Funny, But Not Funny

Jules, the teen who constantly asks questions yet has no listening skills, finally showed up at the boxing gym. "I know how to box," he told me. At that moment, I decided I was not doing any coaching. I leaned against the equipment table and let Jules show me what he knew.

The first clue that Jules' knowledge wasn't extensive was the fact the teen did not know how to wrap his hands. He had his own pair of boxing gloves, however. I also learned that Jules did not know what the bell timer was, nor the difference between the heavy and speed bags. Jules' punches were sloppy and unfocused. No head movement was done, and Jules' footwork was dismal. Every question he asked that most boxers would know I responded dryly to with, "I thought you knew how to box, Jules."

It was very hard to keep from laughing sarcastically, even though in reality, the situation wasn't funny. I didn't hold back on making sarcastic comments, however.  Jules is slow on the draw but manages to catch when I'm not in the mood for bull. He asked, "Is everything okay?" "Just fine, I'm just fine," I answered, barely hiding my smirk. I feel sometimes that Jules is trying to make me feel guilty for not acting friendly, but I got news for him - it won't work.

Finally, Jules said he never took one boxing lesson before. It was more like goofing around with friends after halfway paying attention to a boxing match on TV. "I know that this is going to be hard," Jules said, but I doubt that there is a clear understanding of what work has to go into learning the sport.

I was asked, "How late can I be to class?" followed by "I can't be here every day," because Jules is playing basketball. Jules begged me for weeks to be in the class. After finally getting that I was not going to let anyone in the class who had not registered, he brought his mom in to fill out the form. After all of that, it took three weeks for Jules to bring himself to the gym. Then Jules had the nerve to tell me what he can and can't do? Coach James told me Jules is a good kid. I don't know good kids who are manipulative, selfish, trying to run games on adults, hard-headed, and giving the impression of being uncoachable.

Saturday's Slugging

Only Suave and Brenan showed up.  Brenan was hesitant about sparring, but he suited up anyway.  Both boys did better than usual.  Suave kept his head up, and kept his hands up most of the time.  Brenan was still running from Suave, turning his back, and not keeping his left jab out there.  But Suave did catch a couple of shots to his middle and his chest from Brenan.

I was glad that Brenan did not have another bloody nose.  His mom asked what footwork her son should work on to prevent running from an opponent.  I suggested that Brenan learn to cut off the ring so his opponent can't move.  There were several times when he could have easily backed Suave into the ropes or in the corners.  I work on footwork with Brenan sometimes when he's in there, but the boy only comes in twice a week.  However, his mom, and his dad (who teaches martial arts) work with him at home.

Before those two left, I told them it was Free Comic Book Day.  It appeared that neither boy had heard of that event before.  They pleaded with their moms to stop by the nearest comic book shop on the way home.  I stopped at a place myself after closing up the gym for the day.

Terence was the only attendee in the teen class, and it took him awhile to get revved up to do the workout.  I used his cell phone to catch a little of him punching on the heavy bag.  Terence wanted to get an idea of what he needs to work on.  I've noticed that he is very good at slipping punches.  The last time he was in the ring with Xavier, Terence deftly avoided his cousin's punches.

After Terence left, there wasn't a whole lot for me to do, since none of the adult students came in -- again.  The ring nor the exercise mat were not overly dirty, so I didn't run a mop over them.  I decided to wait another week before washing the hand wraps -- not many showed to the gym this past week who used them.  Next week, I'll continue drilling the youths on footwork and defensive moves.  The days are getting closer and closer to the boxing show.

Attention and Attendance

Ah, Michael. . . . such a likable kid, but it seems he wants attention all the time.  I wondered if Michael was an only child, but I remember him telling me that he does have at least one sibling who is younger than he.  We went through the usual back and forth about his hand wraps, which the boy still can't seem to to learn how to use.  Every time the wraps came loose, Michael was next to me, pestering me to fix them.  He was also asking me a thousand and one questions while I was trying to concentrate on the kids who were sparring.  Michael scooted out of the gym as soon as he learned the game room was open.  

A check of the attendance lists shows that I have thirteen kids in the eight-to-twelve year olds' class.  That's too many, in light of the fact that the park district has said that none of the classes may have more participants than is stated.  I suspect that other staff at the field house signed up those extra kids and just overrode the class limit on the computer system.  I also believe that one of the kids is not actually signed up as their parent told me.  I re-printed the attendance list for that class a second time to better reflect who is in the class.  That kid's name didn't show up.  That is now a sticky situation for me. I don't want to create conflict with the parent.  I may have to let that kid in to ease the situation.

