Brandy Returns

Alan holds the bag for Brandy in this photo.  She returned to the gym, and is planning not only to spar again soon, but to participate in the upcoming Chicago Park District boxing tournaments that are coming up soon.  It was great to see her there again.  She can really punch.  I remember that time she nearly knocked me cold during a sparring session that took place right before she competed in the Golden Gloves a couple of years ago.

Amanda returned to the gym as well.  She hadn't been there for a few years.  If I remember correctly, Amanda has had some boxing experience before.

Two more new people arrived at the gym.  Andrew is the guy looking surprised in this photo.  He turned around just as I snapped the photo.

Diana was the other new person; her back is to the camera as she attacks the body snatcher bag.

I was the go-to girl in terms of sparring with the other women.  "I've got a lot of sparring partners for you," Alan said.  I started out with Vachel, who still squeals and screams during sparring.  I had my mouthpiece in while in the ring with her, but I spit it out after I had done a couple of rounds.  It's been awhile since I've sparred on a regular basis, so I have to get used to having it in my mouth again.  Afterwards, Vachel said, "Wow, six minutes in the ring is a long time for a woman to stay in the ring."  Professor smiled and said, "Some men can't last six minutes in the ring. . . .if you know what I mean."  Both Vachel and I laughed.

My next opponent was Stephanie.  Alan kept teasing her.  "I heard you have boxing experience," he said.  "No, I never said that," Stephanie smiled.  "Hillari, didn't you put in your blog that Stephanie had boxed before?" Alan asked.  "No, I wrote that she does know how to punch a little because she was raised around a lot of boys," I answered.  Stephanie does hit very well, and she kept her composure in the ring.  I had to keep reminding myself to keep my mouth closed and my hands up because I wasn't wearing a mouthpiece.  Don't do that at home, folks!  Remember, teeth that are broken or knocked out do not grow back.  

Sara and I sparred next, giving me a total of four rounds down.  Vachel was on the side of the gym cheering me on.  "She can fight when she wants to!  Go on, girl!" she said.  

Sara and Stephanie sparred next, but the session ended fast.  I turned around to see Stephanie sitting on the steps leading up to the ring.  "What happened?" I asked.  "Stephanie became nauseous," Alan said.  She was fine after a few moments.  "I was throwing punches back and all of a sudden, I just got nauseous.  I think my period is coming," she told Professor.  I was a little shocked to hear her say that.  Remember, I'm not as young as I look.  I'm a member of a generation of women who didn't talk about their periods in public, let alone to men.  But that could have been a possibility.  Also, being punched in the head could bring that nauseous feeling on.  

Professor worked with Sara on the punch mitts, and had both Sara and Keith doing burpees in the ring.  "Keith is a beast.  He really works," Professor told Alan later.  

Igor didn't come in again, and Igor's attendance has become erratic.  Igor shows up one day then doesn't show up the next, or disappears for whole weeks at a time.  Who knows what goes on there.  But it was peaceful in the gym without Igor's presence.  

Brandy mentioned that Vanessa, the woman she fought against in the Golden Gloves, is not boxing now because she's pregnant -- with her third child.  That means she had kids at home at the time she faced Brandy in what was the fight of the evening.  I was also surprised to learn that Vanessa is married, and her husband is a Muay Thai fighter.  

Doing A Lot Of Rounds

Almost everybody showed up to the gym again.  Igor didn't come in.  A check of the attendance sheet revealed that there should be two more new men in the class.  One of them, Patrick, who's originally from Nigeria, came in.

Andres told me he had planned to go to Seward earlier to get some sparring in.  Traffic was backed up because President Obama is in town.  "That damn Obama!" Alan, the conservative, joked.  Instead, Andres went to XSport and did some lifting and running.

Professor and Andres did another sparring session.  I didn't see much of it because I was observing the other people in the gym.  But I did catch Andres throwing a few uppercuts to Professor's middle section.

Later, Professor held pads for people.  In this photo, he was training Geniece (got her name right this time). Colonel is in the foreground, wearing his hoodie.

