Summer Continues To Stumble Along

As summer stumbles along, situations in LaFollette Park's boxing gym remain the same.  Jaylen and Damaris appear, for all intents and purposes, to have dropped out of the class.  Damaris' attendance has been spotty since the season began.  Jaylen's attitude wasn't right the last time I saw him, and I had a feeling I wouldn't see him anymore.  Their parents have not contacted me to explain the absences.  The youth class has been empty.

As for the teens - Darnell straight up told me he does not want to compete.  Darnell's parents are more interested in their son getting in shape.  I have been having Darnell do combinations on the punch mitts.  I plan to do that with the participants from here on in because I hadn't been teaching combinations as much as I should have.  Juan wants to fight and he splits his time between LaFollette and a private gym.  Juan is advanced in terms of his skills, so I don't have to constantly watch him.  Sahia gives Juan a lot of drills outside of the ones I have posted on the bulletin board. 

I'm not much in the mood to attend boxing shows this year, but I will have to make some effort for Juan as well as for some of those who sign up for the fall session who may want to compete.  I skipped Seward Park's show.  Jaylen was supposed to attend that but didn't show up regularly to train for it.  Sahia has suggested that Juan should attend as many of the boxing shows as possible.  However, I'm probably going to skip Sheridan Park's show, too.  Sahia has generously offered to go to some of the boxing shows in my place with the youths who want to attend.  I plan to take her up on that. 

Rain Holds Off At Seward Park

It was predicted that there was a 30% chance of rain today.  Fortunately, no rain came down, so the boxing show at Seward Park went on as planned.

There were seven fights.  A lot of kids showed up later to weigh-in most likely due to heavy traffic.  Some streets were closed to accommodate the upcoming Lollapolloza music fest.  A Chicago Cubs game was going on, and part of Lake Shore Drive had been shut down due to a protest.  Henry and David were there early and weighed-in; both of them got fights.

Unfortunately, neither of the boys won their matches.  Henry was up against a kid from Ogden Park.  As usual, Coach Kenny was barking orders to his fighter.  It's funny how Kenny does that without being animated like most of the other coaches.  It's the way he says things and the tone of his voice as he sits stationary at ringside. 

David probably could have won his fight against a kid from Portage Park.  The other kid was heavier and slower.  Like his brother Henry, David wasn't aggressive enough and kept waiting on the other person to throw a punch first.  But I was glad that both boys were able to get fights.

Damaris was a no-show.  She wasn't in the gym the day before which wasn't a good look.  I'm seriously considering not allowing her to fight for the rest of the session.  Damaris keeps telling Sahia and I that she wants to fight, then she backs out of shows at the last minute.  I can't keep going through ups and downs with that girl. 

Alan was at the show, and he told me he plans to go to Sheridan Park's show, which is next week.  I'm going to skip that one and Ogden Park's show as well to give Henry and David some extra training time before Harrison Park's show. 

Seven Down

So far, so good . . . no major problems in the gym since summer camp began this week.  I haven't noticed any vandalizing of the bulletin boards or equipment.  However, it's early in the season.

Seven kids are now gone from the youth class.  This is only the third week of the session.  Yesterday, a set of twins admitted to their guardian that they were not interested in continuing to take boxing.  They left in the middle of the class.  One of them double backed to me to explain their twin didn't like jumping rope because they couldn't get the hang of it.  "What the . . .?" I thought to myself.  Neither of the twins showed much enthusiasm for anything in class from day one.  The sport is just not a good fit for everyone, no matter how much a parent or guardian may think it is for their kids.

Elijah finally showed up to class yesterday (he signed up weeks ago), but again, there was the issue of not being able to show up every day.  "I'm not sure if I can get him here every day," his mother told me.  He wasn't there today.  One reason I know for the absences is that Elijah attends summer camp, but not at LaFollette.  It takes a while to get over to boxing from that other camp which is a good distance away.   I learned from Elijah that there's no coach at Seward Park now; Elijah had previously trained over there.  Allegedly, Mike resigned right before the summer session began.

Aarav was missing, too.  He can only come to the gym two days out of the week and today was supposed to be one of the days.  Like Elijah, Aarav was training at a different gym, too; he was at Sheridan Park.  I'm beginning to wonder how often Aarav was showing up there.

For all intents and purposes, I have no teen or adult class in operation.  I dropped Kierra after her parents never responded to voice mails I left about her non-attendance.  Savannah has yet to show up to the gym.  The two adults bowed out early.  One of them was Yamira's dad; her mother told me they signed up their daughter for something else, which is why she never showed up for the summer session.  The other guy told me the gym was a bit out of his way; maybe that should have occurred to the guy before paying his money.

None of the kids have been showing up for the past few Saturdays.  That's an issue because sparring is set for that day, and we're in the midst of the weekly boxing shows.  I don't know how the ones who keep telling me they want fights -- namely Damaris, Kayla, and Anayah -- think that's going to work out for them if they don't spar. Elijah and Aarav are already ready out of the running because they can't show up regularly to class.  It looks like Lael will never get a fight, either, for lack of regular attendance, too.