Dan Jr.'s father showed up to ask if there was any way I could fit his son in the class.  One of the staff gave me the impression that he had shown up a few days ago to attempt to register.  I asked the staff member to let the dad know the class was full.  I had extensive conversations with Dan Sr. before about registration times and the importance of signing up Dan Jr. as soon as possible.  People are busy -- I get that.  But I don't understand what parents don't understand about deadlines.

I also don't understand what some parents don't get about making sure their kids are in class on time.  Tardiness throws off the schedule, especially on the days when sparring takes place.  There has to be enough time to warm up and shadowbox beforehand.  Both Earl and Tyrone were late, so all they had time to do was a quick warm up.

Tyrone proved to be a scrapper when he was sparring with Earl.  I would have let them go three rounds, but Earl would not come out the corner when the bell rang. His parents and I kept asking him what was wrong.  Earl kept shaking his head.  Finally, he spoke up and let us know that his nose was hurting.  Tyrone had caught him in the face.  There was no bleeding, fortunately, but Earl was down about having taken the shot.  Earl was done for that day.  He put his coat on and sat in a chair until class was over.

Now I have five adults in the adult boxing class, but only one, Bridgette, showed up to train.  She had been missing most of last week; work was to blame. Marisha hasn't been coming because of work, either.  I see where Dan (another Dan) signed up again, but it's doubtful that he's going to participate this session, either.  A pair of brothers signed up, too, but they didn't make it in.  Another person, Benny, told me he was going to sign up.

Then there's Kody.  His mom knows the eight-to-twelve class is full, so there's no room for her son.  Kody, like Michael, is another likable kid who just won't do what they are supposed to do when they are in the gym.  I had communicated that to Kody's dad some time ago.  However, it looks like both parents still want him in the class.  Kody will not be thirteen until the summer.  His mom explained again that Kody doesn't get out of school until later, so he would not be able to be on time to the earlier class anyway.  I proposed that she enroll him in the teen class.  If there is a problem, I can override the system to put him in.

However, I continue to have concerns about Kody playing around and interfering with the other teens who actually do train when they are there.  Kody has not indicated that he wants to compete.  Fine, but I don't want the other teens being distracted from their goals of winning fights.

Found out yesterday that my flyer for the boxing class is finally done.  I put in the request back in the middle of November, and the winter class has already started.  Steve has to make copies, however, because whoever made the flyer didn't do so.  They just emailed him the finished product.  Sigh. . .it doesn't take much for me to become irritated.

The Worrisome Kid

There was an episode of "Good Times" where JJ was really getting on the nerves of his dad, James.  James told his son, "Boy, you are some worrisome!"  I was thinking that while dealing with Michael in the gym today.

Michael came in, hopped up to me, and announced, "I'm late!"  He proceeded to spend most of the class fooling around with his hand wraps.  Several times, Michael kept whining, "I can't. . . .I don't know how to do this!"  "Michael, I've already showed you how to do that many times.  I am not going to wrap your hands every time you come in here.  You have to learn how to do that yourself!" I said as evenly as I could.  Yelling and snapping doesn't work with a lot of kids, something I've had to learn the hard way.  I also had to remember how I didn't appreciate either of my parents doing that to me.

However, even after both Devian and David attempted to show him how to wrap his hands, Michael didn't wasn't getting the concept.  Michael kept wrapping his arms instead of wrapping his wrists, wrapping his thumb too many times, etc.  "This is your wrist, Michael," I said in exasperation, as I pointed to it.  "Don't they teach parts of the body in school anymore?"  "No! That's why I don't know," he answered.  I shook my head to myself, took a deep breath, and patiently showed him again.  Michael still didn't get it right.

I had forgotten that David takes swimming class once a week, which is why he wasn't in the gym yesterday.  I was glad to see him.  I was glad to see Dan Jr., too, but unfortunately, his dad neglected to sign him up for the winter session.  I told Dan Jr. to make sure his dad signs him up as soon as possible.  Then Kody strolled into the teen class later.  "Miss Hillari, I have a question.  Can I still sign up for class?" he asked.  "I need your parents' permission.  Ask them to call me or have one of them come here to sign you up," I told him.  Maybe that won't happen, especially after his dad learned how Kody plays in the gym instead of training.

