Gym Shut Down Due To Concern

On February 11th, I walked into work as usual. I had barely signed in on my timesheet when Steve had me come into a meeting with him and Colleen, who works in risk management.  Less than 15 minutes later, I was sent home. I was told that the park district has a concern about my health. I've been using a cane for about three years. "Why is there a concern now?" I asked. Colleen claimed not to know, while Steve remained silent. Before being allowed to return to work, I had to see a company doctor.

I saw the doctor, a kindly sort, who upon learning the Chicago Park District does not offer health insurance to most of its part-time employees, gave me information about a sliding-scale clinic near my home. I also finally learned that I have nerve damage in my left leg. It's treatable but the doctor I saw can't take me on as a patient due to conflict of interest. The doctor released me to return to work on light duty.

Upon returning to work the following day, Steve told me that HR had to clear me to return to work. HR claimed there is no light duty for the boxing program. Until I am cleared for full-duty with no restrictions, I'm not allowed to work.

I sent emails back and forth to HR and cc'd both Steve and Colleen about the situation.  I even got the union involved. But still, I have no clarification about the rules and regulations involving me being forced off of work. It appears that no one at CPD, nor the union, is willing to give answers. I've been using my limited sick time and personal days to cover my absence, because, well, I still have to pay bills. Yet the way I was blindsided by this makes me wonder if I'm still considered to be an employee of the park district.

A visit to the doctor at the sliding-scale clinic did not result in a recommendation that I can return to work. On my limited salary, I can't afford to keep paying to see them. This incident has put me into yet another set of shaky financial situations.

Meanwhile, the gym remains closed.  Next week is the end of the winter session. It's too late to gather anyone to get up to speed to participate in the Chicago Golden Glover nor the Chicago City-Wide Boxing Tournament.

I'm angry.

Doubling Down

Rick, who has been helping out in the boxing gym, said that youths who are in the program but don't want to compete and/or are participating in other sports should not be hindered from registering. However, no time and effort should be put in on my part to train them. "Let them hit the bags all they want, but spend time on the youths who really want to fight," Rick said.

I've been doing that for a while, but I've also begun to double down on my expectations of people who are in the program. Yesterday, I had to check Jules' mother about what I was not going to continue to put up with from her son. I wasn't going to bother making a courtesy call. However, I was curious about what was going on since Jules had begged me for weeks to be in the class. She registered him for boxing on January 17th, and that was the only day Jules has been in the gym. I was told that Jules has been involved in some activity at school this week, but that didn't explain why her son was not in the class on the other days. "If Jules doesn't want to follow rules, then Jules need not show up to the gym," I informed her.

Tiyana has also been gone for weeks with no explanation. Jamire dropped out after the first week after I announced I wasn't tolerating the same behavior that Jamire displayed three years ago when he was in the gym. Jaquazz and Amarion have been missing, and Richard has been skipping days. Elijah and Jazzmyne can only attend the program once a week for the time being.  None of the adults who are registered have been showing up for class. I was talking about possibly attending the City-Wide Boxing Tournament this year, but that is looking like a no-go again for this year.

My supervisor asked for a list of what equipment I need, and I gave it to him. Whether or not I get what I asked for is another issue. The football, basketball, and baseball teams never deal with a lack of resources because they get help from some of the professional sports organizations in town. The coach of those teams is also allowed to have fundraisers, but for reasons that still aren't exactly clear, I'm not allowed to do that for boxing. Even the swim team gets some outside support. I'm at the mercy of depending on whether there is enough money in the field house's budget.

The Sport Gets Shorted

A run-off election was held in Chicago yesterday, and the boxing gym at LaFollette was used as a polling place.  It was the first day of the spring session, but of course, the class did not take place.  Four of the kids showed up, and I had to express apologies for the gym being occupied.  None of those in the adult class showed up, and no teens had signed up.  I've been sending emails to Sahia to let her know about what was going on with maintenance issues in the gym, but I haven't heard from her.  As usual, it was a poor start to another ten weeks of class. 

None of the parents had talked to me before registering their kids.  I received the usually surprised looks when I brought up that yes, class is five days a week, and all of those days must be attended in order for people to compete in the upcoming boxing shows.  Most of the kids are signed up for other sports where the parents and guardians have no problem with the practice schedule.  I don't understand why parents and guardians feel it's okay for their kids to give short shrift to boxing practice. 

A conversation with one of the younger kids alerted me to the fact that not much research was done about what it takes to box before they registered.  That's typical, too.  The kid was overly concerned about the possibility of being knocked out.  "Do they actually throw a towel in the ring to stop a fight?" they asked me.

