Finally, after two years of being rained out, there was another boxing show at LaFollette Park.  The skies were overcast in the morning, but as the afternoon went on, the sun broke through and the threat of rain went away.  Only five other parks were involved in the show: Franklin Park, Portage Park, Garfield Park, Hamlin Park, and Loyola Park.  Barry, the youth coach at Loyola Park, told me it was his first time at LaFollette.  "This is a nice big gym over here!" he smiled.  "This place is at least twice the size of Loyola's gym," Alan, who runs the adult class at Loyola, said. 

There was no fight available for Jaylen, the only kid from LaFollette who was available to participate in the show.  There were other eleven-year-olds on the premises, but Jaylen was bigger than the other kids. 

Before the show, Sahia was telling the Portage Park coach that she wanted to get back into boxing.  The challenge was going to be finding people her age to have fights with.  I understood that completely as it was always hard for me to get fights while I was competing for the same reason. 

Only eight fights took place.  The first fight was an exhibition match.  I helped judge the fights.  I had a hoodie on, and I shivered a little as the cool breeze was not summer-like at all. 

Gabe and his brother Sebastian, who I hadn't seen in a long time were there.  Gabe did get a fight against a guy from Hamlin.  Gabe lost, unfortunately.  The guy he fought kept jamming Gabe up against the ropes. 

All in all, it was a good day for fighting.  I told Jaylen that the next show we'll go to is the one at Garfield Park.  Hopefully, there will be an even bigger crowd of fighters who will show up there so Jaylen may have a better chance of getting a fight. 

Friendly Faces Amid Neighborhood Drama

I was walking up to Loyola Park for their boxing show since that field house isn't far from my apartment.  Rodney, who is the coach at Trumbull Park, saw me as he was driving by.  "Girl, get on in this car," he said.  I was very appreciative that he gave me a ride.  "Did you go up to your gym first?" he asked.  "No.  I just go straight on to wherever the boxing show is being held on that day," I replied.

Henry and David did not show up.  I had already told Malik to sit out the show because of his non-attendance at La Follette Park, so I had no fighters.  As usual, there were youths in attendance they could have been matched with, but oh, well.  After the weigh-in, seven fights were made.  I served as a judge.

I introduced myself to Frank, who is the new supervisor at Loyola Park,  Frank's a nice, friendly guy who took over after Larry, whom I didn't get a chance to meet, retired not long after taking over from Mary, who retired late last year.  Mary was at the show.  "I miss everybody!" she said as she gave me a hug. There were a lot of other familiar faces in the place.  Of course, Alan and Barry were there as they are the boxing coaches at that park.  Shifty was on hand to referee.  Bill, Pat, Rico, and Johnny were a few of the other coaches present.

I hadn't seen Gary in a long time.  When I took the 'L more often, I would see him at one of the train stations.  He still works for CTA, but he's at another train stop these days.  Rojan, John, Mike, and Kevin -- all guys who train at Loyola Park -- were in attendance.  It was also good to see Sebastian, who told me he's still working towards his degree.  "Gabe still comes here," he told me, referring to his brother. 

I met Mallory and Csilla, two women who train out of Loyola Park.  They fought each other in an exhibition match.  Mallory is tall.  I told her later that she needs to utilize her long arm reach and long legs to gain an advantage in the ring.  Csilla, who is shorter, did well in fighting on the inside.  I told Csilla, who is an art teacher, that I used to fight out of Loyola.  "How did you feel before your first match?" she asked.  "I was beyond nervous.  I hung in there, but I didn't win.  But it gets better each time," I explained.  The person I had my first match with, Meg, is up for a captain's position with the Chicago Fire Department. 

There was some grumbling in the crowd during one of the matches.  The announcer responded with, "It's easy to box while sitting down."  "You ain't never lied,"  I thought as I chuckled to myself. 

There was a delay in getting a recording of the National Anthem started for some reason.  I initially told Barry that I would rather one of the kids get a chance to sing.  But after a few moments of silence, I told everyone, "Okay, I'll start it off.   But for some reason, this is the one song that I keep blanking out on the lyrics.  So everyone has to sing along with me."  With the encouragement of the announcer, I took the microphone.  The audience joined in and it was fine. 

Mike was matched with Solomon, who is in Barry's class.  Solomon keeps getting better every time I see him, and tonight was no exception.  Now Mike did pop Solomon good a couple of times.  But Solomon was the busier of the two, so he got the win.  Unfortunately, Kim, Mike's wife, got to the field house late so she didn't see Mike fight.  But I assured her that her husband did well. 

One of the guys who fought out of Hamlin is a lifeguard at La Follette.  I recognized him after I congratulated him on his win.  "I go into the boxing gym at La Follette and work out in the ring from time to time," he told me.  It's easy for him to do seeing how the door to the gym is often left wide open everyday way before I get there.  But now that I know the guy boxes, I told him he could go in and train whenever he has the time. 