Only Meranda showed up for the teen class.  No sign of her cousin Jaquan nor Derrick Jr.  Her mom asked if she could work out with her daughter due to her own scheduling issues.  Park district won't allow that, so her mom has to figure out what days she can attend the adult boxing class.

No one showed up for the adult class.  But just as I figured, now that the class is not on the schedule for the spring, I'm receiving a lot of inquiries about signing up for the winter class.  I've been telling everyone, "Sign up now, because if it looks like no one is interested, the park district will discontinue the class."  I really want to save that class, but if the adults keep promising to sign up, but not following up on those promises, there's not much I'm going to be able to do.

David vs. Devian

I was waiting at the bus stop yesterday when Kody called to me from the back seat of a car he was riding in.  Turns out his dad was at the wheel.  I got a ride down to the field house.  His dad wanted an honest answer about how Kody was doing in the gym.  "He has a lot of potential, but Kody doesn't work out as much as he should," I explained.  "I know Kody is in there playing with the other kids and goofing around.  You don't have to tell me," his dad said.  Kody was silent. I had the feeling his dad had heard the same report before from Kody's school teacher.  His dad told me he would talk with Kody's mom to see if they will agree to sign him up for the winter.

Later, David got his wish when Devian, a new kid, showed up at the gym.  I was happy that Devian showed up too, because that meant I did not have to spar with David.  Besides, I wanted to see how well David could do against a kid closer to his size.  I also wanted to see more of what Devian already knew, since he told me he regularly boxed with his cousins.

Devian had his chin up in the air too much, and David took advantage of that.  Devian was also taking too long to take action.  "Be first!" I told him, as his mom, David's mom and sister, and Derrick, who showed up early for the teen class, looked on.  David loves to head hunt.  I'm trying to get him to remember to also throw punches to the body.  Both boys had their hands down too often at the wrong times, and they did not use all of the room they had in the ring.

However, Devian threw enough punches to cause David's nose to bleed twice.  I have to give David credit.  He's had his nose bloodied up before, but he never cries, doesn't scream or yell.  He takes it and keeps going.  His mother jumped to attention to clean him up.

Today was one of those slow days when no one comes in to train.  I had a few inquiries about the program, and I washed the hand wraps.  Other than that, it was extremely quiet in the gym.  Once again, I made mental plans as to where I want the two combination speed bag/heavy bags stands that the park district ordered for the gym to be placed.  I smiled to myself when I noted that I might not have to worry about those stands or any other equipment being tampered with during next year's summer day camp.  I learned that the refrigerator in the kitchen on the other side of the gym has to be moved.  There's inadequate ventilation in that room.

That means no kids trampling over the gym area to get their breakfast, lunch and snacks during summer day camp.  That will certainly ease my mind, as well as save my vocal cords from screaming at the kids all day.

The Fourth In The Gym

A few days ago, Nassir's mom asked how often the hand wraps got laundered.  She must have smelled them.  I had been noticing the smell for awhile.  The kids don't seem to care, and to be honest, I never washed my own hand wraps out on a regular basis when I was at Loyola Park.  However, if a parent noticed that, then I needed to take action.  So today (yes, I had to work on the Fourth of July), I took the time to wash the hand wraps.  I hung them up on an old, unused exercise bar in the storage room to dry.

I also got rid of a small trampoline that has no legs.  Every time the kids saw it, they would ask about using it.  Having long been tired of the questions, I decided that it was time for the trampoline to go.

The refrigerator in the storage room was filthy.  Luckily, I was only storing bottles of water in it.  Now that I will occasionally store food in there, it was high time for a cleaning.  It's not spotless, and it could still do with a good scrubbing in some places.  But it is passable enough so that I don't have an icky feeling when I open the door.

Of course, no one showed up for class.  The park was filled with people and barbecue grills.  After doing my chores, I spent the rest of the day listening to my old, rickety radio in the gym, then for the last hour of the day, I helped monitor the front desk.  Leonard, an attendant, and myself had to keep admonishing boys who were coming in the building shirtless, or coming out of the pool area shirtless.  Other people were going in and out to use the washrooms.  The day was slow and quiet.

Wednesday Before The Show

Natalia (I hope I'm spelling her name right) is seen here on the red heavy bag.  She told me that she wants to see how the workout goes first before she makes any decisions about sparring.  The guy in the green next to the rack is Marcus, who signed up again for the gym.  Alan can be seen in the background standing next to his desk.