On the upside . . . well, there isn't one right now.

Back To The Shows

Seward Park's show is this week.  I'm bracing myself for the youths and parents who believe they should be chauffeured to every boxing show.  No matter how much I tell people they have to get there on their own, there is always someone expecting taxi service.   Some parents act very excited to have their kids learn to box but forget there are competitions for the kids to participate in.  There is always a lack of understanding regarding schedules.

Iz and Abraham told me they may not be able to attend.  Anthony already told me he doesn't want to compete (although his dad may have other ideas). Jamire has never wanted to be there from the beginning.  So that leaves the other kids, but their attendance has become very iffy over the past few weeks.  For example, Jayda has not been in the gym for two weeks straight with no explanation.  I called myself not going to the shows for a few weeks to give the youths who signed up in the middle of the session a chance to catch up on the training.  However, that might not have been enough time, especially for those youths without focus, motivation, etc.

Regardless, I have to attend a certain number of shows each summer.  If the youths show up but don't get a fight, I still have to help out at the show because that is part of my job.  If the youths tell me they will attend, but don't show up, I still have to work.  If none of them want to go, I will still shut down the gym for that night to go help out at a show.  One of the reason is that it is a chance to get out of the field house once in awhile, especially since I've become very intolerant of stuff being pulled by staff and customers alike.  I need the break.

 

Judging Battles at Garfield Park

Garfield Park's boxing show took place yesterday, and thankfully, the weather cooperated despite reports of rain.  Every time I walk into that place I'm reminded of when my late mother and I went there back in the mid-1960's so I could get my shots before starting school.  We used to live a few blocks away from the field house back in the day.

George spotted me walking on a cane.  "Stop faking with that cane!" he said, grinning.  The man gave me some good advice about stopping my knee pain, including losing weight, which I've long needed to do.  While I knew that George had been working for the park district since 1972, I didn't know he had been involved in boxing since 1964.  That's a long time.

Iz and Abraham weren't able to get fights because there was no one available to match them up with.  We might go to Taylor Park in a couple of weeks, but Iz is going to be out of town then.  Most likely, we won't attend another fight until the one at Seward Park in about three weeks.  I need to give time to Maurice and Jamire to catch up so they're ready for matches.  But between the two of them, Maurice appears to be more interested in actually fighting.  I plan to allow Maurice to start sparring in the gym next week.

Before the show began there was a touching tribute to Ed Brown, known as 'Lil Ed, who fought out of Garfield.  Brown was shot and killed several months ago not long before he was going to have a fight on Showtime.  He had 300 amateur fights and was undefeated.  Brown was also undefeated as a professional boxer.  His father and step-mother were present at the show and his step-mom read a letter from a person to whom Brown' kidneys were donated to after his death.

I spent the evening helping with judging the matches, and there were some good ones.  A girl from Taylor Park, I believe, really took it to Mikkela, who fights out of Portage Park.  I saw the Taylor Park fighter in the washroom afterward and gave her a big compliment.  Solomon and Matt, both fighting out of Loyola, did their best but did not get wins.  The younger kids (fighting out of Garfield, Taylor, Fuller, Simons, Ogden, and Portage) went wild on each other all evening.  One boy got knocked to the canvas, and the match was stopped soon after.  An eight-year-old girl agreed to fight one of the boys, but he got the best of her.  She took a hard pop to her nose and that fight was stopped.

Summer seems to be flying by.  We're almost in the middle of July, and there's still a lot of work to do.

Seward Slugging and the LaFollette Rumor Mill

Two people from Loyola Park fought at Seward Park's boxing show last week, and I was in both of their corners.  Solomon attends Barry's class, and my primary function was to use his cell phone to record his fight.  Solomon won his bout.  Ro fought a tough opponent, and held his composure, but he lost.  However, his opponent came over to shake mine, Alan, and Ro's hands, complimenting Ro on his skills.

Donovan and his parents were in the audience, taking in the action.  Donovan keeps saying he's not ready for a match, and his parents are reluctant about letting him participate in one.  I assured his parents there are still more boxing shows to come when and if their son wants to get a bout.

Unfortunately, I had no kids from LaFollette in that show.  I went to Seward anyway because I had scheduled that as one of the shows to attend.  Besides, even if no kids participate, I always make myself useful by helping out Thomas, the head of the city's boxing program and/or helping out the other coaches.  It was a pleasant evening at Seward.

Too bad last week wasn't as pleasant at LaFollette.  The gym was closed due to the Seward Park show, and I knew it would be shut on Saturday because the local alderman always commandeers my gym for part of her summer festival that she holds each year.  But I did not expect it to be shut down on Friday in order to prep for that festival as well.  So that was three days lost of training.  On Friday, I had to sit on front desk duty because I had nothing else to do.