John worked over the guy he fought with, who I believe was from Hamlin Park.  Hamlin people are hard to beat.  I know, because I've been in the ring with a few of them in the past.  But John stayed on the guy for the win. 

The boxing show was pleasant.  But the crowd wasn't as big, and it thinned out quickly.  There was a bit of a low vibe in the room.  Kevin said that it was probably because of recent shootings that have left the neighborhood on edge.  A couple of murders took place over the past few days; the incidents are thought to be the work of a serial killer.  Not the first time there has been that type of person in the neighborhood, but it's been years between then and now.  "You think they'll catch the guy?" Alan asked me as he drove me home.  Pictures of an alleged suspect showed a man dressed from head to toe in black with his face covered.  "It would be easy for whoever it is to change out of that outfit and blend in.  They may catch him, but they may not," I answered, shaking my head. 

Outside at Loyola Park

For the first time in 20 years, the Loyola Park boxing show was held on the outside.  A ring was set up on a basketball court in the park.  In the photo above, Mikaela holds the pads for her brother Noel before his fight.  Noel's fight was number two on the list.

I didn't sing the National Anthem, but Xavier, who had sung it there in the past, did a great job.  Tonight was the first time I heard him sing. 

The kid Noel fought was from Loyola Park, had two prior fights, and was built a little bigger.  Mikaela correctly pointed out that the other kid kept going for a knockout.  At the end of the second round, I told Noel to watch out for the wild punches that were being thrown at him.  Noel did get in a few good head shots.  The other kid kept pinning him up against the ropes and in the corners.

Noel did not win, but as usual, I was happy that one of my fighters was able to get a match.  A few people told me that they believed Noel had great form.  They figured that if he had pressed the other guy a little more, Noel might have won.

Most of the other fights were brawls.  John used his long reach to great advantage to get a win over Connor (not the same Connor who trains at Loyola), who did a back flip in the ring before the outcome was announced.  William, the polite home schooled teen who now goes to a brick-and-mortar high school, broke off his opponent with precision.  He deserved the "Best Fighter" award he received at the end of the night.  Reif and Ben faced each other during the last -- and most excellent -- fight of the evening. Reif got the winner's trophy, but the both of them were working their game well.

Shamar, a staff member at Loyola, was the announcer for the evening, and he kept the crowd laughing.  Barry was calling out punch combination numbers during one match.  Shamar said, "I heard what is the square root of four!  The coaches are teaching math in the corners!"  It was a fun evening. 

A More Than Full House

I walked into the Loyola Park field house to find about 25 people lining the hallway for boxing class.  Today was the beginning of the summer session there; LaFollette Park's summer session began a week ago.  "Woo!  There are a lot of people here today!" I said as I walked down the hall.  Several of the new people smiled.

I didn't do much of a workout because I was very stiff.  Most times I can work the stiffness out, but it wasn't happening.  Besides, it was very packed in that small gym, so I thought it would be better to help both Alan and Paul get the new people situated.

William told me that he was going to public school for the first time in the fall.  "I've been homeschooled all of my life," he said.  I know a few kids who are being homeschooled, but I have not come across many teens who have been.  I hope the transition is not too difficult for him, especially since William will be starting high school.

As Alan drove me home later, I told him, "I like my job at LaFollette Park, but I don't dig the office politics and gossip."  After having been caught running my mouth about things I didn't have the facts straight about early on in my working life, I learned to stay above and out of office gossip culture as much as possible.  However, the run-in I had with Tina at LaFollette Park a week ago also proves that despite one not buying into the gossip game, there are others who will not only take the ball but keep running with it while refusing to recognize the path is heading into the wrong goalpost.  We can't really change what people want to believe about us.  But dealing with pettiness and foolishness caused by those beliefs is a pain in my backside.

A Dead Transfer and Hordes Of Teenagers

It appears that a coach was hired to run the boxing gym at Eckhart Park, so my attempt to be transferred there is now dead in the water.  For the time being, I'm stuck with a long commute to LaFollette Park, mostly indifferent kids, and parents who don't appear to support the program.  I remember hearing that the community really wanted a boxing program re-opened there before I was hired.  But, honestly?  The community's alleged enthusiasm for a boxing program has never appeared to be very high.  Not by a long shot.  I've been there nearly three years, and my efforts to generate more interest in the boxing program has been difficult to achieve.  That really bothers me because I know how boxing can benefit youths in so many ways in and outside of the ring.

Today is the first day of the summer session for my program.  Alan's class at Loyola Park ended on June 7th, and I believe it doesn't begin again until June 19th.  He's going to have a lot of returning people for his summer session, however.  Several of the guys -- Roman, John, Michael, Ben, Reif, Matt -- expressed interest in fighting at LaFollette's boxing show later this month.  I have to get out the word to the other park district coaches that there are some light heavyweight and heavyweight fighters who are looking to have matches at my show.