Here, Professor holds pads for Stephanie.  Both Stephanie and Vachel had fun teasing Colonel about his choices in music -- Colonel had brought in his iPod.  "Colonel is playing that old 1965 music," Vachel laughed.  She asked him if he ever changed the play list.  "Give me a list of what you want to hear," Colonel told them.  Stephanie checked to see if her phone could hook into the iPod boom box player; she was going to play songs from the Pandora web site.  Unfortunately, there was no way to set it up.

Alan was trying to convince Vachel to spar with me, but she told him, "Give me another week.  I'll be ready on Monday."  Instead, I sparred with Naomi and Sara.  Just as I stepped into the ring, my foot got caught up in the ropes, and I fell to the canvas.  It looked like a scene out of a TV sitcom.  "I haven't seen that happen to anyone in a long time," Alan said.

Naomi is four foot ten -- around the same height as both of my grandmothers and one of my aunts -- but she is a scrapper.  I told her I wasn't going to throw hard punches.  I let Naomi get a lot of punches in.  She was moving around very well.  It wasn't easy to catch her or back her into corners.  I was able to time her jabs and come over with my right.  That's something I normally don't do well, but I was paying attention that time. Sara has experience, but she hadn't sparred in a long time.  Sara was a little stiff in the ring, but once she loosened up a little, she was fine.  I lost count of how many rounds I did, but I think I did two rounds with Naomi and two rounds with Sara.  Not bad considering I'm still limping a little.

Sara and Naomi sparred for a round with each other.

This is a vision or wish board that hangs on the wall in my apartment.  I have a picture of a championship belt and a picture of famed trainer Freddie Roach on there representing some goals that I'd like to reach in boxing.  Right now, I'd like to see another fighter from Loyola Park win the Chicago Golden Gloves, and I think that Andres has a good shot at winning.  I heard Josh asking Andres if he planned to go pro.  "I want to be an actor," Andres said.  One of these days, I'm going to have to get to Second City and check out the improvisational acting group that Andres is in.

Energy In The Gym

It was the first day of the Spring session, and Alan, as seen in the photo above, came right in and began coaching the new people.

From left to right: Naomi, Stephanie, Janiece, Annette and Katie.

Colonel and Andres work the bag in this picture.  Alan commented about Andres looking tired.  Andres admitted he had been up since 6:30 AM, and he had gone running.  The plan is to lift weights tomorrow.  "I used to bench about 400 pounds", he told me.  "I wish.  I would have to work for a long time to get back up to what I used to lift," I sighed.

Keith returned for the spring session, and he and Andres sparred.  Keith looked good in the ring for someone who had been off for awhile.  A cut and swollen hand had kept Keith from exercising, but it's okay now.

Alan and Andres sparred next.  Andres caught Alan in the side with a brutal right hook.  The coach backed up quickly after the blow.  Andres asked if he was okay, and the two touched gloves, a sign that everything was cool and the sparring could continue.  "I wasn't trying to hit him that hard," Andres told me afterwards, perhaps remembering how Alan was scolding him for doing so one the last times they sparred.  The sparring session ended prematurely when Alan bent one of his wrists.  Alan then held the punch shield for Andres.

He also held the punch shield for Naomi, one of the newcomers.  Naomi reminds me of Lan, a woman who used to attend the gym years ago.  Both Naomi and Lan are about the same height and petite build.  Alan was impressed by her punches.

Stephanie and Weisz, two other newcomers, share the Roger bag.  Unfortunately, Igor is also in the picture. I have noticed that when new people come in, Igor roams all over the room, more than usual, like a canine marking spots.  Igor was knocking into people and rudely squeezing by people to not only warm up but to do a workout as well.  Did I also mention that Igor mutters to himself as well?

Professor works the punch mitts with Keith, and was very sweaty afterwards.  Vachel, who had also returned to the gym said to him, "Wow, why did you get your good clothes like that?"  "I've sweated my pants, too.  Oh, well. . . .it's laundry day," Professor said.