Honestly, I'm not looking forward to running this session.  My mind's not in it. There was too long of a layoff between the premature end of the winter session and the beginning of the spring session.  I already have a good idea of who is not going to finish out this session.  I'm not going to the City-Wide Boxing Tournament because I don't have anyone who is ready for it.  In addition, I'm not hobbling out to the south side on public transportation with a cane.  It's difficult enough for me to make the long trek to LaFollette these days. 

A Matter Of Attitude

In addition to issues in the neighborhood that have a negative impact at LaFollette Park, there are attitudes that also present challenges to running the boxing program. 

The program is free for those between the ages of eight and seventeen (a few of the gyms will take youths as young as six years old). There are beginning and end dates for each session, but parents and guardians in the area tend to sign up their kids whenever.  Free doesn't mean the class has unlimited spots open.  In order to give proper attention to everyone, there can only be so many participants.  Yet most parents and guardians believe I should make room for youths who often don't show up until halfway through the session.  Youths who sign up later throw off the balance in the room especially when there's a groove that has already been established with those who were there from day one.

Many youths and some of the adults are in the class for the wrong reasons.  I need to talk to people, especially parents and guardians, before anyone registers for the program.  It says so online and on the class fliers.  Most parents and guardians ignore that rule, and it's easy for them to do since everyone can sign up online.  It also says on the fliers that boxing is not a self-defense class, but parents and guardians expect me to teach youths to handle bullying situations. I'm aware that schools have zero-tolerance policies for violence.  I keep wondering why most parents and guardians around LaFollette don't seem to know that or are willing to ignore those policies. 

I'm also curious as to why some parents and guardians don't feel an obligation to let me know if their youths have physical and/or mental conditions. If the staff doesn't have that information beforehand, an incident can turn tragic very quickly.  I've observed that some of the parents and guardians think their youths' health situations aren't that serious.  Some don't seem to have ever taken the time to analyze whether an activity will be appropriate for their youths in light of that.  They just want their kids in -- and I suspect information about health situations gets deliberately withheld.

I've long been tired of parents and guardians who think boxing is going toughen up kids who they believe need it.  I've never forgotten a dad who grumbled that his son's mom (whom the dad was no longer with) was raising their son "soft".  The kid didn't want to be in the class, but dad refused to accept that.  Another parent was angry when they learned their child had no interest in sports at all.  Boxing was the umpteenth sport that they had forced the kid into with no success.  "Ask them what they really want to do, then put them in activities that speak to that interest," I told the parent.  That should have been common sense.

There are the youths in the class whom the parents put in purely for babysitting purposes.  A lot of kids at the field house, regardless of what activity they are in, are not there because their parents care about them having positive experiences.  Parents and guardians who operate on that level do not support the program nor encourage their kids to be more active participants. 

Parents and guardians don't pay attention to what time the class begins.  Time management doesn't exist, and personal responsibility doesn't seem to be taught much.  But I'm expected to work miracles with youths who are twenty or thirty (or more) minutes late to class every day.  I can't enter participants who don't train properly into the City-Wide Boxing Tournament, the Chicago Golden Gloves, nor the park district boxing shows. 

There are youths who have numerous discipline problems, but when I point that out to some parents and guardians, I get no response as to what they are going to do to put a stop to the behavior.  Even more troubling are the ones who tell me, "I can't do anything with her (or him)."  Why do they think that I should keep putting up with it?  Trust me, I won 't.

As for the adults who take boxing, time management is often an issue with them, too.  People forget about the other obligations they have like changing work shifts, dealing with their kids, going to college at night, etc.  Some adults confuse the park district boxing program with the professional boxing classes that are run out of private gyms.  Due to the issues in the neighborhood, many don't sign up because they don't want to be around when the bullets start flying across the park -- and I can't blame them. 

Unsurprised At Curie

I sat at the second ring to judge fights when I arrived at the second and last day of the Chicago City-Wide Boxing Tournament.  During one of the matches, I overheard one of the officials stating that the fighters from LaFollette Park didn't show up.  The fighters from the North Lawndale Boxing League who were "representing" LaFollette were nowhere to be found.  I just shook my head, but I wasn't very surprised.  Based on what I observed of Derek's fighters last spring, I didn't get a sense there was much motivation to stick to things and finish them.  I deal with enough of that with the youths who actually are, for lack of a better word, eligible to sign up at the field house.  

Maybe there was some resentment over the poor showing of Derek's fighters on Tuesday.  I haven't forgotten the reports of those fighters throwing fits because they didn't get to take home winners' trophies last spring.  The people they were supposed to fight last night got walkovers, which means they automatically received belts because their opponents didn't show up.  Most fighters would rather win by participating in actual matches, not by default.  I haven't heard any fallout from the coaches of those fighters as of this writing.  If I do, I'm going to direct them to take up their complaints to Thomas.  After all, Derek's fighters are not officially mine.

