An Almost Knockout

Ro makes his way to the ring at Loyola Park for sparring in the photo above.  He told everyone "I'm 27 years old," to which Alan replied, "You look six!"  Ro is very young looking.

Ro faced Connor in one sparring session.

Ro also had a good match up with David.

I did five rounds of sparring: one with Deb, one with Carrie Ann, one with Melissa, and two with Kathy.  Kathy caught me with a right to my left cheek.  It nearly knocked me cold on the canvas.  She keeps improving, and her punches have gotten harder.  Kathy is going to sign up for the Golden Gloves along with Connor.  The registration is this weekend.

While cleaning up a little around the house today, I found some stuff I could take to LaFollette.  One of the items was an ab roller that I had stuck way back in one of the closets.  I haven't been using it despite my best intentions, so the people in the gym can get use out of it.  I also found instructions on wrapping hands which should be helpful to the kids.  Luckily, I also found some duct tape.  The uppercut bag has some wear and tear, and I want to patch it up.

I threw away an old heating pad.  Since my right shoulder has been bothering me, I think I got rid of the pad too soon.  Fortunately, I didn't throw away the Icy Hot or the Mineral Ice.

An Easy Night

The body snatcher bag  is really showing wear and tear these days.  This was one of the new bags the gym received back in 2007 when the International Boxing competition was in town. This piece of equipment has really taken a beating over time.

Alan had to attend a meeting for his day job, so I opened the gym.  I hoped for a quiet, easy night, and it was.  The only people who came in were Alicia, Leo, Renee, and later in the evening, Josh.  Renee was laughing about a woman whom a cab driver attempted to drop off in front of the field house.  Seems that she wanted to go to Loyola University to watch a basketball game.  The cab driver told her that the game was being played at the field house.  "They don't play those games here!" Renee heard the woman tell the cab driver.  I wondered how in the heck the driver could have missed Loyola University, which is several blocks south of the field house.  There are signs all over pointing to it.

I held pads for Renee in the ring for three rounds.  I'm a little rusty on holding pads, but we did fine. My left leg was a little unsteady, so I was glad that Josh didn't ask for pad work when he arrived.

Leo admitted that he had trained in a private gym in his home country of Mexico.  "I had to train there because the municipal gym stayed crowded," he said.  The coach at the private gym took a liking to Leo and let him train for free.

My lower back is bothering me.  The temperatures are a little higher (it's about 38 degrees), but there's huge puddles of water on the ground due to melting snow as well as a lot of slippery spots.  I nearly fell on the way to and from the gym.  I caught myself both times, but I jerked my body into odd configurations to keep from hitting the ground.  That's probably why my back feels like it does right now.  Ah, such is middle-aged life.  I'll just pull out the heating pad and Mineral Ice and deal with it.