The only good thing about yesterday was that Coach James was kind enough to take down the ropes on the ring in order to prevent the alderman's festival goers from messing with it.  I also taped up the only speed bag in the gym so that it could not be tampered with.  Unlike last year, I didn't have to spend my day yelling at people to stay off of my equipment.

One more annoying thing about last week:  there's a rumor going around that I "hate" kids.  Some staff members have been making snide comments disguised as jokes about it.  I made it clear when the issue was brought up to me that no, I don't love every kid I come across.  I thought that would be the end of the matter, but the "jokes" are still popping up.  It should be common sense that if I had zero tolerance for kids -- and trust me, I know PLENTY of people who don't -- I wouldn't be working in a job where I had to be in close contact with them.  My being childfree has no bearing on my job nor does it impact staff.  However, some people cannot wrap their minds around other people's choices nor stay out of others' business.  I'm not going to make their issues my problem.  But there's only so much more of the "jokes" I'm going to tolerate.

Biting My Tongue To An Extent

The above photo is of one of two bulletin boards up in La Follette Park's boxing gym.  This particular board hadn't been up for too long when I took the picture.  These days, the board looks like it has been through a war.  Today I walked in to find another of the postings on this board torn down and on the floor.

So I take my concern to the appropriate parties, namely the camp director, and a few of the summer camp counselors who happened to be standing nearby.  Let's just say the answer I received as to why the kids can't be told to stop putting their hands on the bulletin board was not satisfactory.  One of the counselors had the nerve to say, "I feel you, but tomorrow is the last day of the regular camp, and we'll get a break."  "I needed a break all summer long, because this keeps happening," I said, my temper rising in my chest.  I abruptly walked away before I really said something that would upset everyone.

If the posting had been completely destroyed, I could have easily replaced it.  What really pissed me off about the incident was the lack of respect shown towards my work space.  Later, when the summer camp kids came down for their afternoon snack, I parked myself in a chair in front of the board in order to keep them off of it.  When I saw kids with food sitting on the apron of the gym, I barked at them to get up.  Another kid put her finger on my thigh as she passed by in the food line, and let it linger there for too long.  She grinned at me.  "Why are you touching me?" I snapped.  She moved away.

There was a boxing show at Seward.  I closed up the gym and came upstairs to the front desk about 45 minutes before leaving La Follette to go there.  "Why are you looking so mean?" another staff member asked me.  "I'm not in the mood to deal with these kids today," I said.  "Well, that's your job, boo," they answered.  "I'm glad I don't have to deal with kids at home," I retorted.  I was in a foul mood, and efforts to keep biting my tongue were threatening to fail, big time.

Andre and Kishaun made it to Seward.  Surprisingly, not enough parks showed up with their fighters.  That was too bad for Kishaun, who didn't get a fight. Andre got a fight with a kid whom I was told didn't have much experience.  However, the kid was a little bigger than Andre in terms of strength.  The kid looked like they lifted weights.  "Uh, oh," I thought when I saw him.

Alan, who was there with four guys from the adult boxing program at Loyola, helped me in the corner with Andre.  Andre has strong punches, but he didn't use them.  I kept telling Andre not to allow the other kid to back him into the ropes and corners, but to no avail.  Andre kept bending over and covering up, as well as not keeping his eyes on the other guy.  Rocky was giving him advice, too, but Andre wasn't listening.  Andre received three eight counts.  Of course, Andre did not win the fight.

Then I helped Ralph, one of the fighters from Loyola Park, in his corner.  He had an exhibition match against John (who is a teacher, by the way, just like the other John at Loyola).  John caught Ralph in the nose.  I was wiping blood off of Ralph in between the second and third round.  They both did well, however.

During that fight, Nassir, who had tagged along with Andre, was standing ringside, calling out instructions as if he was the coach.  One more thing to piss me off today, I thought.  Then Nassir was peppering me with questions about upcoming boxing shows while the match was going on.  I tried to keep my focus on Ralph and John.

After taking the headgear off of Andre after his fight, I told him, "We're going to have to work on technique again in the gym."  Back to the drawing board -- again.

Sunday South Side Sparring

My day started very early with the long ride out to LaFollette Park on the far west side to pick up Marine.  However, I steeled myself for something going wrong, and it did.  Marine had over a week to ask his parents could he go to a sparring session at Davis Square Park.  He waited to ask them this morning, and they told him no.  I'm assuming that his brother Curly wouldn't been able to go either mostly because of an injury Curly had at school a few days ago.

I pushed my irritation aside and made another long trip out to the south side where Davis Square Park is located.  I planned to go out there regardless if I had no fighters with me.  That's one of the field houses with a boxing program that I had not visited before.  Fortunately, the trains and buses were moving along at a good place.  I got there in good time.  Eddie, who is the boxing coach there, was still setting up as people came in.  In addition to his fighters, Simons Park and Fuller Park were represented.  I learned that Humboldt Park and Portage Park aren't the only two places that need a boxing coach.  It appears there is no coach currently at Seward Park, either.  "These coaches have to be patient," Marty, the Simons Park coach, told me.  "Things aren't going to happen overnight."