The bouts went faster than they did on Tuesday.  Several of them were stopped by both Thomas and Gerald, who took turns being the referee of the fights in the ring where I was sitting near.  I recognized a kid, Jordan, who fights out of Portage Park.  I was impressed by his actions after he lost his match; no bad attitude whatsoever.  He immediately shook the hand of the other youth and complimented him.  Too many of the other kids who didn't do well were rolling their eyes and frowning up.  One guy threw his hand up in a gesture that said, "Really?  How did the other guy win?"  Another kid walked off in a huff after his hand wasn't raised, and Gerald had to call him back to pick up the second place trophy.

Another tournament is over.  I keep hearing that Derek's fighters will eventually have a gym opened up for them at one of the field houses.  I hope so.

47 Fights

I judged 23 fights at the Chicago City-Wide Boxing Tournament last night.  There were 47 fights in total.  Two rings were set up at Curie Park to handle all of the action.

Derek, who runs the North Lawndale Boxing League, had two of his fighters "representing" LaFollette in the tournament.  "Did Thomas talk to you about this?" Derek asked.  "No, he did not," I said as I made a face.  I kept wondering why I hadn't been told -- for the second year in a row -- that Derek's fighters were registered to fight out of my gym.  It was curious to me that Derek was allowed to check his fighters in when protocol states that I should have been responsible for that since it's my gym, not his.  Allegedly, Derek will have a gym within the park district soon.  But he doesn't have one yet.

I was in the mood for sarcasm and an argument.  But sometimes, it doesn't pay to say anything.  Another coach commented that the situation sounded "shady", and I agreed since it was apparent I was kept in the dark about Derek's fighters' participation until the last minute.  But things have a way of working themselves out.  Derek admitted that his fighters had no sparring experience before the tournament.  He grinned at how he made them run a lot instead.  "This ain't gonna go well for them," I thought to myself.

There were a lot of tough fights.  Just like at the Chicago Golden Gloves, few competitors show up with the intention of playing around.  That's why I didn't allow any of my fighters to register for the tournament.  People can't half-step when it comes to training regularly then expect to do well in a tournament.  If someone gets seriously hurt, I'm going to be asked why did I allow them to compete when it was apparent the fighter didn't train well or enough for it.  Some coaches will put someone in the ring knowing that the fighter is too green.   I'm not going to put someone in a match just because their name is on my attendance sheet.

An announcement was made from the ring across from the one where I was sitting that one of Derek's fighters lost their match.  I ended up judging the match that his other fighter was in.  All I saw was wild haymaker punches, poor footwork, and a lack of technique from his fighter.  The other two judges agreed with me, and the win went to the other youth.  

A Little Attention Would Be Nice

I understand that registration numbers are low for the Chicago City-Wide Boxing Tournament which is scheduled for next week.  That's too bad, but there are several reasons why that has happened.  I entered all of my attendance numbers for the winter boxing session and the results were worse than I initially thought.  That session probably had the lowest attendance numbers of any of the sessions since I've been at LaFollette.

During a conversation with another park district coach, there were echoes of problems that I also experience at my gym.  "The parents just don't care, and neither do most of the kids," the coach said.  Most of the coaches have the same complaint.  Boxing is one of the best sports in the world, but it ranks at the top as being the most thankless sport in terms of participation and support. Some parents and guardians are cool with the coaches until we tell them they can't have or do something in the gym.  Very few parents and guardians are willing to volunteer in the gym, help get youths to shows and tournaments, donate or help buy equipment, etc., but yet their hands are always out expecting something from the coaches.  Some only view the program as a free babysitting service.

One or two youths may appear in the gym during each session who show a healthy interest in the sport and are willing to put the work in.  I love when that happens.  Unfortunately, it doesn't happen enough.  Too often, I'm stuck with kids displaying behavioral and discipline problems, along with the ones who have no interest in being in the gym.  I have to accept everyone because it's a public-run gym.  Luckily, I do have the option of kicking the more difficult cases out of my gym.  Usually, they do me a favor and drop out on their own.  But then that often leaves me with no one to train nor to place in the competitions.  

The most popular sports in the park district -- football, basketball, baseball, and swimming -- have built-in marketing strategies that eclipse boxing at each and every turn.  They most certainly get more press in the advertisements, flyers, signs, and in the park district's newsletter.  When I have to attend physical instructors' training like I did yesterday, information about track and field, soccer, and field hockey is always being given out. Nothing is mentioned about boxing unless I and/or another boxing coach who happens to be at the meeting speak up. 

It appears that boxing doesn't get much attention.  It should be no surprise, then, about the difficulties in recruiting participants to register for a tournament, let alone sign up for boxing classes.

The Number One Rule

Malik showed up a few minutes after the teen class had ended.  Mareli was the only teen who showed up for that class.  None of the younger kids or the adults came in either for their classes.  "Has anyone been coming in?" Malik asked like he did the last time he dropped in.