Speaking of the desk, I really took notice of Igor changing his clothes at the desk.  Alan was standing right there, and Igor just took over the space like he owned it.  Before we all got inside the gym, I was at the front desk telling Mary that I wouldn't be able to sing the National Anthem for the boxing show because I was going to be late getting there this year.  Igor rudely interrupted us to get Mary's attention.  She kindly told him to wait his turn.

Tall John and I sparred first, and he wore a body protector to ward off my right hooks to the body.  But the body protector also helped me to focus on throwing left hooks to the body, which I don't do often.  Tall John gave me some very good advice:  I'm always dropping my left hand, leaving myself wide open for incoming straight rights, so I need to glue my left hand to my head.  I also bend down too far when delivering hooks, so that I don't see what else is coming at me.  I caught myself doing that before John pointed it out.  He told me that my strategy should be to lull the other boxer (if I get a fight on Friday, that is) into expecting that I'm going to throw the same punches and combinations for two rounds, then totally switch up my punches in the third round.

Bearded John sparred with Matthew.  I told Alan, "John keeps throwing both of his hands."  "I know," Alan replied, "but John is game. . . .he's hanging in their with Matthew."

It surprised me when Alan told me that George, the coach over at Garfield Park, said he had a female opponent for me.  George seldom has any females over at his gym.  I've only seen one fight between females at a Garfield Park boxing show, and that was several years ago.  George also mentioned that he has some guys to bring over to Loyola as well.

Alicia and a friend of hers came to get a look at the gym.  Alicia works in the office of the foot doctor I used to see back when I used to have health insurance.  She's really been working hard to lose weight and change her eating habits.  She takes an aerobics class at Loyola Park.  Alicia liked what she saw when she observed what was going on the gym.  "I want to sign up!" she grinned.  Her friend seems to be interested as well.  I told them that there's still room to sign up.  Alicia has been talking about taking up boxing for a long time, and I hope she tries it out.

Amy came to the gym to workout.  "Where's Sarah?" Alan asked.  "She still plans to return to boxing," Amy said.  It's always nice to see Amy, but it would also be nice to see Sarah.  It's been a long time since she's been in the gym.

I tried to get as good of a shot of this old newspaper article from the early 1970's as I could.  The headline reads, "Mesa Boxer Back Flips Over Win".  The picture accompanying the article is of a twenty-two year old young man with a full head of hair and very nice abs.  The young man in the picture is Alan.  Alan used to be a gymnast back in the day, which explains how he was able to do a back flip in the ring.  When he taped the article up on the wall, he grinned and said, "I want some recognition, too."

Matthew's getting better in the ring.  He also sparred with Alan.  Now there were a few times when Matthew took some hits because his hands were down, but Matthew returned some good punches back.  Matthew accidentally popped Alan on the back.  I was watching the action.  Matthew caught my eye and said, "Sorry!"  I laughed when I pointed out to Matthew that an illegal punch had been thrown.  Alan had turned at the wrong time, which was why the punch landed the way it did.  Later in the round, Alan was backing up to avoid Matthew advancing on him.  Alan slipped and fell into the ropes.  When Alan recovered, he backed Matthew into a corner with punches, but the younger man spun out of the corner and away from being hemmed in.

I left my gear in my locker at the gym.  There was no need to lug it all home considering the boxing show is on Friday.  I'll just take it home after the show.  Maybe this weekend, I'll remember to wash all of my hand wraps.

Suddenly Gone

I was just thinking about Ralphie (in the photo above on the left) the other day.  This photo was taken late in the summer of 2010.  The last time I remembered Ralphie being in the gym was late December of last year.  A few hours before I went to the gym on Monday, Alan left me a voice mail announcing that Ralphie had passed away on Sunday.

It still trips me out to think about it.  Ralphie was in his early 30s, and he and his wife had a baby boy.  He was proud of his son, and Ralphie always had new pictures on the cell phone of the baby to show off.

Ralphie sparred with Alan in the photo above.  I sparred with Ralphie a few times.  He was good, very hard to catch in the ring.  Alan was always trying to convince him to sign up for a match, but Ralphie would turn it down.  I knew that Ralphie injured his back in a car accident some time ago.  He was concerned about his back being re-injured.  I would wince every time I'd accidently hit Ralphie there when we'd spar, but he'd smile it off. 

