Patience and Breakage

The one uppercut bag in the gym crashed down to the floor while Richard, who returned to the program after a couple of years, was using it.  I knew one of the bags in the gym would fall eventually, but I thought it would be one of the heavy bags.  I have a new one in the supply room, but I will need help in putting it up. 

Speaking of returns, Jamire's appearance, after having been gone for three years, wasn't exactly welcomed.  The same issues that were going on back them - not fully participating nor paying attention, whining, etc. - are still on display.  I read Jamire the riot act, in front of his mom, about the expectations that are still in place.

Rick has returned to help out, but Steve still expects him to fill out a volunteer form.  I understand that is the park district policy.  However, I'm in agreement with Rick being concerned about how his personal information is going to be handled by other staff members.  Several months ago, information regarding money that I owe to the city was lying around the front desk counter for everybody to see.  That stuff happens too often down there like the gossip and backbiting.  I don't want Rick to be discouraged from helping and being frustrated in his efforts.  Sahia hasn't been to the gym to volunteer in months, and due to family matters, she probably is not going to return.  I would like for Rick to keep helping out.

I don't make it a secret that my patience with most of the youths' behaviors at the field house, whether the youths are in my program or not, is extremely thin.  I need another adult there to give me a chance to go off into a corner and take a few deep breaths whenever something happens inside the gym that really works my nerves. 

Speaking of working my nerves, one of the teens who keeps bombarding me with questions about joining the boxing program was at it again recently.  I learned their parents don't want to sign him up.  The teen grumbled about "my parents won't support what I want to do", but that is everybody's story.  I was discouraged from going into the military, from being a police officer, and from being an actress/singer.  Most youths refuse to accept that they are going to have to wait until they become 18 years old before they can do whatever. 

Upon learning their parents would have to come in to complete registration, the teen got on his cell phone to call his mom.  She refused to come down to the field house.  That particular day was her birthday.  Why did the teen think it was a good idea to expect their mom was going to interrupt their special day for something they had already given no as their answer?  Really?

Radio Silence

I wasn't happy to find out that the speakers connected to the radio and CD player in the gym were not working.  Looks like I'm going to have to find a cheap boom box to place in there.  I fiddled around with the speakers (both the radio and CD components appeared to be working) but there was no sound. I thought I was the only one who touches the radio down there, but who knows?  All I know that the speakers were fine the other day.

Only one kid showed up, a seven year old girl.  She told me that another girl who had been in the gym previously, like she had, was going to be late.  However, the other girl never showed up.  The seven year old was disinterested in being there initially, but eventually she warmed up to it.  We spent most of the time going over uppercuts, left jabs, and straight rights.

I didn't get my own workout in, even though no teenagers showed up for the second class.  Nor did I work on the lesson plan that the field house manager needs me to turn in to him in a few days.  I have most of it done, but I feel like I'm missing some things.

Instead, I was distracted by the smell of food from a group that had rented out the auditorium.  They were generous enough to allow me and another co-worker to get plates of food.  It was a typical soul food meal.  I skipped the greens, but got a double helping of the dressing, which was delicious.  I hadn't eaten much of a breakfast, so I was starved.  But I figured maybe I'll have a light dinner to make up for overdoing it.

Spiderman and Gloves

"Just the little man I wanted to see," I said to Justin when he came in with his dad.  I presented him with the Spiderman action figure I found within a bag of toys that had been donated to my church the other day.  He played with it for part of the evening.  Justin showed it off to his dad, too.  "Did you say thank you?" Carlos asked him.  "Thank you!" Justin told me.

Carlos and I sparred, and I got caught with a jab to the face.  I was able to get him with several well-placed left and right hooks.  We only did one round, and I was beyond pooped out. 

While putting on gloves before I got into the ring with Carlos, I noticed the bag gloves did not have extra covering that comes down over the velco strap.  "Ah, that's one way to tell the difference between the bag gloves and the training gloves," I thought.  It also occurred to me that it has taken me several years to figure that out.  Yes, I can be a little slow on the draw, and that was long before I started taking hits to the head in boxing gyms.  Bag gloves are designed to go on and off easily.  Twelve ounce to twenty ounce gloves are common for training purposes.