Angel came in with her step dad, her little sister, and her grandparents.  It looked as if she was not going to have anyone to spar with, as there were no other female boxers available.  Lucky for us, one of the teenage boys agreed to spar with her.  I gave Angel the best advice I could give, but I see where we need to work on the delivery of her punches and her footwork.  Her opponent was not hitting her as hard as he could have, but he wasn't letting her catch him often.

Marty and Eddie both gave me an idea to have a similar type of sparring show at LaFollette Park.  The field house is not open on Sundays, but I could possibly have something on a Friday or Saturday.  There is also the possibility of having a female only sparring session to help out the girls and women who may not be getting enough sparring practice elsewhere, and even less chances to have regular fights.  It's something for me to work on.

Josh's Kids

I try to time my walk to the gym so that I don't run into Igor on the way, but I'm not always successful.  He passed me by, asked how I was doing, and I gave a dry "Okay", in reply.  Alan couldn't come to the gym because of a business dinner.  The last person I wanted to deal with was Igor.  Alan is sort of a buffer between Igor and myself, keeping me from totally losing it when Igor acts up.  Fortunately, Igor behaved.

Alicia, Nate, and Ozzie came in.  I asked Alicia what happened to Lilliana.  "She would have liked to keep coming in, but it's hard for her with the kids.  She's going to try and find something else for all of them to do," Alicia explained.  Edward is Lilliana's ten year old son, and she also has a younger son who is five years old.  There have been other women in the gym who had young children, and it was always the same story.  After awhile, it became too much to juggle.  It's too bad because like Alicia, Lilliana was very interested in learning how to box.

The kid in this photo is one of Josh's five year old twin boys.  Josh came in not long after Igor left, and he had the twins and his oldest son with him.  "How's your daughter?" I asked.  "She's fine.  I wanted to bring her tonight, but she didn't want to go," Josh answered.  "How do you tell the twins apart?" I asked.  "I can tell them apart," Josh grinned.

Josh took his kids into the ring and did a little boxing with them.  The oldest boy was tearing around, but the twins seemed to have a calmer nature.  The twins were content at various times to sit on the apron and watch everyone else in the gym workout.

I was looking for Andres and Professor to come in, as Andres needs to get more sparring in before his next fight at the Chicago Golden Gloves this Saturday.  They must have gone over to Seward Park instead.

My left leg felt a heck of a lot better today.  I wasn't sitting down often.  In fact, I think only sat down twice.  But I still have to use the TENS, and stretch, and use various creams and gels to work on it.  Maybe in another month or so, it'll be feeling even better.

Missed Punches at Portage Park

Portage Park field house recently re-opened their boxing program, and tonight was their boxing show.  Alan picked Teacher John and I up from Loyola Park's field house.  We took a roundabout way to get there to avoid rush hour traffic.

There had been a fight set up for John.  We got there around ten minutes after six, and John weighed in.  After about fifteen to twenty minutes passed by, John and Alan learned that the guy John was supposed to fight called in sick.  John was really disappointed.  He wanted to be able to take a trophy with him back to South Korea.  Unfortunately, stuff like that happens all the time at boxing shows.  People think they've got a sure thing and then the deal is off.

We did get to see how Portage Park's boxing gym had been remodeled.  Kenny and Colonel really wanted to see it because they used to train guys there a long time ago.  John was impressed that they had a glove rack where the gloves (which were all new, by the way) could dry in-between uses.  The ring is on the floor, like the one at Loyola Park, but there's a lot more room.

The field house has more heavy bags to work with, and two speed bags.  The rest of us were commenting on how good everything looked, but Alan wasn't impressed.  "It's cleaner," I told him.  "Yeah, but when people walk into our gym, it looks and smells like a real gym," Alan said.  I've heard people say before that a lot of newer gyms are just too sterile, and not gritty enough for their tastes.  I can see their point.  But there's something impressive about having a new space and new equipment.

John is going back to South Korea tonight to return to work; he teaches math and science in an international academy there.  We'll see him again in July, right in the beginning of next year's park district boxing show season.  "I'm going to be ready for Loyola's boxing show next year," he said.  John, Kenny, and Colonel and I also talked about participating in the Ringside boxing tournament next year as well.

We didn't stick around to watch the fights.  Alan had to go to a company holiday party, John had to finish packing, and the rest of us just went home.  There are a couple more boxing shows left:  Brooks Park next week, and Scottsdale Park in February.  Too late for me to get geared up for anything this year, so I'll try again in 2014.

