A Quiet October Evening

Alan, wearing the hockey-mask type headgear (Tall John referred to it as being like a catcher's mitt), throws a punch at Tall John.  Not many people were in the gym; in addition to Tall John -- who will now be known as Teacher John (that's his job) -- were Seth, Phil, and Keith.

John threw something.  I couldn't see the punch clearly because Alan had his back to me as I watched the sparring at that moment.  Alan fell on his back and flipped over.  "Damn, that was a ninja move," John said, and we both laughed as Alan quickly got back on his feet.

Alan said something about having a steel rod in his back.  "Oh, wow, do you have one?" John asked.  "No, I don't, but sometimes my back feels that stiff," Alan replied.

Alan sparred with Keith, also.  I was calling out "Break!" a lot of times when they became tangled up.  But Keith, as Colonel pointed out the other day, shows some good form while he's in the ring.  I was advising Keith to throw shots at Alan's body, especially when the coach had Keith jammed up in the corners.

Phil is basically an all-around athlete.  His favorite sport to participate in is wrestling.  Phil has also played soccer, and he boxed a little before coming to Loyola Park. Phil is in the Navy ROTC at Loyola University. I told him that my late dad was in the Air Force during the Korean War.  However, Dad didn't get to go to Korea, but he was stationed in Europe for a time.  "Maybe that was a good thing that he didn't get sent to Korea," Phil said.  Honestly, I had never thought about it like that before, but Phil was right.  I've known other vets who served during wars and were directly in the action.  A lot of them had the scars to prove it.

Teacher John and I sparred again.  We didn't work on anything in particular.  John couldn't do much with his right hand because it was hurting, so he was mostly throwing left jabs, left hooks, and left uppercuts.  One of the uppercuts caught me with my mouth partially open.  The jabs did a number on my right eye.

Hmm. . . .I'm trying to figure out what happened here (Alan took the pictures of John and I).  John does a lot of twists and turns when he's in the ring.  Most times when he covers up, I can hardly get any punches in to the middle.  It looks like John exposed himself enough for me to come in with a right hook.  Or maybe it was one of those times I caught John with a right hook to the head.

I've started exercising again at home, mostly because I seem to have discovered another side effect of growing older.  My left leg drags a lot, and my balance is off most times when I walk.  This concerns me because I'm one of those persons who likes to walk long distances.  My lower back on my left side has been hurting a lot, but I'm not sure if that has anything to do with my leg.  Maybe the extra exercise will help.  I need to do it anyway, so it couldn't hurt.