Eight ounce and ten ounce gloves are used more for competition.  However, different sized boxers and boxers in different weight classes need different sizes of gloves. There are still not a lot of variety available for women who box.  Hopefully, as the sport grows more among females, there will be more gloves to choose from.

I invited Pastor and Virginia to come to the gym on any Monday, since they won't be able to go to my match in December.  Hopefully, when they do come in, I'll be sparring with someone so they can see me in action. 

Elvin and Chris sparred last night, and Elvin caught Chris with a huge punch to the face.  Chris fell back into the corner, and I saw that he tried to shake the cobwebs out of his brain.  "I saw where he got you with an uppercut while you were in the corner, too," I told Chris afterwards.  "An uppercut?  I couldn't tell. All of the punches felt the same to me," he said. 

Getting The Uppercut In

Leon, Ralphie and Carlos did a bit of interval training on Wednesday. The drill went like this: one person hits the heavy bag for 30 seconds while another person holds it. Then the person holding the bag hits the bag for 30 seconds while the next person holds it, and so forth.

I sparred with Carlos again earlier that evening, and managed to make it through two rounds. I caught him a couple of times with uppercuts. "Nice," I heard Alan say from the sidelines. For the longest time, I have been trying to figure out how to get in uppercuts on opponents. As short as I am, it's not easy. Carlos likes to do a lot of bobbing and weaving. One of the times he ducked down is when I got him with a left uppercut.

Alan told Carlos that he was ready for a match, and he told him about a Park District boxing show that takes place next Thursday. Carlos works various shifts at his job, but he thought he'd be able to attend. "I have to talk it over with my wife before I say yes," he announced. "She's afraid of you being hurt," I said, and he agreed. He also talked about the possibility of being in next year's Golden Gloves. Since he's had no previous fights, Carlos would be classified as a novice in that competition.

Carlos told me that his son Justin would like to box, but his wife nixed the idea. He'll put Justin in basketball instead, when the boy turns six years old. Moms either are for their kids boxing or against it. There seems to be no middle ground when it comes to that. The ones who are supportive of it appear to be really into it when they show up at the matches.

The following day, I was on my way to help Pastor and Virginia clean and move some things up to their new apartment when I spotted Barry in the alley. Barry was working; he's with Streets and Sanitation. He was chatting with a neighbor of mine who lives on the other side of the alley. For several years now, I've been exchanging pleasantries with that particular neighbor, but I never knew his name. After I greeted them both, Barry told the neighbor, "Hillari is one of the boxers at the gym."

My neighbor smiled and said, "I figured that she was." To my surprise, I found out that he's Gabe's dad. His name is David. "I was looking for Gabe this summer," I told him. Gabe was going to college out of state, but he would stop in the gym several times during the summers. "He's going to law school downtown now," David said. I've always thought that David was a good-looking silver fox. Now I see where Gabe gets his good looks from.

Chasing Katie

Katie and I sparred last night, and I had to resist the urge to chase her around the ring. Chasing someone is the quickest way to a) get tired, and b) to get caught by a punch. I lightly connected punches to her head a few times. "If you had punched harder, I would have been laid out on the canvas", she told me afterwards. I'm getting better at countering punches. Most times when Katie through her jab, I came right over it with a right.

I attempted to jam her up in the corners, but she was moving a lot. It was not easy trying to get body punches in. Katie's long arms were effective in keeping me at a distance most of the time. We went for a couple of rounds then quit.

Oscar, a guy who won the Golden Gloves in the 119 pound category ten years ago, came into the gym. He sparred with Sadiq. Sadiq is getting back to the quickness he had before when he was training at Loyola on a regular basis. Oscar took a lot of straight jabs and upper cuts. Those watching were surprised that he hung with Sadiq for four full rounds.