Stephanie, as well as Sarah, another newcomer, may be up for sparring.  I complimented Stephanie on her form, and she said it was due to be raised with a lot of boys.  Sarah came prepared with her own hand wraps and gloves; she had previously trained at a gym out south.  My hip felt a whole heck of a lot better today.  I might get back in the ring soon.

The Struggle Is Real

Alan thought that Andres wasn't going to be at the gym this evening, but he did arrive.  No sooner than he got there it was time for sparring, and Andres got into the ring with Martin.

They seemed to be in there for a long time.  But then Martin stopped in the middle of a round and took his gloves off.  Later he told me he needs to move around more to build up stamina.  Martin is trying hard.  I think he's not much younger than I am, and it's a struggle to work up to an acceptable level of fitness.

Immediately, Alan got the punch shield, and he and Andres worked for a few more rounds.  Colonel learned that Andres hadn't been running lately.  Later, Alan had Andres run on the beach outside the field house for a mile.  It appeared to be tough for Andres, but he got it done.

Alan held the punch shield for Jason, which in and of itself is another struggle.  Once again, I could hear Alan admonishing Jason over and over about keeping his hands up, moving around, not stopping in the middle in the round, etc.

Alicia (standing) and Renee (near the coat rack) were both in the gym.  Alicia pushes herself through her workout.  Renee hadn't been in the gym for awhile, and it's been a struggle for her to come in.

Colonel (seen here with Andres) has been struggling to keep up with his workouts.  It's a combination of health problems and old age.  But he keeps pressing on.

I was dealing with lower back pain, both knees hurting, and the usual hip pain that has been bugging me since mid-December.  Ongoing unemployment woes keep 'effing with my mindset during workouts, too.  I have six businesses going, but no major money coming in.  A friend who was laid off late last year wants to meet with me so we can put our heads together regarding getting jobs.  But I'm getting to the point of being tired of going around begging for a job from people who aren't interested in giving me a job.  "That situation has got to be depressing," Alan told me.  Yes, it is.  Everybody has some sort of struggle going on.

Giving Andres More Work

Professor told me he didn't feel like sparring and probably shouldn't spar.  Tommy and Professor had done ten rounds of sparring earlier at Seward Park.  But he sparred with Andres anyway, because Andres needs the extra training for the 2014 Chicago Golden Gloves.

Alan also gave Andres work in the ring.  Their session got a little wild, with some hard hooks and powerful straight punches, and scuffles in the corners.

Andres delivered some deep punches when Alan held the punch shield for him.  "That's what I want!" Alan said when Andres landed the punches.

Alan was even more vocal when he held the punch shield for Jason.  "Come on, punch!  Sh#@!  Keep going, don't stop!  The round is not over!"

Colonel was grumbling.  His doctor said he could exercise, but to take it easy.  "I'll be 67 years old in July.  Believe that?  Three years from being seventy!  This getting old sucks!" Colonel said.  His son Kenny is still working on his book and putting in extra hours at his job.  I heard Colonel tell Alan that 21 people were laid off at Kenny's job.  People keep saying the job outlook is getting better.  Doesn't seem that way.  I spend most of my days working on building my own businesses.  Seems to be a waste of my time to send my resume into cyberspace where it disappears.

I'm surprised I was awake enough to do a workout.  I was watching an episode of "The Saint", an old TV show starring Roger Moore (who would go on be one of many actors who played James Bond).  "The Saint" was on at 3:00 AM, and the episode involved a boxer who died under mysterious circumstances.  So instead of forcing myself to go to sleep, I watched the show.  I finally nodded off in the middle of "Wanted: Dead or Alive" starring Steve McQueen, another actor who went on to bigger and better things.  My sleep patterns have been way off for months.

Andres was talking about being a heavy sleeper earlier.  Colonel and Alan suggested that Andres get up early to run.  "It should be easy for young people to wake up early," the older men said.  But that depends.  Some people are morning people, some are not.  I was a very heavy sleeper when I was younger, but a few years of going through menopause and just getting older in general seems to have ended that (and seems to have ended me having quality sleep as well).  But I've never been a morning person, not even when I was a little girl.  If I was doing roadwork, I'd be running later in the day.

