The Countdown Begins

Only TJ and Earl showed up for class, and TJ thought today was a sparring day.  Both boys promised to find their mouth pieces for tomorrow, but I'm not holding out any hope that they will.

Based on every one's scatter shot attendance during this past spring session, I've decided to conduct an experiment.  Normally, I allow those who were in the previous session to continue using the gym during the break between sessions.  The only requirement is that everyone must be signed up by the time the next session begins in order to remain in the program.  I also used to allow those who had signed up for the upcoming session to start coming to the gym during the break before the session started.  No more.

I've already made signs up stating that the gym will be closed until the summer session starts in a couple of weeks.  That will give me time to enter all the attendance records, clean the gloves, headgear and hand wraps, and check and repair equipment (if needed).  Why should I allow people to have that extra time in "no man's land" as Alan always calls the breaks when most can't bother to show up regularly during the session?

A red flag goes up whenever a sign up a kid (and I've signed up a few already for the summer) and their parent/guardian asks, "How many days can they miss?"  That's a dead giveaway that their kid is trying to squeeze in doing several activities at once.  The one I run is going to get the short end of the stick in terms of time.

One parent who registered their kid told me their kid wanted to "try" boxing, which is usually another signal I'll have a kid in class who won't last long in the program.  I also noticed that their kid couldn't take their eyes and fingers off of their cell phone during the entire registration.  Uh-huh.  I've had kids in class who were so hyped up about being in boxing that they were jumping around during registration.  They did well while they were in the gym.  I'm getting better at telling the difference between the ones who are truly interested in the sport and those who are not.

So far, I recognize none of the names of those kids 12 years and younger who have signed up for summer.  Today, there are only three slots left in that class; none of the ones who were in the spring session have re-signed up.  It appears that I will have less than a week to whip the new kids into decent shape to compete in the field house's boxing show at the end of the month after class begins.  That will not be easy.