Tapping Punches

The poster in the photo above for an upcoming boxing movie, Grudge Match, was on the wall when we walked in the gym.  I don't know. . .it seems kind of odd for Sylvester Stallone to do yet another boxing story even though he's not playing the Rocky character.  Robert DeNiro did the classic film Raging Bull back in the day.  It will be interesting to see him playing another, yet older, fighter.

 John and Keith did three rounds of sparring.  The first round was defense, as Keith spent the time warding off John's incoming punches.  The second round was offense practice, and the third round was open sparring.  Keith did very well in protecting himself.

 Alan grabbed the punch shield and worked with Seth in the ring.  Afterwards, he told John and Keith,  "Seth is tired, but I don't want this guy to rest."  So John and Keith took turns sparring with Seth.

But they had to be careful. . . .Seth punches hard.  The punch shield was singing after Seth tore into it. That's probably why Alan was acting as referee in the ring, as seen in the photo above.

I sparred with John for two rounds.  During the second round, John encouraged me to throw a lot of combinations.  "I'm just going to keep tapping your hands down.  But throw as many punches as you can; some of them will get in," he said.  And they did.  We would have done a third round, but it was time for the gym to close.

Professor (standing in this photo with a hat on) told us that Seward Park was looking for a new coach.  "Again?" I asked.  Oscar just started there not too long ago.  But Professor explained that Oscar had an injury.  Alan told me, "Seward Park is looking for someone to be there all the time."  I can do that.  I believe I'll look into it this week.

A Rematch for Andre

This time, I was all the way at the train station when I realized I left my camera at home.  No time to turn back, so I just went on to Hamlin Park's boxing show.  The photo above is from last October.

Barry was there, and he was disappointed that all of his fighters couldn't show up.  I think he had one kid in the show; everybody else had called and told Barry they couldn't make it.  "We're gonna have to have a meeting about that," Barry told me.

I ran into Meg, who told me she was back in action at the gym after an illness that kept her out for a long time.  She told me that people often get on her for boxing at all (I know the feeling), and it seemed they were complaining even more about her participation when she became ill.  But Meg is tough.  She had been cleared health-wise, and she won the fight she had.

Gary was there, also.  I hadn't seen him a long time.  He told Big Andre, who was the only guy from Loyola's adult boxing gym who was at the show, that he could come to the Chicago Fight Club and get some work in.  "Just tell them that Gary sent you,"  he told Andre.  Chicago Fight Club is owned by a guy who loves boxing, but has never been a boxer.  Fearless Fernando, Antonio, and Boban train there.

Johnny, a local promoter, took it upon himself to sing the National Anthem.  Johnny didn't do a bad job.  He also had the announcing duties.

Alan, Andre, and myself were all prepared to relax for a little bit.  Andre's fight was to be the eighth one of the night.  But when Andre went to the table to get his gloves, we learned that his fight had been bumped up to being the third one of the evening.  We had to scramble to get Andre ready because by that time, the second fight was in progress.  While Alan was using the punch pads to warm up Andre, an announcement came over the speakers that Andre should come to the glove table.  I went to check what was going on.  "Andre has his gloves already," I told the people manning the table.  "He still has to be over here," a beefy guy told me without giving further explanation.  Andre found out the reason was they wanted the fighters to sit and stay in an area that was set up near the glove table.  Alan shook his head at the request, Andre was irritated, and I wondered what difference did it make where Andre sat?  We've always sat out in the audience before our fights.

The female fights seemed rather intense to me.  One girl who looked to be 18 or 20 years old took a strong right from her opponent near the end of their match.  It looked as if she may have been cut open.  In another fight, an even younger girl was knocked to the canvas.

Oscar, the coach over at Seward, saw me and asked where Gabriel was.  Alan thought that Gabriel, Professor, and perhaps Matthew would have come to the show, but they didn't.  Oscar took a look at Andre's opponent.  "Didn't he fight that dude before?" he asked.  "Yes. . . .it's a rematch," I answered.  I noticed that Alan and I didn't match as far as our corner person's jackets.  I was wearing my Loyola jacket, but Alan had on his old Clarendon jacket.

During the first two rounds, Andre was tagging the heck out of his opponent.  The match was similar to when they fought during Loyola's boxing show last month.  The other boxer hung in there with Andre, but took a lot of hits.  The crowd got lit up when during the third round, the other boxer got several hits in Andre and backed him up a little.  But Andre went right back to work, throwing hooks and body shots.  Andre won the fight.

We stuck around to see another fight which involved a much smaller boy, William Perez, and a tall boy.  Perez worked to get punches in, but couldn't quite get close enough to throw body shots.  I told Alan, "That boy reminds me of me when I'm sparring with people taller than me!"  Alan agreed.  Andre and I were really rooting for the smaller kid, but in the end, the other kid -- one of Hamlin's own -- got the victory.

Oscar said there may be a match for Andre at Seward Park's show, which is next month.  Andre's had about four or five fights; Oscar's guy is 27 years old with no fights.  But Oscar is confident he can train the guy to take on Andre.