Weekend Championship Training

Alan opened up the gym this afternoon so Andres could get some extra training in.  Andres got there about ten minutes after Alan and I arrived, wiping his eyes.  "Sounded like you had just woke up when I called," Alan said.  "Yeah. . .I went out last night and didn't get home until 3:00 AM.  I woke up at 11:00 AM and set the alarm to go off a little later, but I still got up late," Andres said, sounding groggy.

Andres tried out two jump ropes, but neither of them were long enough.  "We've got to buy some new ones in here," I commented.  Andres used a rope that Alan had, and that worked.  After the brief warm up, Alan and Andres sparred for a few rounds.  I stood on the apron, ready with the bucket and water.  "Remember, I'm not 280 pounds," Alan joked to Andres as he stepped through the ropes.

Alan attempted to throw an overhand right on Andres during the second round, but the coach stumbled when the punch didn't reach the target.  Andres had stepped back because he saw it coming.  Alan was able to reach Andres with some well-placed jabs to the face, and Andres returned a few of his own.  The two men became tangled up a few times, but I didn't have to call "Break!" because they either shoved or punched their way out of it.

When sparring was over, Alan held the punch shield for Andres.  I went down the hall to fill up one of the water bottles.  A guy at the front desk saw me and said, "I didn't know boxing was on Saturday."  I explained why the coach had opened the gym.  The guy asked Andres' name, and then asked, "Is he good?"  We walked down the hall to the gym so the guy could see for himself.  Turns out that he knows a kid who trained in the Chicago Park District as an amateur who is now a professional fighter.  The guy also had pictures on his phone of J.J., taken at one of the last fights J.J. won at the UIC Pavillion.  Alan joked that the guy was going to be Andres' next sparring partner.  "Where's your gear?" Alan asked him.

Andres and I did a couple of burn outs on the "Roger" bag.  Alan reminded Andres to back up off of the bag to give himself room to punch.  "Hillari, don't you think that Andres' punches are harder when he's close up on the bag or a little distance from it?" Alan asked.  "The punches are harder when Andres is not as close to the bag," I answered.  I could feel those punches as I held the bag as Andres lit into it.

Someone at the Chicago Golden Gloves told Andres that his opponent at the finals, a guy named Rodriguez I believe, has had nine fights in another state.  "What difference does that make?  The other guy has two arms and two legs like you do.  The guy that wins the fight is the one who's going to have the more 'oomph'," Alan told Andres.  "Also, you have to consider whether or not what they told you was true," I added.  People say all kinds of stuff to mess with fighters' heads before a fight.  Most times it's best to let things go into one ear and out the other.

A Good "Bye" for Andres

This shot is of the Pink Line approaching at the State/Lake elevated train station.  It's a long ride out to Cicero, IL to get to the 2014 Golden Gloves.

When I got there, I immediately looked at the roster.  I've been impressed this year with how quickly the roster has been posted each day of the tournament.  Andres name was not listed.  Confused, I pulled out my cell phone, which I seldom use, and I called Alan.  "Andres not on the list," I said.  "I know.  Wait. . .are you down there?" he asked.  "Yeah, I just got here," I answered.  "I was on my way there earlier, when I got a call from Andres -- he got a bye," Alan said.  Alan had called the house to let me know, but I was long gone.

That was great news, because that means that Andres is automatically in the finals.  It also gives him extra time to train.  Alan plans to open up the gym on Saturday so Andres can get some extra work in.

I didn't stay long after Alan and I talked.  There was going to be a long ride back, and I was getting hungry.  I spoke to Geoff, Rita, and Percy, and I talked with Bill.  I told Bill that I was still nursing an injury and not sparring much.  He told me that Meg had an injury, too, something with her shoulder.  "She hasn't been training recently," Bill said.