Why in the hell is Malik concerned about everyone else's attendance when he's only been here five days out of a 10-week session?  I thought to myself.  James always got on my nerves with asking about everyone else's whereabouts, too.  I wanted to tell Malik to worry about himself and what he needs to do and should have been doing as far as boxing is concerned.  Instead, I explained as evenly as I could -- again -- that Noel and Mikaela had to go out of town.  "Everyone else just dropped out of class, which is why no one in here is in the City-Wide Boxing Tournament this year," I said.  Malik quickly said goodbye and left the gym.  No explanation was given to me for being absent -- again -- nor when he was going to return.

I had the suspicion that Malik may have hoped I was going to change my mind and allow him to sign up for that tournament.  I don't deal with people's lack of accountability and lack of responsibility too well.  The number one rule of the gym is if people don't train, they don't get to fight.  Malik had no real excuse as to why he missed 45 days of training.  I will not send youths into boxing matches who I know haven't prepared and aren't prepared for them.  

No Contenders

There will be no one at LaFollette who will compete in the Chicago City-Wide Tournament this month.  Now I'm two-for-two since I had no fighters in the Chicago Golden Gloves (which began this week) either.  The Battle of the Badges is not looking good for participants as well since that follows right behind the City-Wide Tournament.  Everyone is going to have to wait until June when the regular Chicago Park District boxing shows begin.

Only a couple of the youths had a good reason as to why they couldn't train enough in advance of the City-Wide -- there was a death in their family.  No one else had good reasons for their numerous absences.  I have to attend the City-Wide because it's a big tournament and much help will be needed for it to run smoothly.  But I'll be going alone.

The last time Malik was in the gym, I told him he wasn't going to be in the City-Wide because of being absent for most of February.  Malik wasn't around much in January either.  The few times Malik dropped in, he kept telling me about having to go to the dentist.  Malik is wearing braces now.  However, that's a one-day procedure; it didn't take all of February to have those put on Malik's teeth.  I haven't seen him since I and suspect that's because of some disappointment/resentment.  But what these youths ain't gonna do is give me an attitude because of lack of accountability and responsibility on their part.  I keep repeating that I'm not going to chase people about showing up to the gym and doing the work.  Like my late mother used to say, "People seem to think I'm playing with them when I tell them something."  

James bought himself a ticket out of the program, perhaps permanently, when he revealed that he doesn't care for sports.  I like James, but I don't need kids in the program who aren't interested.  Honestly, I don't want the other youths who couldn't only show up but once or twice a week back in the class, either.  Those youths waste their time as well as mine because they can't devote enough time to the sport, and I can't allow them to do anything regarding sparring nor competing. 

Chances Going Down Or Gone

Sahia, Richey, Noel, and Mikaela are fine.  They just took an extended vacation.  They should be back in the gym this week.  But I can't guarantee that of everyone else who has been missing for past month.  

Looks like I'm going to keep the gym open during the break between the winter and spring session since the City-Wide Boxing Tournament will take place during that time.  But I'm not going to allow everyone to register for it.  Malik is dangerously close to being denied a chance to compete.  He'll have to show up every day from this point on in order to get a spot.  Iz and Abrahant's chances are already gone because of their constant absences which they had been warned about many times.  Based on Kaylib's lack of urgency to do what he had to do to enter the Chicago Golden Gloves, I'm going to demand that he sit out the City-Wide as well.  That's if Kaylib ever shows up to the gym again.

James won't be a factor, either.  I talked to his parents about his statement to me about not liking any sport.  His parents are dismayed, but they have known that about their son for some time.  They also aren't happy about James only wanting to play video games constantly.  His father told me that they are keeping James out of the gym for awhile until his attitude changes.  His parents aren't the first ones to complain about their kids' obsession with video games as opposed to participating in more physical play and activity.  What I'm not understanding is why don't they just take the games away from their kids?  Different parenting styles than from what I grew up under, I'm guessing.  My parents may not have brought the video games from the jump.  Since playing the games uses electricity, my mother, in particular, would not have allowed my younger siblings and me to play them often.  If we kept playing them obsessively, the games and consoles would either have been locked up, sold back to the game store, or thrown out.  

Confession

James confessed to me that he doesn't care for sports.  I had long suspected that James' interest in boxing wasn't high.  Now I know the lack of interest extends to all sports.  James is not that athletically inclined.  Most of his cousins are athletic, and his half-sister plays sports.  James' dad played sports when he was young so the expectation is that James must play sports, too.  I wondering if I should tell James' dad about his son's feelings and how to tell him if I do.  I'd rather not see any youth being forced to participate in an activity they don't enjoy.