William, who looks like a college student, but who is actually 14 years old was in Loyola's gym last night.  I'm assuming that Barry has been giving him permission to come to the adult class for extra training in light of the fact that the boxing shows will soon commence.

Frenchessa was the only other woman who was in the gym last night.  She kept going on the speed bag even though the bell was red.  "I think I'm a good height to box.  It appears there are a lot of tall women in this sport," she said.  A little more height might have helped me while I was competing.  But like an aunt of mine who is 4 foot 10 always says, "Dynamite comes in small packages."  Frenchessa is in her early 20s, and she wants to train for a couple of years before competing.

I saw that another kid signed up for the 12 and under boxing class at LaFollette.  I have not met either of the two new kids who will be joining the class, nor have I talked to their parents.  That bothers me, especially when now the phrase, "please talk to the instructor before registering" is on the paper class schedule and online.  Either parents aren't noticing that request or they are ignoring it.  If it's the latter, that has the possibility of causing negative issues as the class goes on, and I'm never in the mood for that.

Something else I have to watch out for -- hordes of roaming teenagers hanging about in the gym.  Over the last couple of weeks, I've had teens strolling in asking about the class.  Most do not appear to be serious about it, and frankly, I have zero toleration for that.  A few of them were led by Desire, a kid I met when I first started working at LaFollette.  Her younger sister was in the class back then, but Desire was not.  Desire has been talking about signing up recently, but I haven't forgotten her saying "I don't want to box because I don't want people thinking I'm a man!" three years ago.  I suspect her real motivation (like too many of the teen girls at LaFollette) is to position herself in spots where she thinks most of the boys will be.  I like Desire, but I'm not running "The Dating Game" nor "Love Connection" out of the gym.

I'm not running a free babysitting service for parents who want to dump their little darlings off on me because they want them out of the house as much as possible, either.  Neither the youth nor the teen class is filled up completely at the moment.  But give it time.  Several parents, having forgotten once again that summer happens every year, will show up four to five weeks into the session to beg me to take their kids in the class.  The window was missed for putting their little wonders into summer camp, so they have to scramble to find another activity.  Unfortunately, out of that group, I end up with kids who don't want to be in boxing and they scrap the class after a few times.  It happens too often.

Before I forget, I saw the movie Wonder Woman over the past weekend.  It was way better than the other superhero movies of late.  Former boxer Ann Wolfe -- who is now a trainer -- was in the movie.  Her part was small, but I hope if there is a sequel, her character will have a bigger role.  In one scene, it looked like she gave a devastating body shot to a male soldier (the film is set during WWI) who along with other soldiers, had invaded Paradise Island.  She was handling her business for real.

Returning Fighters

Sarah takes aim at the speed bag at Loyola Park boxing gym in the photo above.  She has returned to train, and I heard Alan asking her to bring her mouthpiece in the next time.  It appears that he's eager to have her spar and compete again.  But Sarah wants to ease back into the routine.

I sparred with Kathy for the first time in about three months.  Ben was impressed with how I slipped some of her punches.  I wish my feet could have moved as fast as my head was.  Kathy danced around the ring, and I plodded after her.  She caught me in the face with a right; the impact left my teeth shivering.  Good thing I was biting down on my mouthpiece.

John (whom I learned recently got married), Ben, and Rojan went around for several rounds a piece of sparring.  Alan was asking people about going to Fuller Park's boxing show, which is later this week.  Some of those guys may attend.  I'm staying at "home" at LaFollette.  I have too many kids who are new and not ready for competition.  Also, not many people want to go out south, where Fuller Park is located.

The Ben who is at LaFollette Park walked into the gym late last week.  Surprise, surprise as Gomer Pyle would say.  His father said his son has been playing football, which is why he hasn't been in the gym.  Football?  This is the kid who seemed to keep waiting for perfect conditions to participate in a boxing show? Ben now has no problem with being tackled and knocked down in a different sport?  "I'm going to sign him again for boxing soon," his dad said.  It's now the fifth week of the fall session, I believe, so Ben will be coming in a little late.  Luckily, there's one spot left in that class.  But even if Ben returns, I'll be dealing with yet another kid who is trying to do more than sport at a time.

Judging at Portage Park

I really need to stop trusting some Internet maps on how to get places.  Luckily, I left the house early enough, so I got to the boxing show at Portage Park yesterday on time.  And yay, they had a parking lot so I didn't have to worry about getting a ticket.