I may get a fight at Seward since I missed out on getting one at Hamlin.  But that may depend on my left leg and knee.  "Why are you limping, Hillari?" Alan asked.  "This has been happening a lot lately.  It comes and goes," I sighed.  I was just at the doctor earlier that day, too, but I said nothing about it.  I guess I wasn't in the mood to be poked at some more and getting yet another medication prescribed to me.

Just Like Nelly Said

Dioanna was complaining about the heat in the gym.  I got there a little late, and the fan was already on, and the window I forgot to close last week was still open, but I agreed with her.  The humidity was so high.   I thought of a rap song, "It's Hot In Here" by Nelly (whatever happened to him?).  Sparring went on, but no one did more than a few rounds.

Pedro did triple duty.  In the photo above, he and Franco sparred for a couple of rounds before giving in to the heat.  Pedro also sparred with Ren.  Both Alan noticed that Pedro was very hunched over while in the ring with Ren.  "You're taller than him," Alan told Pedro, "so don't fight down to his height.  Make Ren reach up to you."

Gabriel apologized for not being up at Garfield Park last Friday for the boxing show.  I told him not to worry because Alan and I wasn't there, either.  Barry took a few of his guys to compete, but I didn't hear how they did.  In the photo above, Gabriel and Tony sparred.  

In this photo, Ren grabs onto Gabriel to slow down his momentum.  It was like David fighting Goliath.  Three times, Ren hit Gabriel down south.  The third time, Gabriel was kneeling on the canvas.  It took him a little time to recover.  When he got back up, Pedro and I noticed that Gabriel kept one hand covering up his, uh, sensitive spot.  "I don't blame him!"  I told Pedro.

Amanda, the woman in the picture above, sparred with me.  I promised to take it easy, but I think I went a little too hard with the body shots.  Amanda, however, had a good hard right, and I tried to slip it.  I wasn't always successful.  It was her first time sparring.  

Professor came in with a lady friend.  He had previously told me of an open coach's position at Seward Park.  When I called that field house inquiring about it, the supervisor told me it wasn't posted online yet, and I would have to apply online.  But then I heard it had been posted, but the posting hadn't been up long before it had been taken down.  I don't think it was filled that quickly, but then, it could have been.  I'll keep my eyes open.

Tyson, in the green shirt hits the bag, while two guys hover around the door in the background.  The one in the lighter top told me he was interested in getting back in shape.  Alan talked to him for a little awhile after that, but I don't know if the guy made a decision to sign up or not.  

Pedro and Matthew face each other in the ring.  Pedro's becoming more comfortable each time he spars.

Another copy of this year's park district boxing show schedule was found in the gym (the other one came up missing from the wall where Alan posted it).  I forgot to write the dates down.  I'll do that the next time I come in, because I need to stay on top of those dates as much as Alan.  Gabriel asked that if I spoke to Barry anytime soon, to see if Barry knows of any guys that would match up with him for fights.  I'm sure there are, but it's a matter of finding them.  

"Nobody's Sparring Tonight!"

Colonel told me that I appeared to be "dragging ass".  I was.  I had to push myself to get into the workout Wednesday night.  No one was using the ring at one point, so I stepped inside to do some shadow boxing.  Focus, I thought to myself, as I worked on my footwork.  Since I changed up my work schedule slightly (no more cleaning on Mondays and Wednesdays), I don't feel as dead tired, but I could still use a lot more energy than I've had lately.

Igor showed up after having been missing a number of times over the past couple of weeks.  I have to watch him whenever he's near the community water bottles.  Igor will put his lips on the bottles.  I've snapped a few times when I've caught him, but he keeps right on doing it.  I seriously considered pouring a full bottle of water over his head tonight in an attempt to get the message across.   But I would have come off looking like some old battleax, so I checked myself.  I said nothing, took the bottle to the washroom, and washed it. 

Matt (on the right) shown in this photo with Franco, told me he feels a lot better standing with his right foot forward and using his right as his jab.  He's not left handed, as some southpaws are.  "I was originally writing with my left hand when I was small, but I was forced to use my right hand instead by a teacher", Matt said.  I understood.  I remember being two years old with a pencil in my left hand.  My mother slapped my left hand, announced I was using the wrong hand, and put the pencil in my right hand.  Both Matt and I concluded that we were probably supposed to be left-handers. 

Later, Alan held the doughnut for Matt to practice his punches.

Amy said that she and her sister Sarah had gone to Hamlin Park over the weekend to get some practice in.  "Bill was asking about you," Amy told me.  I keep making promises to get over there, but I haven't gone yet.  Amy and Sarah were there mid-morning, and it wasn't that packed, even when they left a little over an hour later.  Hamlin Park is open more days than Loyola Park is.  Amy said Hamlin is closed on Tuesdays and Sundays, but is open for a good amount of hours the other days of the week.