A conversation Alan and I had the last time we were in Cicero about Burger King, prompted me to stop at the nearest one before getting back on the train.  On the way back, I was reading about a boxer named Jelena Mrdjenovich who is the current WBC featherweight champion.  She was talking about getting reading for a fight.  I thought that she probably eats correctly all the time, yet there I was, just rolling out of Burger King.  I couldn't really justify eating a Whopper Jr. simply because it was a little less calories and carbs that the regular size Whopper.  It was a still a burger.  And I had onion rings and a fruit punch pop, too.  Sigh.  Well, I was only able to have that because I received some extra cash from a job that a friend tried to hook me up with.  My friend's bosses changed their mind (long story), but they owed me money for some training time they gave me.  Luckily, I currently don't have the ability to eat out all the time right now.  But summer is coming, and with it, hopefully more opportunities to work out outside.

Before the Golden Gloves Semi-Finals

Victor and Alan watch as Andres spars.  Victor is a friend of Andres; I thought Victor was his brother at first because they resembled each other.  Alan didn't want Andres to overextend himself, but he wanted him to get some work in before the next bout at the Chicago Golden Gloves.

Martin sparred with Andres first.  Previously when Martin sparred with Andres, he didn't finish the rounds.  But this time, Martin hung in there with him.  "Andres hits very hard," Martin said afterwards.

Victor sparred with Andres.  "Now I'm going to get beat up, but that's okay," Victor joked as I put the gloves on him.  I had noticed how Victor was throwing punches on the bags earlier, and it wasn't bad.  He kept up with his friend, even after Andres caught him with a good shot.

Alan got in the ring last with Andres.  Alan got hit with a hard right.  The coach came back with a flurry of punches and said, "Do you think I'm 280 pounds?"  Then Alan surprised Andres with an overhand right.  The look on Andres' face was priceless.

I noticed that Jason was doing back spinning fists on the bags a la Shonie Carter.  "There's no back fists in boxing, you know," I told Jason.  "I know," he grinned, "but I love MMA, and I like that move."

The other day, I was going to ask Alicia about getting hand wraps.  She usually wears little white gloves, especially when hitting the speed bag.  Today, she had a pair of hand wraps, and I showed her how to wrap her hands.  The ones she had weren't very long, so we had to modify the method, but it worked.

I was shadow boxing and doing some work on the bags, including a burn out later with Andres.  I keep talking about my leg hurting, but it's not really my leg.  The pain is centered up in my hip area.  It just travels down my left leg sometimes, but not as often as it used to do.  It bothered me a little, and I had to sit down a couple of times.  "It's just taking longer than usual to heal.  Also, because I have diabetes, I take extra long to heal up," I told Alan later.  "Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Hillari," Alan grinned.

Jason Gets A Workout

Martin, Alicia, Professor, and Jason were in the gym.  Igor was there briefly (thankfully).  Igor's patience seems to be growing smaller.  Alan was a little late.  We were waiting by the gym door when Igor directed the usual inane questions about Alan's whereabouts to Martin and Alicia.  "You keep asking the same questions each time," I said in a voice mocking Igor's.  "If Alan wasn't going to be here, he would have called me, and then I might not have been here."  Igor walked away, and I thought he decided to wait up by the front counter.  Alan came in about two minutes later, but Igor did not return.  It was the third time Igor decided to leave instead of waiting a little longer for Alan to show up.

Professor came in a little later, but Andres didn't.  Alan called Andres who let him know his next fight at the Chicago Golden Gloves will be on Thursday.  So what I wrote in the last post about Andres being in the finals wasn't correct.  Andres has a semi-final fight he has to win before advancing on to the finals.  Alan was worried because the last two guys Andres fought were about his height and size, but the next set of guys in the super heavyweight category will probably be bigger.  I heard Alan tell Andres during the call to do some running as part of his workout.

Professor had promised to work with Jason the last time he was in the gym, and he made good on his promise.  First, Professor held pads for Jason.  He noticed that Jason was not watching when punches were coming back at him.  "I'm gonna solve that," Professor said, and he asked me if he could use the cage headgear that's in my locker.