Donovan did not go to that show.  I had advised him not to because I figured there would be no fight for him there.  I was right.  Only a few parks were represented.  Unfortunately, that meant that James, who showed up with his parents, wasn't able to get a fight.  There was an eight-year-old boy from Garfield Park who could have been a match for him.  However, James was 34 pounds heavier.  George, the coach at Garfield Park, didn't agree to making the match, and rightfully so.

Still, I felt bad about telling James that he wouldn't be able to fight that evening.  He didn't get a fight at LaFollette or Harrison Park's shows, so that was the third time.  James has always been very eager to get a match when he arrives at the shows.  James is a quiet child, not given much to being loud and talkative like a lot of other kids are.  But I saw the disappointment on his face, and it bothered me.  I'm hoping we'll have better luck next week at Loyola Park.

Only five fights were scheduled.  I acted as a judge for all of them.  There was a match between two boys, Jordan and Ben, whom I had seen fight several times before.  Jordan was very hesitant about getting his punches off, while Ben kept pressing in on him.  The judges turned their sheets end, but it was decided that both boys were winners.

Marlon, the coach at Portage Park, had one of his boys up against one of Barry's boys from Loyola Park.  Everyone in the audience took note of how Marlon's fighter was ducking punches.  "You don't have to go that low!" Marlon told him from the corner.  But the kid kept doing it.  Barry's fighter took advantage of it, too, using uppercuts and body shots to make his points.  Both boys were dead tired in round three because they had given out so much energy.  Barry's fighter won.

Alan was there, along with his son Matt, but Alan had no fighters with him.  Bill, the coach at Hamlin Park, was concerned about the women Alan has in his adult boxing class.  Bill had a woman fighter at the show, but there was no one for her to get into the ring with.  The only woman I could think of who regularly competes out of Loyola is Kathy.  Alan's been reaching out to Geniece to come back and train, but she's hasn't as of yet.

My fall youth boxing classes at LaFollette are slowly gaining registrations.  But I'm not expecting full classes until halfway into the fall session.  That's how it has been going for the longest.  As for the adults, I'll be lucky if a couple of people sign up and stick with it.

X Doesn't Mark The Spot

X didn't darken the door of my gym today.  Maybe he thought long and hard about me telling him that I wasn't about to jeopardize my job by bending the rules for him and his kid.  I don't dig entitlement attitudes.  But I have a feeling that chapter isn't over yet.  I'm just glad that my boss knows what's up with X so that I now have some backup.  I remember that X's son said something about being in baseball.  I'm trying to figure out how X thought his son was going to be able to do two sports at once.

TJ and Earl showed up nearly a half and hour late.  Jermaine kept pointing it out until I gave him a "shut up" look.  The excuse I was given by the cousins was that they had to do their homework and that a relative dropped them off late.  "I understand that things happen, but y'all can't continue to make a habit of this.  That's especially going to be true when this class is cut down to an hour this summer," I told them.  But then, those two may not be in the class next session.  Earl had spoken of playing baseball, and TJ was talking about swimming class.

Jermaine continues to be sloppy.  I lost count of how many times I told him to stay in his stance while using the heavy bag and while shadowboxing.  There's no sense of focus with that kid.  While I held the punch mitts for him, he couldn't seem to tell his right hand from his left.  Earl was standing on the apron of the ring, and Jermaine had a side conversation with him during the round.  "Uh, you can't talk to people while in the ring," I told the boy.  I also made him take off a pair of sunglasses he was wearing.  "Is it sunny in here?" I asked sarcastically.

Moments later, Jermaine was going on about how he was being distracted.  TJ, Earl, and Suave were laughing and throwing the medicine ball around.  Jermaine felt he couldn't concentrate because of it.  "During the boxing shows, people in the audience are going to be yelling out all types of things.  Jermaine, you are going to have to learn to block it out," I told him.  The kid kept dropping his hands during punch mitt practice.  I got tired of reminding him to keep his hands up, so I cuffed his right ear with a mitt.  It's a tactic that a lot of coaches use to get a boxer's attention.  I remember Alan doing that to me once at Loyola Park.  "Ow!" Jermaine protested.  "And that is exactly what the person you will face in a regular fight will do if you keep dropping your hands," I pointed out.

Xavier came in, and I held the punch mitts for him.  No sign of anyone else in the teen class, unfortunately.  No adults showed up for the last class, so I updated the bulletin board that has the workout order on it.  I timed the parts of the workout so it covers an hour, even though currently, the class is still 75 minutes.  When the kids start goofing around after telling me, "I've already done everything on the board," I'll just tell them to do floor exercises until class is over.  The idea is, they need to keep training for the entire time.

Training, Tournaments and Painting

Rojan watches a sparring match at Loyola Park in the photo above.

No kids or adults showed up to LaFollette gym, as I have come to expect on the weekend.  But Janae and Terrance were there for the teens' class.  I didn't suggest that any sparring take place because Janae has almost zero experience with that, and I didn't want to take a chance with putting her in with Terrance.  However, I was pleased to know that Janae does shadow box on her own when she's not able to come to the gym.