He was a good guy.  Ralphie drove me home a couple of times on nights when Alan wasn't at the gym.  We had a conversation about gang banging once.  Ralphie told me how when he was younger he'd get into dustups with guys who were trying to recruit him into one or who thought he was in a rival gang.  I told stories about run-ins my late sister and I had with gang members back in the day.  We laughed and shook our head at the situations.  I'm very sorry that Ralphie left us so young.

On Monday night, the gym was sweltering due to the heat outside.  The sparring went on as usual.  Andres and Alex had another exciting sparring session, full of good exchanges.  Tommy, the southpaw, traded blows with Andres next for a couple of rounds. 

I did three good rounds with Andres, catching him with both left and right hoods.  "Nice!" Alan kept saying from the sidelines.  I did straight punches to Andres' middle and threw hooks there, too, but once again, I couldn't not do the uppercuts right.  Maybe it's because he's so much taller than I, but then, I don't get them in on someone who's closer to my height -- like Sara, for example -- either. 

Gene, the guy hitting the speed bag in the photo above, stepped in the ring for a couple of rounds with Andres.  Alan asked him if he could talk to Igor the next time he comes in.  Gene is Russian, and Igor is supposedly Russian.  That's what he told Alan. "I heard him talking to himself while he worked out," Gene said, "but I don't think Igor is speaking Russian."  I could have sworn that years ago, Igor said he was from a different Slavic country, but I don't remember which one.  Anyway, Igor did his usual of working out quick and leaving before 8:30 PM routine on Monday.



I tried to take a picture of Alex (in the photo above holding the hand wrap) on the sly, but he looked up just as the flash went off on the camera.



I had energy while sparring with Andres earlier, but I could have used an energy drink to get through the rest of the evening.  It was probably a combination of being worn out from cleaning the church (which is not an easy job) and the relentless heat wave that has settled over the city again. 

He Keeps Going and Going. . .

When I got to the gym, only Alan and a colleague of his, Patty, were inside. "Where is everybody?" I asked. "Maybe the rain is keeping them away," Alan supposed. It was about twenty minutes before anyone else got there. Ricky's sons arrived first.

Carlos sparred with both of Ricky's sons. Ricky had a pair of gloves on. "Are you going into the ring?" I smiled. "Oh, no! I'm perfectly willing to be the parent who encourages the kids to participate," he laughed. The boys didn't do bad at all against Carlos.

It was my turn to step into the ring with Carlos. He and I had not sparred before. Carlos didn't hit as hard as he could have, but then, I wasn't hitting him hard, either. He willingly gave me some openings to get punches in, but by the middle of the second round, I was moving like an old turtle. Carlos was light on his feet, which was amazing, considering he had just gone several rounds with Ricky's sons. Carlos is like the Energizer Bunny whenever he's in the ring.

Carlos' son Justin gave both his dad and I curious looks when we came out of the ring. He said something like, "Dad, you fought the girl?" The little guy is funny to me.

It seems that I have fewer hand wraps than I did before. Some of them were given away -- I gave Jamil a pair, and I think I gave either Sadiq or JJ a pair awhile ago. I have a black pair that Country (Mike) gave me a couple of years ago, a couple of red wraps, and some blue wraps. The blue wraps are mismatched. One is from Ringside and I think the other is Everlast. Who knows how I misplaced the hand wraps. The blue ones are for kids's and women's hands, and they are shorter.

Get your boxing gloves and equipment for less.

I prefer the longer wraps because of the extra padding -- and protection -- they give my hands. There are many ways to wrap the hands to sort of cut down on injuries (but not completely). As a middle-aged person, plus being a writer and currently working as a church secretary, I have to be particularly careful about my hands.

Garfield No Go

Steve, JJ and I were late getting out to the Garfield Park fieldhouse on the west side. Barry had two smaller kids there, whom I had never seen before, and they had matches lined up. Unfortunately, there was nothing available for either JJ or Little Jermaine. We hung around for a little bit, talked to Catchings, who was there taking pictures, then rode back up to Loyola Park for a quick workout.

I thought I wouldn't get much done that night, but it turned out extremely well for the 30 to 40 minutes we were in the gym. My gym bag was at home, but fortunately, there were a couple of wraps inside my locker, and I could use the bag gloves in the equipment cabinet. I also keep a pair of tennis shoes in my locker, too, as my old boxing shoes are just about worn out. Eventually, I'll get around to buying a new pair when I catch some on sale. There's not a great need for me to buy a whole lot of equipment since I can't compete anymore, but I still need some things to do the workout.