Professor gave Jason the cage headgear to wear, and he chose some headgear for himself.  I kept hearing Jason giving out a bunch of excuses, including, "I don't have a mouthpiece."  "You don't need it.  I promise that I'm not going to hit you hard," Professor said.  Jason's remarks indicated that he wasn't too sure about that.  They did some very light sparring, but Jason was flinching a lot, and still not keeping his eye on incoming punches.  The sparring ended quickly, and Professor made Jason do burpees.  Jason was struggling after only doing a few.  Professor gently but firmly kept pressing Jason to do more.  Then Professor had Jason running up and down the stairs leading up to the second floor just outside the gym entrance.  Jason was huffing and puffing.  Professor correctly pointed out Jason needs to work on having stamina.

The gym seemed kind of dull today. The winter session, which is coming to an end, had a lot of people disappear early on, cutting down on the energy that usually fills the room.  Not a lot of people usually sign up for the spring session, so attendance may not go up for the near future.  The upside of that will be more personal attention for Andres if he wins his next fight at the Gloves, and is able to come into the gym more hours to train.

Knockouts In The Ring and Drama Out Of The Ring

Alan and Andres react to something that happened during one of the fights at the Chicago Golden Gloves out in Cicero.  I think a super heavyweight fight was going on when this photo was taken.  That fight ended with a fighter being knocked clean out.

The first fight of the night ended prematurely as well, ending when a fighter was knocked down, and the referee stopped the action.  Alan helped Jack, the coach from Brooks, in the corner with that one.  But the fights didn't zip along at the fast pace they did the other night when we were at the Gloves.  Most went the distance.  The best fight of the night was between two women in the 114 pound category, a Latina and a white woman.  The Latina had great form, and she was throwing some hard punches.  She won the fight.

The coach from Simons Park was sitting behind Andres, Alan, and myself.  He also admired the fighting skills of the Latina and sighed, "I wish I had a woman down at my gym.  I could teach her to fight like that."  He echoed the same thing that I have been saying and writing about for years -- the women show up, but they don't stay.  "As soon as a woman asks me if there are other women in the gym, I know she's not going to stay long.  It's not like the guys are disrespectful of a woman in the gym, but a lot of women don't feel comfortable in a gym full of guys.  I guess that's just something the women have to learn to get over," the Simons Park coach told me.

I also learned more about the drama that's been going on behind the scenes of this year's Golden Gloves.  Some people had been removed from leadership positions, and the tournament was in danger of losing its non-profit status.  It seems some paperwork had not been filled out properly.  Rumors were going around that the tournament almost didn't happen this year because of internal issues.  I understand that those issues are being worked on, and some have been resolved.  But it would have been something else if the Chicago tournament -- which began in 1923 -- would have not happened this year.

Alan and I were in Andres corner during his fight which was number fourteen on the roster. Andres fought a guy from McGarry's Gym.  About two seconds before the bell rang for the first round, an official asks both Alan and I to show him our coach's passbooks.  Luckily, we both were carrying them on our persons, and didn't have to run somewhere to get them.  Near the end of the second round, I heard the 10 second warning, and I got up off the stool I was sitting on.  I wanted to be ready to stick it in the corner for Andres to sit down.  The same official told me, "Coach, please sit down until the bell rings."  All this was new to me.  Not wanting to jeopardize Andres, I complied, but I wished I had a little more warning about all these things long before the match started.

It was a tough fight.  Andres threw some good body shots and backed the other guy up a lot.  But the other guy was not going to go down easy, even after some hard jabs and rights that Andres doled out.  By the time the third round was underway, both fighters were tired.  Andres was throwing a lot of jabs at one point.  "Use both hands!" Alan yelled out.  Andres and the other guy started getting tangled up more and more, prompting Joe, the referee, to step in often to break them up.  The other guy hit Andres with something, a left jab perhaps, that backed Andres up for a second.  The crowd went, "Ooh!" in response.  But when it was all over, Andres got the victory.

Alan and I left almost immediately because he had to go to temple (it's Purim), and he had to drop me off at the train station. We hoped that the official told Andres when his next fight is, which should be the final, since Andres is competing as a senior novice in the super heavyweight category.