Unfortunately, society operates on gender stereotypes that lead to situations like this one.  I assured James that his non-interest in sports is fine.  However, there are people who criticize and make fun of males who don't play sports nor are rabid fans.  I would not be surprised if James has already been bullied because of that type of thinking.  Some will question a boy or a man's maleness because of that which is totally wrong.  Please. . .I know of straight men who think sports are a waste of time and gay men who have season tickets to major sports games.  

Thomas sent out the schedule for the Chicago City-Wide Boxing tournament and The Battle of the Badges tournament.  Youth amateur boxing matches do take place at The Battle of the Badges before the regular bouts between the cops and the firefighters.  Youths can only sign up for that the day that tournament takes place as I understand it.  But Thomas has scheduled several days for the City-Wide registration.  

Noel and Mikaela told me they wanted to participate in the City-Wide.  I haven't seen them for days, and it continues to worry me.  Malik hasn't been training regularly for weeks.  I've grown tired of Malik popping into the gym to tell me why he can't come to the gym and/or why he wasn't in the gym that day.  I'm only going to participate in the City-Wide registration for one day.  I can't afford to close down the gym for several days in a row to accommodate every one's personal schedules.  If people can't make it on the one day I can go up to Margate Park for the registration, then they won't be in that tournament.

No Messages and No-Shows

Sahia, Rachey, Mikaela, and Noel returned to boxing class yesterday, and I was glad to see them.  They arrived as the teen class began, and that class was hopping.  A new guy who is 6 foot 2, Kalib, joined the class.  He's had a little training in the past, but I still had to go over most of the basics with him.  Mikaela, Noel, Ceasar, Richard, and Melissa went through their workout fine.  I noticed that Jahnaja strolled in late, but I didn't comment on it.

Iz and Abrahant did their usual habit of consistently showing up a half-hour late to the kids' class, too.  I had to get on Iz about him and his brother disappearing for two days last week with no notice.  This week is only the second week of the winter session and already I have had to deal with unexplained absences and no-shows.  "I was feeling a little sick last week," Iz said, an explanation that covered the first day he was out, but not the second day.  I should have received a phone call on the second day.  And why is it every time one of the brothers is sick, the other one decides they're not going to attend class?  It was the second time I had told them about the new attendance policy.  That was the last time I'm going to warn Iz and Abrahant about the consequences.

There are also a few in the kids' class who haven't made it in yet.  I gave a courtesy call last week to the home of one kid named Abshoun.  "I forgot that class has started," his mother told me.  Well, her memory was really faulty because her kid wasn't there all that week.  Looks like her kid ain't gonna be in this week, either.  Another girl, Jayda, signed up, but I haven't seen hide nor hair of her.  That two more "kicked out of class due to lack of attendance" letters I'll probably have to write.  

Unfortunately, Malik is getting dangerously close to missing out on competing in the Chicago City-Wide Tournament.  He's still not registered for the teen class.  I called his grandfather twice after Thanksgiving last year to give a reminder about the sign-up dates.  I didn't get a response.  I also told Malik several times during the holiday season to remind his grandfather to take care of that.  "I can't remember the park district's website," Malik told me as he stood before me on his cell phone yesterday.  What, kids don't know how to Google?  I'm in my late fifties, and it seems I know how to navigate technology better than most young people.  

The website wouldn't load probably due to connection issues because we were technically in the basement of the building.  Sahia pointed out that people may no longer be able to sign up for boxing online which made sense.  Only so many online slots are open before the in-person registration begins.  "Your grandfather has to come in here and sign you up," I repeated to Malik for the umpteenth time.  There's not a lot of openings left in the teen class.  If his grandfather keeps hesitating, I'm not going to be able to make room in a full class for Malik.  If Malik is not able to re-join the class until the spring session, that will seriously cut down on his training time for the Chicago City-Wide Tournament.

Sahia couldn't stay for the adult class because she had an appointment elsewhere.  However, I was glad that she was able to connect with Donesha, Tony's mom before she left.  Alexis didn't show up again for the adult class, so Donesha was by herself.  But she got a good solid hour of work in.  She also does exercises outside of the gym, and that is very helpful.

Someone called the field house looking for me.  One of the teen girls was sent downstairs by Tina, the gymnastics and dance instructor (and summer camp coordinator) to tell me I had a phone call.  The staff knows that I don't leave the gym during the kids' and teen classes to come upstairs for any reason.   I've ceased making it my problem that they keep forgetting that. "Tell her to take a message," I told the girl.  The girl did not return with the phone message.  Neither did I find a message when I came up to the front desk at the end of my shift.  I have to assume that either the caller didn't want to leave a message or the person who answered the phone didn't bother to take one. Unfortunately, the latter scenario is the probable one.  It's happened before.   

Already Kicked Out Of Class

Most everything I needed to get done in the boxing gym at LaFollette Park is done.  This week will be quiet until the winter session begins next week. 

