I seem to be fitting in well. That's not hard though as I have always respected this club. They hosted the J.O tourny were I had my first sanctioned bout ever (sooo many moons ago) my coach always spoke highly off them too. The torch has been passed from ***** to ***, who adds to the pride that the none profit has come to be known for. But man, *** breaks their ***es with his stomach work. They'll thank him later for that, though. A large group of kids, some looking to compete, some just doing their thing. There are a couple of guys who have bouts in their history, but I have focused on the newbys. There could be a couple rough diamonds in there. One of the ones that show promise is a girl named Lai. I worked a mitt with her and what impressed me was first, the way that she listened and computed what I was saying, and then she does exactly as I said to do. But the thing that impressed me most was her power, the sheet that she was throwing was the real sheet, I'm tellin' ya. So she's new to the club and I ask her how old she was, she replies that she is 12.
Man, do I look forward to getting back to the gym. My body hurts doe, strokin' out has been a challenge. Boxing gave me the fighting mind to carry on despite the pain. When I need a break I'll take a break. I stroked out having the fighters mind but no longer having the fighters body. Gotta be thoughtful of what I'm doing. But I look in to the future with Lai, the girl can punch. But I have yet to see how she accepts a blow, I really haven't seen much with her boxing. But I felt her power and it excites me.
Coaching can be a joy and it can also be a pain (physically til you get in shape, mentally as you deal with pupils who think they know it all — even if they just walked in the door, haha — or who just don’t take to coaching). The parts about Lai piqued my interest. Back in my coaching days, we had a young woman in college come to our gym and take up boxing. She was a bit of a mess as far as her personal life in a lot of ways (without getting too much into it, drugs and bad relationships all around) … and she’d tell you the same. Well she worked her fanny off. She was 111 pounds of you-don’t-want-none. Every single male she ever sparred with (myself included, and this was late 1990s so there were no girls to spar with) got their nose bloodied. Including me, haha. She wanted to fight and there were no females anywhere near her weight (and precious few at all) so we turned her pro. First fight was a war, at best even through three rounds and she may have been behind, but she rallied and started landing that right and turned her opponent sideways falling into the ropes and they gave her an 8-count and she won a UD. Won the next four by KO. Then when she graduated, she got accepted into the Marines for officer candidate school — she made lieutenant, served in the second Gulf War (she was one of the few females in a battle position) leading a demolition unit that would go ahead of the front line to blow up bridges, supply lines, etc. She didn’t resume fighting when she got out. Got married, then divorced with two kids, now has a good job and also has a lot of lucrative real extant investments. So proud of her. We stay in touch and have seen each other a couple times over the years. One of my favorite people ever and as tough as they come.
With Lai, I'll work with her for as long as she likes. I understand that life can just pull you away. I heard her say that she wants to fight pro, I told her that she hasn't even beat the amateurs yet. Time will tell. Be careful of what you wish for. There are a couple of other kids that were attentive and did what I said. I'm curious as to what they have inside of them. Again, time..................
Yep. I’ll share another story. One summer we had a kid brought to the gym by his dad. His name was Teddy, iirc about 13 or 14 years old. He was deaf … I mean completely deaf. Had a right hand from hell. Strong. Not disciplined. Worked with him maybe a month to six weeks, demonstrated everything. Sometimes he stopped at the end of rounds from the vibrations of the bell, sometimes he didn’t notice them and we had to stop him. But that kid worked his butt off. Took him to his first fight. Told the ref he’s deaf (no rules against it, passed his physical and all that) and to be ready to step in when the bell rings because he might not hear it. He took his opponent apart … didn’t stop him but dominated. He was so happy. Got a little trophy and you couldn’t have pried it out of his hands. Well, he came back to the gym a week or so later and went back to work. School started and his dad drove up (they lived way out of town, so he had to go out of his way to do this). Told me he was pulling Teddy out of boxing until his next grade period — he wasn’t doing good in school, goofing off, not doing his homework. Said if his grades improved he’d bring Teddy every day including weekends. Said he’d never seen his kid take to anything like he had boxing, never seen him so interested in anything, and hoped this would be incentive enough for him to apply himself in school. I told him that I supported him, that education should come first, and asked him to please tell Teddy that we want him to do well in school so he can come back because he can become one heck of a fighter and everyone in the gym wants him back. I never saw Teddy again. Many years later, I got an email at work. It was from his dad. Teddy had died in his 20s. He said Teddy never turned his grades around, dropped out and left home. Became an alcoholic and a drug addict, spent time in jail. Had a miserable life. But he said he wanted me to know that Teddy never stopped talking about his time as a boxer, it was the proudest achievement in his life and the best time of his life. He wanted me to know that I gave Teddy the best time of his life and that he and Teddy were always grateful for that. I cried. I’m crying right now as a type this. I miss you, Teddy. I wish you had gotten back to the gym. You were one helluva fighter and could have been something. RIP kid.
I got the other kids hands and feet working together and Lai is throwing a mean hook now. How well will she take a punch doe? Many, many newbys lose their composure once they eat a solid shot. Again, time will tell.
--Kelvin-- So I found a gym to train kids in boxing and on my first night I met this one kid. He was polite and learned quickly. I thought that it was too early for him to spar but....... I told him that he was not ready. After the session I sat with him and discussed what had happened taking off his gloves and putting on his bag gloves. He starts beaching about how much he was getting hit. He seemed all pissed off about it. Gotta love that adrenaline. And he did fine, it was his first time ever sparring. I hadn't shown him any defense yet. I'm going to make this kid a defensive wizard. Or at least a well-versed defensive fighter. I like defensive wizard better doe
Lai and Kelvin MIA. Enter Jaquan. This kid has personality coming out his ears. He was picking everything up so quickly. He throws a nice hook and a good right hand but with his jab he's showing his elbow too much. He sets kind of too high with his hook, but a tweek here and a tweek there.......... The time went by quickly working with him. He did great in my opinion. Good work man!
Watching them walk in through the door and then disappear is part of it. I was in Florida on vacation this past week and got in a few workouts at a gym down there. Love visiting new places and seeing how they’re set up and how they go about things.
Jaquan is developing amazingly fast. He gets what he has to do and tries it, but still gets hit too much for me. I just found out that his brother has been training there too, I had no idea.... Jaquan is, as I said, doing amazing. He worked 4 rounds sparring and then did like 6 good rounds on the heavy bag. He said that he's been running and working out at home. I asked his brother if he wanted to work sometime, he said yes. Oh yeah, tonight I found out that the gym has to close until we get handicapped transportation to the 2nd floor. Money, it's a hit......
I went to a pro show this past weekend and it was like a reunion. Two guys who fought for me are on the commission. Got to catch up with four others whom I trained. Good times. One of them told me: You put me through hell in that gym. And when I got in the ring, I was thankful for it. You always had us ready. Another, whom I’ve seen several times over the years and swapped old war stories with, came up to me and stuck out his hand and said, ‘I thought about it and I never told you thank you for everything. So I’m saying it now: thank you.’ My reply: ‘No, thank you.’ Humbling to hear their kindnesses. @Rockin1 you will find, if your path is anything like mine was, that a thousand will walk through that door and only a few will stick. They’ll come and go. Some will show great promise and seem to absorb everything and then just disappear. You can’t make them want it, or keep wanting it. But the ones who do stick, the ones you do get to work with … those will stay with you for a lifetime (whether you ever get to see them again after their fighting days are not). Each of them is worth all of those thousands who never do what it takes. Keep doing what you’re doing. You will mean more to someone (hopefully several someones) than you’ll ever know.