Alan looked around to match up people for sparring, but there were no takers, except for me.  "Nobody's sparring tonight," he said.  That's an unusual occurrence, especially if there are enough people around that could spar.  Maybe it was just as well, considering how sluggish I was.

The boxing show at Seward Park was canceled for some reason.  Alan indicated it was the third time it had been canceled.  Those shows aren't easy to reschedule, and many times, they're not.  The shows have to be planned around other activities going on at the field houses where they happen, and there can't be conflicting dates with boxing shows at other field houses. 

I could have also been tired because I sat up watching President Obama's victory speech last night.  I'm glad Romney didn't win.  I kept seeing a future like the one depicted in the book The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood if Romney had got in.  Maybe that's a little too extreme of me, but I was sure glad that I could continue to live under a system where a woman could train at a boxing gym and not be forced into being a housewife or concubine.

The news came that Carmen Basilio, one of my all time favorite boxers, passed away this morning at age eighty-five.  If you get a chance, pull up his fights on YouTube, especially the first one he had against Sugar Ray Robinson.  Basilio was a tough, tough guy.  He would appear from time to time on "Ringside" a boxing history program that aired on ESPN Classic.  Basilio would tell great stories from when he was in the sport.  Basilio also was very opinionated.  I loved to hear what he had to say.

The Day Before Election Day

I came in the back emergency door when I got to the field house Monday night.  That is a no-no, but I saw several guys standing around inside, and the door was open.  Adam brought in a guy whom he introduced to Alan as his brother-in-law, I believe.  His brother-in-law was giving him boxing pointers.

That was especially true when Adam sparred with Rich.  I saw both the brother-in-law and Alan in the corner between rounds giving advice to Adam.  From what I saw of their pairing, Adam and Rich were feeling each other out, trying to figure out the best way to get in punches on each other. 

Matt told me to feel free to spar with him, but just not that night.  He wants a pair of boxing shoes.  "I'm tired of going around in the ring with street shoes on," he told me.   His pair of athletic shoes were messed up when he accidentally stepped into a pile of number two somewhere on the street.  Matt said the clean up was a lot of work.  His shoes were still recovering at home as they dry.

Colonel came in, but not Kenny.  Kenny was working on the two books he's writing, one about graffiti, and the other, a children's book.  Colonel's been having problems lately with his wrist because of arthritis.  A couple of knuckles on his other hand were swollen.  He thought that might have been due to some medication he's been taking.  "This stuff sucks," Colonel grumbled.  I always felt that I had to look out for Alan when he was still sparring with others.  Now I find myself looking out for Colonel, who despite health issues, still carries on with his training. 

I threw a medicine ball on Colonel's stomach as he laid down on the canvas in the ring.  He'd catch it, then throw it back up to me.  I threw the ball thirty times.  Alan told Colonel, "Hey, make sure your 'junk' is tucked in before that ball comes in."  I was worried about that too, to tell the truth.  I was watching very carefully how I was throwing that ball.  But it was fine. 

Sarah and I sparred, and I tried to take a different approach.  I wanted to focus a lot on defense.  Alan kept telling me to catch her jab with my right and return a jab of my own.  When I did that, he cracked, "All these years in here, and now you're finally doing it right."  I tagged Sarah in the face a couple of times -- not hard -- and even got in a right hook.  But I had to mostly revert back to going for the body.  In between rounds, Paul told me to give her right hooks to the head and body.  But Sarah always puts her long arms to good use.  I'm never able to double up on hooks like that with her, no matter how hard I try.

After I snapped this photo of Renee, she protested, "Aw!  You caught me looking all tired!"  She was watching Adam and Rich sparring.

Yesterday, I went to the condo Brandy shares with her boyfriend, Nick.  Nice, cozy place.  They have a dog named Biscuit, and a rabbit named Turkey.  I met a couple of their friends, David, who just got married about two weeks ago, and Todd, who plays guitar.  Brandy and Nick ran a 15K marathon that morning, and they invited people over afterwards for a gathering.  There was quiche, cheesecake, veggie sticks, and cookies.  I had a couple of mimosas.  Never had that drink before, and they were tasty.  Brandy said she'd like to return to the gym at some point.  She remembered how tough it was to lose weight before she fought in the Golden Gloves earlier this year.  She and Vanessa -- the woman she fought against -- are now buddies on Facebook. 

Franco, seen here rolling up his hand wraps, told me he had traveled to Italy back in April.  Turns out he a first generation Italian-American; his parents and grandparents are from a town in the old country.  He told me that Italy is very pretty, and the culture is way different from America.  Sigh. . .I wish I could do some traveling. There was a time when I was game to go everywhere, but I never had money to travel to places I really wanted to go like California and England.   I've never been on an airplane in my life, and I've only been to five states: Wisconsin (a few times when I was a baby, and twice as an adult), Mississippi when I was a toddler, Missouri with an ex (and now deceased) boyfriend, Michigan on a day trip with Pastor Roger and others to a Christian book store, and Indiana by mistake (an ex-boss accidentally drove us into Hammond).  I'll tell you a secret: in recent years, I haven't been big on being far away from home. It's a silly phobia I should have gotten over some time ago, but it keeps hanging on.