I've made some more phone calls to coaches to set up the sparring session next month.  It's hard to catch people because they are usually working the same time that I am.  But I want to make it work because most of the youths in my gym really need the sparring practice.  It won't be long before the park district boxing shows begin, and I'd like to see everyone who is willing get a chance to participate.

I made it to the Chicago Golden Gloves last night only to miss Ben's (not the one in my teen class, but the one who trains at Loyola Park) fight.  Alan told me that Ben did a great job, but the judges gave the win to the other guy.  I made a point of telling the teens at my gym that they have to do the best they can not to leave the outcome of a fight in the judges' hands.  In other words, they have to work hard to make sure the judges have no choice but to hand them the win.

I've been hearing that the people who now own the Chicago version of the tournament are happy with it being out at Cicero Stadium.  But judging by the low turnout, the audiences still aren't down with the idea.  Even when the tournament moved away from St. Andrews, where it had been for decades, to Gordon Tech high school, the crowds were huge and the vibe was high.  That hasn't been the case since the Golden Gloves have been held out in the suburbs.

A check of the attendance sheets for the LaFollette spring boxing session showed that Elizabeth hasn't been signed up like she told me.  People may think I'm being mean, but I kind of hope that she doesn't.  After all, it seems odd to me that a girl who has been telling me for over a year that she doesn't want to box now all of a sudden is interested in the sport.  She's already told me she doesn't want to spar, which is problematic in a program that is set up for youths to compete.  I like Elizabeth, but I'd rather not have yet another kid just holding a place in class when another kid who wants to learn the sport and would actually do the work could have that spot.

Several boys kept coming into the gym being disruptive.  I kept putting them out (I have no problem or reservations with doing that).  Later, the same group of urchins came in with a woman who was related to a couple of them.  It appears that everyone still hasn't received the message that the Chicago Park District has gone paperless in terms of registrations.  While I was explaining online registration to the adult, the boys kept messing with the equipment.  I had to get loud with them a couple of times.  I apologized to the adult for my outburst towards the kids, but I have to also start letting the adults know that I'm not going to tolerate discipline problems out of their kids.  If their kids don't follow the rules and regulations, they're gone.  It's just that simple.

I've been toying with the idea of not allowing the youths to spar if they show up late on the days when sparring takes place.  There are still problems with youths taking too long to wrap their hands (because of goofing around), then not starting their workout right away.  No matter how many times I point out that showing up late cuts down on what they'll be able to do that day in terms of training, tardiness keeps happening.  The next step beyond that is just not allowing them to participate in tournaments due to lack of not being on time, and not training well on top of that, regardless if it was a sparring day or not.

Finally learned what happened to Deja -- she's in the gymnastics class.  Deja was one of the kids who had good potential (and her brother Terry had started to come along as well).  But it seems that gymnastics is a better fit for her.

Maybe when I come in next week, the painters will finally have finished painting the supply room.  Trust me, it's not a big job.  The painters seem to have a habit of stretching out jobs for some reason.  I could have gotten it done in a day or two.  Having painted my mother's house inside and out a few times when I was younger, I do know something about how to paint.

A Tough Guy and A Good Guy

I received notice that Colonel (real name, Ken) passed away yesterday.  It is always hard to receive news like that around the holidays.  The last time I saw him in person was at the LaFollette boxing show back in July.  I had heard from a few times via text messages (I have a raggedy cell phone that's not completely reliable).  The last message asked me to call him soon.  I made promises to myself to do so, but I never got around to it.  Now I regret that.

Colonel was a Vietnam war veteran.  He did not go into deep details about his time in the service.  But he said enough to let us know that it was no picnic.  After the service, Colonel joined the Chicago Fire Department where he remained until he retired.  He knew both boxing and martial arts, and he coached both.  Many of us at Loyola Park benefited from his knowledge.

He kept us laughing down at the gym.  The man had plenty of stories to go around.  There were a lot of off-color jokes he said that I wanted to put in this blog, but I couldn't.  But trust me, the jokes were funny.  There were also the stories about how he had to handle his business on people in the street who mistakenly thought Colonel was an easy mark.  He also had good advice, too.  I was helped greatly by his insights after I was unjustly fired from the church I used to work and attend.

What I will remember most is his attitude about his health condition.  It was kept quiet for awhile, but eventually it was revealed that Colonel was dealing with cancer.  Despite of everything, Colonel never let it get him down.  He was still doing his workouts, and just living his life.  Colonel was moving and getting around better than most guys twenty and thirty years younger than he.

I will miss him greatly.