I've already written the withdrawal letter to send to Jahnaja's mother.  I spoke to her mother in mid-December.  "She's busy with stuff because she'll be graduating from high school next year," her mother told me.  I was also told that Jahnaja would call me to confirm whether or not she'll be attending the boxing class.  This is the third time she's signed up for it and not completed it.  She didn't even bother to show up at all the last time she registered.  The new attendance policy states that people can't miss two weeks of class without an explanation.  But based on Jahnaja's track record, I don't have the patience to wait and see what she's going to do.  As far as I'm concerned, she's already kicked out of the teen class.  If she doesn't show up the first day, the letter will be dropped in the mail.  I'm done dealing with no-shows to the class.

My patience has also been low with parents and guardians who won't get it in gear to sign their kids up.  I've told Malik a few times that he needs to send his grandfather in to re-register him for the teen class.  I've left voice messages for his grandfather.  Malik's name has not shown up on the attendance roster yet.  Chasing people to re-sign up for the class is something I seldom did in the past.  This is the year that I stop doing that completely.  I'm also done with frustrating myself about other people's lack of motivation and being proactive.  I'm not interested in excuses as to why people don't do what they need to do at this moment.  

When I last checked the class registrations, numbers of the youth and teen classes were low.  No one has signed up for the adult class at all.  So much for a rush of people signing up as part of New Year's resolutions.  

Looks like I can forget about having anyone in the Chicago Golden Gloves this year.  Mikaela and Noel want to get more park district fights.  Other than the City-Wide Tournament which doesn't take place until early spring, there won't be any other park district fights until late June.  I'm not going to encourage any of the new teens who have signed up for the winter class to compete in the Golden Gloves because they won't have enough time to train for it.  Anyone planning to participate in that should have been training at least three months in advance of the registration dates which are in mid-February.  I've heard people grumbling that the park district bouts are little more than glorified sparring sessions.  But that is not the case at the Golden Gloves where people fight as if their lives depended on it.  

I don't know if I mentioned that two staff members are gone.  Both Leonard and Pam were transferred to other field houses late in December.  I miss them.  Their departures did little to cut down on the constant gossip and backbiting, unfortunately, something both Leonard and I were always irritated about.   At least I can hide down in the gym and have some peace from the whispers as most of the staff seldom come downstairs.  

Two Lessons Not Often Taught

Recently, I learned of an incident that took place a couple of months ago at the Chicago City-Wide Boxing Tournament, which is run by the park district.  One of the kids lost a fight.  When the second place trophy was handed to them, the kid threw the trophy down in anger.  "I don't want that!" they yelled before stomping away.  An attempt was made to give the trophy to the kid's coach.  The coach had an even worse attitude about their kid's loss.  They didn't want the trophy either.

Since I had no one in that tournament, I did not attend this year.  After hearing what happened, I'm glad that I wasn't because I would have had to say something to that kid and their coach about their behavior.  I don't tolerate that type of stuff at my gym nor at boxing shows and tournaments from my fighters.  No coach should be condoning behavior like that from their fighters.

Just last year, I was at a boxing show where several young men from one gym kept grumbling about being "robbed" and being "cheated" after most of them had lost their bouts.  At the end of the evening, the young men were still grumbling on their way out of the field house.  I had enough of their comments and was about to put them in check, but two other coaches beat me to it.  Their admonishing had no effect on the young men, who choose not to listen to reason.

The year before, I had to deal with someone in my gym who completely lost it when their fight was stopped during another boxing show. The referee, myself and the head of the city's boxing program all caught the brunt of that person's anger.  As a result, that person was banned from LaFollette's boxing program.

It doesn't appear that two important lessons are being taught to young people these days.  The first lesson is life is not fair.  The second lesson is everyone is not going to get what they want every time.  Those lessons should be started early and reinforced often.

A City-Wide Mix Up

Yesterday, Ariel asked about signing up for the Chicago City-Wide Tournament.  "The registration has passed," I told her.  Besides, Ariel hadn't been around enough so we could make plans to sign up.  Ariel didn't come in today but was hoping that Porsche will come in soon.  Ariel wants to spar on Thursday if Porsche shows up because she's going out of town on Friday.  So it looks as if she'll miss a week of training which is not a good situation.  I have yet to see Porsche spar or fight so I don't know how she'll stack up against Ariel.

Today, Fermin, the coach at Harrison Park, called me, wondering why one of my fighters didn't show up for a match with one of his fighters at the City-Wide.  I believe the fighter was Anthony, who is not one of my fighters, but one of Derek's North Lawndale Boxing League kids who signed up at my gym.  For some reason, I had a feeling that something like this would happen.  "I don't have Derek's phone number, but call Thomas (the head of the boxing program).  He might have his number," I told Fermin.  I was a little irritated to think that people down at the City-Wide probably assumed that one of my own fighters had backed out of a commitment.

