All Men and One Woman

"So this is the limbo period between sessions?" Alan asked.  The winter session ended last week; the spring session begins this upcoming Monday.  Professor, Jacob, and Colonel came in.  Also, a friend of Professor's, Ray, came by.

Jacob and Professor sparred.  Jacob commented that Professor got in a good shot to his mouth.  Later, Professor worked the pads with Jacob and also showed him how to move around the ring.  Colonel said that his arthritis was bothering him ("It sucks to get old," he kept saying) so he begged off of sparring, opting to shadow box in the mirrors instead.

Alan and I sparred, and as usual, he caught me right in the face with a punch.  He stopped for a moment, and rolled his eyes.  He didn't mean to hit me like that.  "Are you okay?" he asked.  "Yeah," I said, figuring it was good that I was still on my feet and conscious.  I was better at giving body shots this time around.  It's always hard to connect with Alan's face or head. "You need to spar with one of these younger guys who are slick in their movements. I can't move like that anymore," he said after we completed two rounds. Like Colonel, I was fighting the effects of arthritis, too.  My knees were crying a little. "Why do you stop after you get someone in the corner?" Alan asked. "I always feel like that I'm crowding them too much so that I can't effectively get any punches off," I answered.  Alan said that I should stay on opponents once I get them backed into a corner.

It appears that I'm stiff more often these days and for longer periods of time. My back was almost as stiff as my knees as I stretched out before getting into the workout. I could grumble that I'm too young to have problems moving around. But based on my age, and the fact I've put a lot of punishment on myself (ice skating, roller skating, in-line skating, and martial arts before boxing came along), I don't have much of an argument.