My First Time at Fifty-Four

My first time sparring at age 54 was with Kathy, who is in the photo above.  She continues to improve greatly.  It was not my night, however,  She stepped in, got her punches in and stepped back out.  I was plodding along, spending more time avoiding being hit, than getting punches in.  Alan advised her to keep circling around me, and she did.  I tried backing her into corners, but she was already several steps ahead.

Professor caught David up against the ropes in this photo.  The two men claimed they were going easy, but it looked as if they had gone to war.  They got some good sparring time in.  David continues to improve on his skills.  Later, I heard Professor giving him some more advice.

Leon (on the left in the photo) sparred with Ralphie.  But Ralphie had enough after about a couple of rounds.  Then Leon took on Professor.  Professor held his own against Leon.  Leon threw a hook that missed, because Professor timed it right and avoided it.  "If that had landed, it would have sent him home," Alan commented.  Then Leon hit Professor in the ribs with a hard right hook.  Both Alan and I winched.   "That hurt me," Alan said.  He kept telling Leon to go easy, but Professor wasn't bothered by Leon's swings.

Finally got a new pair of glasses.  I'm showing them off in the photo above.  Since the last pair had been battered many times while I held the punch mitts for the kids at LaFollette Park, I'm going to be extra careful with the new pair.  They will go inside the eye glass case from now on before I put the punch mitts on.

Another Red Eye

Alan and Tony are all smiles in the above photo.  It was taken after Tony had sparred with Connor.  Alan joked with Tony about going into the ring with me.  Tony laughed, "Oh, no!  I don't want to end up bleeding!"

Normally, Loyola Park boxing gym is not packed around this time of year.  But last night, not only was it packed, but there were new people who had just signed up for the program.  A familiar face had also returned: Jason.

Jason was wearing a breathing mask that he said helps with his stamina.  The mask can be set to mimic high altitudes found in mountain areas.

I sparred with Celeste, and managed to catch her with a left uppercut.  "That uppercut was perfect," she told me later.  She got me in my left eye, and bopped me in the nose a couple of times.  I looked in the mirror and chuckled to myself.  David, over at LaFollette, had turned that same eye red when we sparred last week.  Celeste told me she needs all the practice she can get.  She's going out of town soon to compete in a boxing match.

"I'm surprised that Kathy didn't come in," Alan said.  He plans to take people to the Humboldt Park boxing show next week, and Kathy would be one of them. I'm hoping that one or two of the kids at LaFollette will want to fight at that show.  Unfortunately, I'm anticipating a problem with De-Fetrick, who's in the adult boxing class.

The athletic cup I lent him at the Simons Park show still hasn't been returned.  The last time De-Fetrick showed up, I explained that the cup was park district property that had to be brought back.  Then De-Fetrick disappeared for several days.  I tried calling his mom's house, but I couldn't get through.  I was able to reach his grandmother, who told me she would contact his mom about the cup. Alan suggested that I not allow De-Fetrick to work out until the cup is returned.  A few years ago, Alan had to tell one of the program participants not to come back to the gym after it was discovered they had stolen a pair of bag gloves.

When and if De-Fetrick comes to the gym again, I'm going to have to lower the boom if he doesn't have the cup with him.  I anticipate there's going to be an argument when I announce there will be no workout until the cup is returned.  But like Alan told the person who stole the gloves from Loyola Park, I can't have anybody around the gym who's walking off with equipment.  The park district is on a budget, and it is not easy to replace items that have been damaged or stolen.

I brought myself another set of kettlebells over the past weekend, so I'm donating a lone 10 pound kettlebell I have to the gym.  I've always wanted to teach the boxing participants how to use kettlebells.  Some of them may like that over using the free weights.

Sparring With Erica

The boxing gym at Loyola Park was full of people.  Bean came in and told Alan and I, "I'm waiting for the crowd to clear out before I sign up again.  It's too small in here for all these people."  He has been looking for Kenny for the longest time, because he liked working on the punch mitts with him.  But Kenny hasn't been around for awhile because he's been busy elsewhere.

I sparred with Erica, and I had to take my shoes off.  My old boxing shoes are up at LaFollette Park, and I haven't gotten around to buying another pair yet.  I was moving better, but Erica is very fast.  She was throwing a lot of double jabs and hooks, and I didn't move out of the way quickly enough.  I managed to catch her with hooks to the body, and even some uppercuts.  I kept grabbing her arms, too, something I normally don't do during sparring.

Erica also sparred with Kathy.  She was finding ways around Kathy's long arms. Alan kept telling Kathy to work her way in with the jab.

Igor showed no shame.  While packing up to leave the gym for the evening, Igor stripped down to his underwear to change into his street clothes.  It was not a pretty sight.  There were several women on the premises, but Igor didn't care.  I don't have an "Igor" in my gym as of now.  I hope I never do.