Abraham and Itzcoatl have not shown up to the gym since last Friday.  Alyssa and Mia have been gone for longer than a week. David was the only one who showed up.  He wanted to spar but that's not possible when other kids don't keep their commitment to show up to class.  I'm glad I didn't give any mouthpieces out because that might have been a wasteful thing to do.  I've given out mouthpieces to those who dropped out of the class right after they got them.  I've made the mistake of giving mouthpieces to those who said they were interested in signing up and did not, like Jayla, for example. Now I wait a couple of weeks into the session before I give mouthpieces out.  But even that is no guarantee anyone is going to follow through with the class.

LaFollette Walkovers and Open Doors

Thomas emailed out a list of youths who signed up for the Chicago City-Wide Tournament (which takes place this week).  Two of the kids signed up at LaFollette who are with Derek's North Lawndale Boxing League -- Blake and Porsche -- were listed as walkovers.  They didn't get fights, so they won by default.

If Ariel had shown up to train more often, she could have been paired with Porsche.  That ship has sailed, along with my chance of seeing any part of the Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament this year.  This was the first time in about 14 years that I missed going to the fights.  I never made it to either John or Michael's bouts (and unfortunately, they both lost), and I had no one in the competition from my gym.  Hopefully, the Chicago Park District boxing shows will turn out better.

In another bid to keep the destructiveness of the summer camp kids from touching the gym at LaFollette, I sent an email to Steve today requesting that the kids go to another room to get their snacks while camp is in session.  I'm still trying to put together a senior aerobic boxing class for the summer.  The last thing I or the seniors need is summer camp kids ripping and running in the gym and trashing it.  The boxing program has been running for nearly three years now; it's long been time for the summer camp kids to stop using that room.

Late last week, I found my office/equipment room door standing wide open.  No one knew who had been in there.  In the email, I also asked Steve to remind those who have keys to that room to keep it locked.  Summer is coming and brings a lot of people into the field house who are just roaming around.  I can't run the boxing program if a majority of the equipment comes up missing.

Departure and Passed Over At The Gloves

John did fight at the Golden Gloves.  It was a close decision, but John lost.  Michael ended up getting a bye twice, so he's in the semi-finals.  Michael's fight is scheduled for this Friday.  Ben joked and said it would be something if Michael was passed over again.  Perhaps he would then end up in the finals.

Kathy is leaving the gym permanently.  She's going on a road trip, and then she's joining the Peace Corps.  She was a great sparring partner.  I'm sorry to see her go, but she'll have a grand adventure.

Tonight was the first time I had been at Loyola Park in a couple of weeks.  One week I took off due to being tired and sore.  The following week, I babysat for a friend of Nayhomee, who used to train at Loyola.  I got in a good workout despite being as stiff as a board in the beginning.  My body seems to react well to working out before going right back to its usual state. 

Matt had some very good sparring with Ben and John.  Alan sparred with Ben later.  "I know he's not going to beat me up," Alan grinned. 

I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow at LaFollette.  While I don't mind that the coach from Franklin Park (I wasn't aware that any kind of boxing was going on there) has registered some of his kids into the LaFollette boxing program, I am concerned about a couple of the kids.  You see, they had signed up for my program last spring but never showed up to class.  I find it curious that they apparently have been able to show up for a boxing class at Franklin Park, but were not motivated to come to LaFollette in the past.  Franklin Park's coach will train them.  This I gotta see.  I'm tempted to ask the two girls why they're so interested in the sport now considering that they didn't seem to care about it when they were taking up space on the attendance list in my gym. 

There was a ray of hope when Ariel said she wanted to compete in the City-Wide Tournament a few weeks ago.  But I believe the window of time to register for that has closed.  On top of that, Ariel hasn't been in the gym much since then.  In fact, she only showed up seven times during the winter session.  That's seven days out of a total of 50 days in all.  She hasn't signed up again for the spring session, either, even though I reminded her of that some time ago.  I keep hearing that I have to get the attendance numbers up for the classes.  However, most don't bother to sign up until three or four weeks into the session.  I can't do anything about people whom, for whatever reason, won't get it in gear to get their names on the attendance sheets. 

A Possible Return of Adults

Ariel showed up after another long absence.  She's the third kid who has been missing from the gym due to school. She wants to compete in the City-Wide Tournament which will take place during spring break in April.  I know the weigh-ins are later this month, and I need to find out those dates.

I also need to find sparring for her, since none of the other teens have been coming to class. It's going to be a challenge to find girls at the other park district gyms who are Ariel's age, height, and weight.  It's going to be a challenge to find girls at all.  Not every park district boxing gym has girls.

I proposed to have the adult boxing class put back on the schedule beginning this summer.  Most adults who keep telling me "I just want to hit the bags", don't want to participate in a formal class.  The class has to be marketed to those who may have prior boxing experience but don't want a coach standing over them.   They need to be given the feeling of being in an open gym, even though the park district does not run open gyms.  However, the adults still have to pay for the class whether they want me to coach them or not.

