The National Anthem and Some Fights

Thomas waited for other fighters to show up at yesterday's Loyola Park boxing show for as long as he could.  Participation was low, similar to what happened at Portage Park the other week.  Donovan couldn't attend the show because he had another engagement, but James showed up with his dad.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a fight for James again.  It was because of the usual issues:  not enough fighters to choose from, and James being bigger and stronger than the average nine-year-old.

George, from Garfield Park, was telling Alan and I how strict he is at his gym.  Kids aren't allowed to stand around and play around.  Those that do are shown the door for the day.  I can be tough on kids who don't pull their weight, but I don't always get order in my gym like George does.  I believe a lot of that is because I'm a woman, and I notice that kids and adults alike have a problem with women who put their put down against nonsense.  Also, I don't like yelling and screaming all the time, contrary to popular belief.  However, I have a feeling I'm going to have to tighten the screws, especially in the teen class.  I learned that Kody re-signed up again.  I like Kody, but Kody's never been serious about boxing.  He'll be in the class with Ariel along with a few new kids, and I can't have Kody playing comedian and disrupting the gym.

I did something at the show that I hadn't done in years.  I sang the National Anthem.  I know a lot of song lyrics off the top of my head, but for some reason, I always blank out on the words of "The Star-Spangled Banner".  Mary, the supervisor at Loyola Park, printed off the words for me, of which I was thankful. I was introduced as having been "a former coach at Loyola, and now a coach at LaFollette Park."  I took my time, controlled my breath, and sang the song.

Not many matches were made, but there were some good ones.  John was in the first match, and he hammered his opponent with body shots.  He won.  Rojan followed in the second match, which was a close one that Rojan did not win.  But he gave it his best effort.

The last fight was between one of Barry's fighters and one of George's fighters.  Barry's guy took the worst of the punches.  After seeing enough of his fighter taking punishment, including a bloody nose, Barry literally threw the towel in. George's fighter did a victory dance for the crowd after he was given the winner's trophy.

When James came to LaFollette today, I told him that I was determined to get him a fight.  James is also on the football team, but sometimes, I get the feeling that he doesn't always get to play in every game.  That is one of the reasons why I really want James to be able to have a match, especially since we're only going to attend a few more before the year ends.