Wiping Out Headgear

In this photo, Alan schools some of the new people who signed up for the fall boxing session at Loyola Park.  I recognized one new face as Chris, a guy who owns a computer repair shop in Rogers Park.

I had a lot of energy for some reason last night, but I didn't spar.  Instead, I watched as Alan and Gabe sparred.  Gabe wore no headgear, but Alan put on the hockey mask type headgear that Kevin left behind a few years ago.  He asked me to take it off of him and wipe it out between rounds.  "This gets so hot," he said.  I need new headgear, but having worn that particular headgear before, I would never buy that design.  Headgear is hot enough without also feeling like I'm in a cage.

Kathy and Celeste sparred.  I didn't get a chance to ask Celeste if she'd had some prior experience.  It sure looked like she did.  Celeste had to work harder to fend off Kathy's long arms and the punches at the end of them, but she did fine.  Kathy showed more confidence in the ring.

Gabe wondered if there had been anyone at the recent Loyola Park boxing show that could have matched up with him.  The only adult I remember participating in the show was Kathy.  All the guys who fought were under eighteen years of age. "It's just as well that I didn't make it to the show," Gabe said.  It's not that Gabe wasn't able to be matched up with people at other shows.  But Gabe is very tall and lanky, and that build is often hard to find among other fighters in the Chicago Park District.

In a few days, the private boxing show at Fernando's gym in Evanston will take place.  I'm going to attend regardless if have any fighters from LaFollette Park with me.

Snafus and Absences

Due to a snafu on the part of the insurance company, I had to forfeit a doctor's appointment that I had been waiting to go to for about three months.  The insurance company kept (in my late dad's words) dicking me around over the phone, so I could not resolve the problem right then and there.  Because of that, I was late to LaFollette.  After I arrived, I was wishing that I could immediately go home.

Kody and BJ came in.  They have signed up again for the class, but there's been no change in either.  If I don't stay on BJ, he doesn't train hard or consistently, and Kody just plays around.  It's a long 75 minute session when I have people in the gym who won't do what they are supposed to be doing.

Finally, I asked Kody, "Do you want to win fights?"  His response was, "I want to be able to hurt people on the street who mess with me."  I told Kody that he has to train as hard as someone who participates in regular matches to be able to defend himself elsewhere.  Kody was bugging BJ to spar, but BJ wasn't interested.  Then Kody turns around and says he's not interested in sparring.

BJ backtracked on his promise to take a fight at Simons Park next month, as well.  "I don't think I'm ready for that," BJ said.  "Why are these kids in here?" I thought to myself.  To make matters worse, Kishaun and Derrick Jr. were no shows.  I expected Kishaun to at least come in and explain why he didn't show up at Loyola Park's boxing show yesterday.  I'm trying to get out of the habit of always snapping and yelling at the kids as I don't like channeling either of my late parents' angry tones.  I forced myself to talk in even tones to BJ and Kody despite of all the slacking that was going on.   But it was damn hard for me to do.

There are only two more Chicago Park District boxing shows I'm going to take the kids to, and a private boxing show in Evanston, and that's it for this year.  I expect the self-motivation as well as the attendance to suffer even further after the opportunities to participate in matches dwindles.

None of the adults -- Dan nor De-Fetrick -- showed up for their class, either.  The absences did give me a chance to sign up two new kids, Felicia and Deshawn, for the 12 years old and under class.  That class is padding out a little more, and for that, I'm grateful.

Exhibitions and An Almost Fight

The photo above was taken in the gym after the Loyola Park 2015 "Boxing Explosion" show.  Barry is on the far left.  Gary is standing behind me on the left.  The twin teenage boys to the right of me had an exhibition match, and I worked the corner of one of them.  Alan worked the other corner.

I nearly got a fight.  Yeah, you read that one right.  Kathy, who's birthday was today, was matched up with a much younger girl for a fight.  Alan proposed that I take an exhibition match with Kathy.  I don't live very far from the field house, so I could have ran home and got my mouthpiece.  But Tommy felt more comfortable matching the younger girl up with someone else.  It appeared that Kathy would not be able to fight.  Then three fights into the show, Alan and I heard the announcer calling Kathy to come to the glove table and get suited up.  We thought the announcer had the wrong information, until we found out that Kathy was going to fight after all.

Alan was in Kathy's corner, and I helped in the corner of the other girl.  Kathy hung in there the full three rounds, despite taking a couple of hard hits directly in her face.  Unfortunately, Kathy lost the match.  But she did get a nice birthday present near the end -- she was given an award for Best Fighter Of The Show.

I also helped out another of Barry's fighters, a kid named Max, during a fight.  Max was putting his left jab out there fine, but wasn't throwing the straight right hardly at all.  During the breaks, I told Max to use that hand more, and to cover up his left side.  The other guy, also from Loyola Park, kept catching Max with hooks there.  That was also an exhibition match, so both guys received trophies.