Winter Session is Washed Up and Out

Barry wants to have a sparring session with his fighters, my fighters, and Marlon's fighters at Portage Park.  Good idea, especially with the Chicago City-Wide Tournament approaching.  So when I got to work, I called parents and guardians to see if they could bring their kids out for the session, which is tentatively scheduled for early next week.

Davion's sister reminded me that her brother is only able to go to boxing class two days out of the week.  He won't be able to go to Portage Park.  Tyler's mom was fine with it, but I have to make sure that I let her know if the date will be changed.  I didn't bother to contact Jada's mom because Jada can only take boxing class on Saturdays which prevents her from sparring as well as participating in competitions.

James had not come to class yesterday, so when I called his mom, I also wanted to find out if he was okay.  It is very unusual for James to miss a day in the gym.  His mom told me that she's keeping James out of boxing for the rest of the winter session.  James keeps getting into trouble at school about his grades.  The most recent progress report he received was very bad.  I agreed with his mom.  "The boxing gym will be here, but James needs to get his education," I told her.  I had suspected all along that James wasn't completely telling me the truth about his troubles at school.  Now I know.

Neither Tyler nor Davion have much interest in boxing, and frankly, I'm real tired of Tyler's lazy attitude.  The last time Davion came in, I got tired of him asking me how to do this and that.  He's been in there long enough to do the basics, but of course, Davion hasn't been paying attention.  I'm already disappointed because I won't have anyone to enter into the Chicago Golden Gloves this year.  Now I'm ticked because it looks like I can forget about having participants in the Chicago City-Wide Tournament, too.  I refuse to give either Tyler or Davion the opportunity to be in the City-Wide.  They're just not training hard enough.

Ariel showed up for the first time since last month.  As I suspected, she had been ill.  I thought I might have had a fight lined up for her at Cicero Stadium.  But it turned out that Ariel was 20 pounds heavier than the other fighter, so we had to take a pass on that.  There's a slight chance she could be in the City-Wide Tournament, but she has a lot of training time to make up.

I think it's safe to say that this winter session is washed out.  From day one there have been issues and setbacks.  It's halfway through, and I don't suspect things will get better before the middle of March when the session ends.

Clumsiness Is What I Do

Stephanie (in the light blue top) and Dallas face off during a sparring session at Loyola Park in the photo above.  Dallas wasn't bad.  She's good on the long jabs and rights.  Stephanie was game for action, but she was covering up and backing up a lot.  Her punches need to be fully out there more.

I took a tumble to the floor after tripping over Drew's foot.  It wasn't his fault.  I was headed to Alan's desk.  Drew was working on a heavy bag and moving around.  I wasn't watching as he moved around the bag.  It took him, Matt, and Gabe to pick me up off of the floor.  Clumsiness is one of my traits.  I'm surprised that I haven't had more injuries at both Loyola and LaFollette because of that.

Alan informed everyone about a boxing show that will take place in Libertyville on the 25th of this month.  "It will be a nice tune-up fight for those who plan to compete in the Chicago Golden Gloves," he said.  The registration for the Golden Gloves takes place the weekend before the Libertyville fight.  So far, Gabe, Ben, and John have expressed interest in competing.  I hope Rojan is planning to compete, too.  As usual, I have no one who qualifies for the Gloves.  The teens I have aren't old enough, and I'm not expecting any sixteen and seventeen-year-olds to sign up for boxing lessons anytime soon.

In fact, I think the youths I have now are it for this winter session.  The kids' class is full, but only Tyler and James show up regularly.  However, those two continually show off their poor training routines.  Jada can only attend the class on Saturdays, so she can't participate in sparring nor will she be qualified to compete in any of the boxing shows.  Maz continues to be a no-show, and Ariel and Davante have been missing too many days also.  Donovan's schoolwork is threatening to take him out of the gym completely.  It looks as if it is not worth my time to promote the Chicago City-Wide Boxing Tournament anymore to the youths at this point.

Yesterday, I completed my boxing coach's certification online.  Alan was amazed that it took me less than a half-hour to do.  He actually went up to Sam's boxing gym a week or so go to sit in a certification clinic.  That took three and a half hours to complete.  It was so much easier, as well as efficient, to do that online at USA Boxing's web site.  People had been requesting to have the ability to do certification that way.  I'm glad that it is finally available.

I'm still a little bleary-eyed as I write this entry.  On Tuesdays, I've been attending a small group Bible study that meets at 6:00 AM.  The other small groups are meeting at times when I can't go, so that particular group was my best option.  Last night, I told Alan I had to go to bed early so I could get up on time.  "What would Jesus do?" he said, shaking his head.  I had to laugh.