Diets and Cut Lips

Once again, no other kids showed up for the eight-to-twelve-year-olds' class other than David.  After he did his warm up and a few rounds of shadowboxing, he and I sparred.

Twice I was hit in my left eye.  In-between rounds two and three, I felt something wet on my bottom lip, but I didn't pay much attention to it.  A check in the mirror in the women's washroom afterwards revealed that my left eye was red, and my bottom lip had a cut on it.  All that from a shy nine-year-old.

David is improving.  He still needs to throw his jabs and rights straighter.  There was a bit of windmill action going on with his punches.  David knows how to back someone up into the corners and the ropes.  There were plenty of times when he kept coming forward while pummeling me.  I got in some uppercuts and hooks to the body, some straight punches to his face, and some hooks to David's head.  But my punches didn't have a whole lot of pepper on them.  I'm always afraid of hurting the kids, so I hold back when sparring with them.  But I allow them to get as many punches in on me as possible.

The upper left side of my back had been bothering me since before I left to go to work.  Finally I figured out I must have pulled something when I was throwing the medicine ball around yesterday with David's cousin, Darlene.  We were throwing the ball from our sides to each other.  A fourteen-year-old girl could do that without incident, but not so much a 53-year-old coach.  However, I couldn't back out on sparring with David.  I had promised him the day before that we would spar.

A couple of the kids, Kody and BJ, like to see how they can gross me out by telling me what they've been eating during the day.  Kody usually shows up with a huge bag of junk food: chips, cupcakes, and a large liter of pop to wash it all down.  BJ has called Kody out on his eating habits, but BJ loves eating a lot of chips and sugary snacks, too.

BJ always asks me about what is healthy to eat.  I'm no expert.  Just like the kids, I ate whatever I wanted to back in the day.  Unfortunately, as an adult, I learned too late that ignoring my family's tendencies towards high blood pressure and diabetes was not a good thing.  I don't get on the kids hard about eating certain things.  I preach moderation instead.  Better to have a little bit of something once in awhile, than to make it part of a daily diet routine.

"Coach, I'm Bleeding"

The eight to twelve year old class is full, but only Johnathan, Aaron, and his brother Eric showed up to class.  All of them are eager to fight in the next boxing at Simons Park.  I made a mental note to work with them closely to get them ready.

BJ and Kody were the only ones who came to the gym for the teen class.  Kody kept bugging me to spar, even though today was not a scheduled day for that.  "If BJ wants to spar, then you all can," I told him.  Those two ended up sparring for the rest of the class.  Kody was playing around a lot during and in-between rounds.  I had to stop the action to change Kody's headgear because it was too big for him.

BJ was smiling about getting the best of Kody most of the time.  "I like sparring," he said, and I hoped he would change his mind about not fighting at Simons Park next month.  After the last round ended, BJ said, "Coach, I'm bleeding."  Not seeing anything, I asked, "Where?"  He walked over to me, and that's when I saw a stream coming out of his nose.  I quickly ran to get paper towels to clean him up.

Kody was surprised and concerned at the same time.  "I made someone bleed," he said.  He kept asking BJ if he was alright.  "I'm fine!" BJ answered.  He took it well.  I was amazed that Kody got a punch in like that.

Alexis was the only person who attended the adult class.  "Push me to the limit," she told me.  "I want to get healthy!"  She was tired out, but she soldiered on like a trooper.  I was also tired.  In-between throwing around the medicine ball, showing how to do footwork drills with the cones, showing how to use the slip bag, etc., I felt like I had put in some exercise as well.

Tossing, Huffing, and Puffing

Professor, Kenny, Oscar, and a new guy, Hector, threw the medicine ball around, a drill that lasted several rounds.  If someone dropped the ball, all had to drop and do ten push ups.  It looked like a good exercise.  Of course, I couldn't do it, as my left knee is still out of whack.  Hector got tired, and bowed out.  "Twenty years old and huffing and puffing!  When I was twenty years old, I didn't know what huffing and puffing was!" Kenny remarked.  "I know that's right!  Neither did I," I said.  If only I had the energy and stamina I did back then. 

Alan moved around in the ring with Paul.  It was Paul's first time.  Alan was not hitting hard, but he did tap Paul about the head.  After two rounds, Paul was done.  "I'm amazed at how exhausting that is!" he exclaimed.  "See, I told you it's different from hitting the bags," Alan said.

Kenny sparred with yet another new guy, Danny (not to be confused with the other Danny, who was also in the gym).  Danny is 22 years old, and a southpaw.  Kenny is quick, but so is Danny.  Their style of fighting is similar to each other.  It was very interesting to watch.  Oscar also sparred with Kenny, but Oscar kept leading with his head instead of with his jab. Oscar also had his right hand down too much, and Kenny was tagging him left and right. 

Just to show you how nutty I can be, here is a shot of me with the knee supporter on.  Alan shook his head and said, "That knee doesn't look good.  You could possibly injure it further.  A ligament may be torn."  "My problem is that I'm hard-headed," I told Alan.



It felt like I hadn't been in the gym for ages, but that's because I'm only able to show up once a week for awhile.  I really wish I didn't have to miss the second day, but it's only another month and a half and I'll be back to my regular schedule. 

The Laughing Boxer

Floyd Mayweather was having a lot of fun at Oscar DeLa Hoya's expense during their fight this past Saturday. I think DeLa Hoya let his temper get the best of him sometimes, judging by how some of his punches looked. Like Tracy Sr. was telling his son Tracy Jr. when they were at the gym a few weeks ago, "Ain't nothin' on those punches but your arm." Then Mayweather announces that he is retiring. JJ commented, "That's what they all say. He'll be back." He's probably right. Very few boxers stay permanently retired, except for Rocky Marchiano. The rest show up a few months or even weeks later for one to several more go arounds. The sad things is, some of them get forced out of the game after the last hurrah.

Steve showed me a new exercise on Friday night. It involved holding the medicine ball between one's forearms, then taking long side steps, above 5 to 10 in each direction, with knees bent, and up on the toes. Hard, but a good exercise. I did something similar while in physical therapy back in January. Instead of the medicine ball, I had a heavy band around my ankles.