Mr. Hopkins Is On Point

Claressa Shields is FINALLY on the front cover of The Ring magazine.  She should have been featured there four years ago when she received her first Olympic gold medal.

Before the article about Ms. Shields, there is an excellent opinion piece by Bernard Hopkins entitled "Boxing Is Losing Black Kids".  He hit on most of the things that frustrate me as an amateur boxing coach -- unmotivated, soft, and undisciplined youths; lack of support for amateur boxing programs, especially from parents and guardians; the closing of amateur boxing programs; youths being lured away by football, basketball, and dreams of being rappers.  He could have also added the problem of youths confusing professional wrestling and MMA with boxing.  They know more about what's going on in the WWE and the UFC than they do about professional boxing.

Mr. Hopkins stated that he did not believe that boxing would ever go back to the time of having "multiple African-American superstar fighters after this current generation".  Unfortunately, the man is probably right.  Boxing has fallen out of favor not only with Black youths but with all American youths in general.  The field house I work in sits in an area populated by both Black and Latino youths.  Gentrification is slowly creeping in, and I've seen some white people occupying some properties nearby.  But getting any of those youths, regardless of their ethnicity, to sign up for the boxing program and stick with it is a hard task.

The situation is enough for any amateur boxing coach to want to throw the towel in.  It is only the love of the sport and the fact that sometimes we get one or two kids who are really interested that keeps most of us around.

First Names Only

Once again, just like when I first writing this blog over a decade ago, I find myself running out of nicknames to describe the people in and out of the gym.  So from here on in, I'm using first names.  But I won't be posting very many pictures of the youths.  Now I'm a coach, I don't really have time to snap photos like I used to do.  There's a lot going on in the gym on most days.

Shaniya and Danyai sparred, but Shaniya was not into it at all.  She let her older sister get in a lot of hits.  She seldom threw back any punches at all, despite of me encouraging her to do so.  After a couple of rounds, I pulled Shaniya out and put Star in.  Star took a hit to her nose and started crying.  "I'm alright," she sniffed in the corner before going off to the washroom.  Later, she told me her nose was bleeding.  "Why didn't you tell me?  I've got a little first aid kit in the storage room!" I said.

Late in the class, Kody, Kyle, DeShaun, Keywon, and Jacquez showed up.  Of those five boys, Kody is the most serious about the sport.  Unfortunately, Kody only displays that seriousness when the other boys don't show up.  It wasn't long before gloves and hand wraps were being thrown around, the ropes around the ring were being leaned on, and the boys were wrestling instead of boxing.  "Why don't you all watch some boxing matches instead of watching WWE and UFC?  None of the moves in professional wrestling nor mixed martial arts can be done in boxing," I pointed out.  Kyle said, "I watched a boxing match, but I got bored."

Bored?  Really?  I began to wonder why Kyle, and some of the other kids had signed up for a sport that they don't seem to have much interest in.  Now I understand why some coaches grumble about wasting their time training some people.  "We've got a boxing show here in July.  The way people train is going to show up during a real fight.  The kids at the other boxing gyms don't play while training, but I keep seeing that going on in here," I warned for the umpteenth time.  The boys continued to goof off.  Fortunately, they left early.

Arthur and Tyren came in for the teen class and went through the workout.  I wish I had more like them in the kids' class.  They come in, do their workout, and work well together when they spar.  I never have to raise my voice when they are there.  There are seven kids in the teen class; Kyle and DeShaun are supposed to be in that class, but they show up during the last half-hour or so of the kids' class. But then, I can't see Kyle or DeShaun being well-matched up with Arthur and Tyren, especially when it comes to sparring.  Anthony would be a better fit, but he came in too early, then didn't stick around for the teen class to start.

When the summer session starts in June, I won't keep making accommodations for kids who are involved in other sports and activities.  Boxing is an all in sport, and those who sign up for it are going to have to deal with that.  The time changes of the youth classes, due to the adult class starting, will hopefully force youths to be on time, be prepared, or be left out.

About Self-Defense and Gym Squabbles

I keep thinking about the parents who have placed their kids in the boxing gym in order for the kids to learn how to defend themselves.  On the surface, it is a good idea.  However, I've changed my stance about that slightly since I've become a coach.

It would be nice if most of the parents would ask their kids if they want to be in boxing.  Some do, but most don't make it a choice.  Sure, some kids will eventually get tired of being bullied and start kicking tail, like I eventually did when I was young.  But every kid doesn't have the desire to be confrontational.  There are also the kids like Princess, who love to write checks their behinds can't cash.  I would like it if some parents really took good notes about their kids before signing them up to participate in any combat sport.

Some of the older kids think they don't have much to learn in boxing because they've already had a number of street fights.  Boxing does have a bit of a disadvantage in a street fight because unlike the sweet science, street fights don't have rules.  In fact, knowing mixed martial arts would probably be better in regards to handling street confrontations.  However, a little bit of knowledge can sometimes get people in trouble, especially for some of the kids who have already had brushes with the law.  If they get into a street fight, can't clearly prove they were acting in self-defense, and the law finds out they know how to box. . . .there will be legal problems galore.

Yesterday, I was holding the punch mitts for Marine, who has some good, solid hands.  Tough and Little J had some squabbling going on.  They kept running in and out of the ring while Marine and I were in there.  Little J ran right in-between Marine and I, narrowly missing being caught by Marine's punches.  Tough kept pestering me about Little J's behavior.  "Look, don't come into the ring while I am running drills with someone nor when there is sparring taking place.  People can get hurt!  I can't pay attention to what everybody wants and the person standing in front of me at the same time," I warned.  "Little J keeps hitting me," Tough whined.  "Ignore him!" I said curtly, returning my focus to Marine.

 Ma used to tell me to ignore kids who were verbally picking on me when I was in grade school.  Honestly, I don't like when I sound like my mother, which happens too often when I'm attempting to keep order in the gym.  But I wonder what the youths' parents are telling them at home about handling conflicts with others.  I didn't hear Little J's comments as much, but Tough was talking as loud as she could.  I couldn't figure out what set her off to cause her to threaten to hit Little J nor why she was insulting Curly.  Anger management seems to be in order, not only for Tough, but several of the other kids, too.  If they would take more of their frustrations out on the gym equipment, that would help.

"Sparring is practice fighting," I keep repeating every time one of the youth asks who won after a sparring session.  I need to put a poster up on the wall with big bold letters saying, "Worry about winning a real boxing match."  Many coaches/trainers have emphasized how important it is that fighters correct the bad habits seen during sparring.  I do my best to correct what I see.  Unfortunately, some of the kids aren't going to understand why certain techniques need to be followed until after losing a fight and perhaps, getting hurt.  I don't want to see any of the kids get hurt.  But some kids still can't separate boxing from street fights and what they see during professional wrestling matches and the UFC bouts.  Even more of a concern is that a few of them insist on not learning the difference.  That reminds me of what older people used to say when I was a kid:  a hard-head makes for a soft behind.  Kids being hard-headed during training is surely not going to help when they go into the park district boxing shows.