My fighter, Kishaun, was a no show.  I can't understand it.  Kishaun was all hyped up about going to Loyola Park for weeks.  But Kishaun had not been in the gym at LaFollette to train for days, and I had a feeling I wouldn't see him at Loyola.  I was disappointed, but I can't get mad about it anymore.  This is the second time I was "stood up", but it's more about Kishaun missing an opportunity.

The turnout at the Loyola Park show was very low.  There were seven fights instead of the usual ten fights.  The audience watching the fights was small.  There were a lot of reasons:  fighters who didn't show up, it was raining out, and I heard from those who drove in that traffic was bad.  Those things happen sometimes when the boxing shows take place.  But like they say in the entertainment world, the show must go on.

Sniffling and Not Breathing

Kishaun (on the left) does a sparring drill with his cousin Derrick Jr., or has Kishaun puts it, "shadow sparring".  Hopefully, both boys will get fights at Loyola Park's boxing show later this week.

While I was at Loyola Park, I got some pad work with Gabe.  Standing next to him really pointed out how short I really am.  I believe Gabe is six feet four.  I lasted two rounds, and learned some new punch mitt techniques at the same time.  Gabe noticed that I wasn't breathing as I threw my punches.  I was a bit embarrassed because that is a rookie mistake.  As much as I tell the kids at LaFollette Park to "breathe!" I should know better.

I was also sniffling.  Right before I got to Loyola Park, I stopped to play with Alex, a tomcat who lives up the street from me.  No sooner than I started petting Alex, my allergies kicked up.

I was running the gym for Alan because it was Rosh Hashanah.  Outside of Gabe, Kathy, David, and Connor were in attendance.  No sparring took place but it could have.  "When I was a volunteer," I told Gabe, "I couldn't let people spar when Alan was out.  But as a coach, I can."  "That's what's up!" Gabe said.

Over the weekend, I brought a new pair of five pound weights for LaFollette's boxing gym.  I was never crazy about the neoprene covered ones that were available in the storage room.  After the kids broke one of them, I was determined to replace them with some real cast iron weights.  As time goes on, I'll build up a collection of cast iron weights for the boxing participants to use.

Father and Son Boxing

I sparred with Kathy at Loyola Park, and nearly tripped and fell over my own feet.  My hands are always able to cooperate, but my knees don't agree.  Alan told me to cut off the ring on her, which wasn't easy.  For the most part, I kept planting myself in the middle of the ring to try to keep the action there.

Alan went a few hard rounds with Connor.  Alan's son, Matt, was watching from ringside.  "Is he doing this because I'm here?" Matt grinned.  Alan was popping Connor with vicious hooks, then Alan caught the younger man in the gut.  Connor was bent over.  They were scuffling in the corners, too.  Connor caught Alan with some full-on jabs and rights.

Matt got into the ring with his dad, and as you can see from the photo above, Matt was not wearing headgear.

They rumbled around the ring for a few rounds, then stepped back into the ring later for a second sparring session.  They were all up in the corners and on the ropes.  Alan was bouncing off of the ropes; Matt was blocking a lot of punches. As Matt was stepping out of the ring after their last session, Alan held up his hand in victory.  Matt didn't see the gesture, but I did.  I was laughing.

Matt gave me some good advice about some supplements I can take to help with my arthritis.  I take glucosamine for my knees.  Matt said that would help rebuild cartilage, but not do much about the daily pain that I feel.  I'm willing to try anything that will help me to move better when I walk and run.

Rain Day

No one showed up at the gym.  I guess the rain kept people at home.  Well, no people in attendance gave me time to:

a) eat my lunch
b) check on the attendance numbers for the upcoming fall session
c) read
d) do a little clean up in the gym
e) plan for the upcoming boxing shows and the fall session

As an extra food bonus, I was invited to have some BBQ sausages by LaShawn, a guy who came in to check out the gym.  He took pictures of the fall schedule times so he could promote the program to people he knows.  LaShawn was doing something with the field house's football team; I think they had a scrimmage game today.  The food was mostly for the team.  I also took a picture with the team.

The football coach had me give a brief speech to the team regarding boxing training.  I told them that boxing training can help them with stamina and conditioning.  Again, plans were made to have the football team come into the gym, but it seems the timing is never right.

Kishaun and Rocky did show up yesterday.  The reason they didn't make it to Harrison Park was because they couldn't get a ride.  Public transportation was working, but hey, I don't know everyone's situation.  Oh, well.  No sense in me continuing to grumble about it.  I'll just have to hope for the best when we go to Loyola Park in a few weeks.

That sparring session I planned that didn't take place?  I learned that a lot of the coaches didn't receive the flyer -- which I received late to mail out -- until after the event.  Next time, I'll skip having a flyer made, and I'll just call everyone directly to invite them.