Last Week Of A Thankless Session

Being a boxing coach can be a very thankless job.  I am so glad that this is the last week of the summer session.  On top of this being a crappy season for me personally, it also has not been a good one at the gym.

I'm still trying to figure out how people can sign up for a class in the middle of the session and then decide they're not going to attend half of the time.  That's exactly what happened this session.  It happens during most of the year, but it's way more glaring in the summer when I'm trying to gather a decent number of people to participate in the boxing shows.  Youths disappear without them (or their parents/guardians for that matter) giving me a heads-up as to why.

Last week, I was getting into my car to go home when I spotted Ariel hanging out in the park with several of her friends.  She could have and should have been in the gym that day.  She's only been there four times during this 10-week period.  I'm fresh out of ideas as to what to do in that situation.  Julius, a personal trainer at the field house, and I had given her a long talk some time ago about prioritizing things and practicing good time management.  I now have to assume we weren't being heard.  Ariel has been in the program a little over a year and her class attendance has become worse during each session.

Maurice's mom signed him up for the fall session. But they don't live in the immediate area, and his mom is a seasonal employee at the field house.  I like Maurice, but I have the sinking feeling that he won't finish out the fall session if he actually attends it at all.  Maurice hasn't been showing up much for the current session and he never made it to any of the boxing shows.  On top of that, his brother never showed up for the teen class.  He told his mom he didn't want to be in the class after she signed him up, probably without asking him if he was interested.

At least the gym didn't suffer as much of the wear and tear from the summer camp kids and counselors this time around.  I'd like to think the ongoing mutual dislike between the camp coordinator and I had something to do with that.  Now that she (and our supervisor) knows without question that I don't appreciate the summer camp kids being in my gym,  I haven't had to walk into much disarray down there.  I'm guessing no one wanted to hear my complaints.

I gave up a while ago on keeping the gym open during the breaks in-between sessions.  Sitting in an empty gym twiddling my thumbs because most don't bother to come to class during the regular session is already NOT a good use of my precious time.  I'm not going to do the same in-between sessions.  My time would be put to better use entering the attendance records, cleaning the equipment, sweeping up the equipment room, making fliers, and other tasks that I can't easily get done during the regular sessions.

Unfortunately, I'm not expecting better from the fall session, despite the adult class having been added back onto the schedule.  Two things keep coming to my mind.  Maybe if the youths were also being charged a fee for the class like the adults are,  the boxing coaches wouldn't have to deal with so many youths who have no interest, motivation, or focus.  The second thing is, I have yet to see the community's alleged interest in wanting the boxing program to be re-established at LaFollette.  As far as I'm concerned, there's not much interest at all.