Alan called Seward Park, inquiring about a boxing show that's on the schedule there for later this week.  The coach there told Alan he wasn't sure if the fights were going to take place.  There have been some boxing shows that were canceled this year, but not the high number of cancellations like there were a couple of years ago.  I thought that was odd that the coach at that field house wasn't sure about whether or not a boxing show was happening.  Hopefully by Wednesday, more details will surface.

Ring Action on Halloween

As I approached the entrance to the field house on Halloween, I kept looking around and over my shoulder.  On the way home from work, I passed many kids doing the trick or treat business.  I just wanted to make sure that the same kids weren't outside the field house armed with eggs.

In the photo above, Kenny and Franco mix it up during sparring.  Kenny was yelling directions at Franco like he usually does whenever he's in the ring sparring with most everybody.  Franco did get some good hits in, but Kenny was tagging him more often.  I saw Alan lift up Franco's headgear in between rounds to wipe his nose with a towel.  The headgear Franco wears has a big bar across it to cover his nose.  Apparently, it still wasn't enough to prevent Kenny from popping Franco enough to cause a little bleeding. 

As Kenny and Franco started sparring, the song "It's A Thin Line Between Love and Hate" by the Intruders, began to play on Colonel's boom box.  I thought that was funny.

Kenny was asking his friend Harold -- who had also come in on Monday -- if he wanted to get some sparring in after Franco was finished.  Harold didn't answer right away, and I was suited up, so I got in with Kenny.  I like to spar, and some people offer up more of a challenge than others.  Once in awhile, I can get hits in on Kenny, but not often.  He's very quick on his feet and with his hands.  I learned early on that it was futile for me to chase him around the ring.  We would have continued, but Kenny's thumb -- the one he accidental cut the tip off of last week -- started bothering him, and we had to stop.

Then Harold -- the guy standing in this photo -- decided, what the heck.  He'd get into the ring with me.  Colonel told me, "Don't hurt the guy.  This is his first time boxing."  But Kenny whispered to me, "Tap him hard once!"  I got in a right hook, and a good straight right to Harold's stomach.  Otherwise, I went as easily as possible.  Harold kept turning his back on me, and Alan, Kenny, and Colonel kept warning him not to do that.  We only did one round.

Afterwards, Harold said, "I wasn't prepared for that.  That's a workout!" He didn't want to hit hard, because Harold said that's not what he's about.  He wants to learn the techniques.  He told me that I hit hard, and I gave my usual stock answer about having inherited my father's heavy hands.  Harold has known Kenny since they were both in 8th grade.

Rich is getting better each time he's at the gym.  Kenny asked me, "Who's that big dude who used to come in here and pick on everybody?"  "Oh. . .Leon," I answered.  "Rich could knock Leon out!  They would be a good match for each other," Kenny said.  I believe they would.  Rich really listens when Alan, or Kenny or Colonel give him instructions, and he learns fast.

Yet another picture that shows further proof that I'm very short.  Alan and I play around for the camera.

This double end bag really gives a good workout.  Colonel saw me working on it, and he said the bag was a good one for me because it's more of a reflex bag.  I gave tips to Owen how to use it.  "It works almost on the same principle as the speed bag," I told him.  "I've never used the speed bag -- yet," Owen admitted.  He tapped the double end bag a few times, but gave up on it for the moment. 

When not sparring or working with Kenny on technique, both Franco and Owen (pictured above) spend a lot of time in the hallway outside of the gym.  They jump rope, and they work a lot each other on the punch mitts.

Earlier in the evening, Alan was changing his clothes at the coach's desk.  I was watching, waiting for him to pull his pants off so I could say something smart.  I was in the ring shadow boxing.  Alan must have read my mind, because he smiled and gave me a sign to turn in the other direction.  So I smiled back and complied.  When I turned back around, he had his workout shorts on.  "I was going to make a remark as soon as you pulled those pants down," I laughed.  He pulled his shorts a bit just enough for me to catch a glimpse of the color of the boxer shorts he was wearing.  "See?  The shorts are nothing," he grinned.

Not long ago, I was riding on a bus to somewhere.  A woman got up to give me her seat because she thought I was pregnant.  Now looking at this photo, I really see how she believed that.  Eggnog season is around the corner. . . .sigh.  I really need to whittle my middle down. 

The plan is for those who want to get a fight to head up to Seward Park next week for their boxing show.  Alan is going to put in a call to see what possible match ups are available there.  I've fought at Loyola, Hamlin and Brooks, but never at Seward.  I don't remember any women who trained there, but it may be a different story this time.