Blog Posts - Lafollette Park

It's hard for me sometimes to figure out what action to take when someone in the gym is crying.  Never had that problem while I was volunteering at Loyola Park in the adult boxing program.  However, it happens often at LaFollette Park. Curl...

Steve informed me that Eckhart Park is having a boxing show next month.  I told the kids who have been attending the boxing class for awhile that they have an opportunity to fight.  They were fired up about it.  However, I have concern...

The guy from the community organization who mentors kids told me he would like to be a volunteer in the boxing program.  Since I'm not familiar with the kids whom he has signed up for the program, it would be a good idea to have someone in the g...

The 12 and under boxing class is officially full.  And who shows up with a registration form that I had given her nearly three weeks ago?  Princess, of course.  A short time later, her mother walked into the gym.  "Princess will p...

More than a few times some kid in the gym has sighed and said, "I'm bored."  That statement annoys me because usually there's an expectation of being entertained by the person to whom the statement was said.  Not long ago, I heard another b...

I keep thinking about the parents who have placed their kids in the boxing gym in order for the kids to learn how to defend themselves.  On the surface, it is a good idea.  However, I've changed my stance about that slightly since I've beco...

I like that I now know how many people are supposed to be in the boxing classes I coach.  The 12 years and under class is nearly full.  Unfortunately, there are only two teens in the later class, Marine and Angel.  Those two keep showi...

No matter how many times I admonish T1 about hitting his sisters too hard during sparring, it happens anyway.  Both Tough and Talky were crying after their brother went upside their heads.  T1 apologizes to them, but then turns around and g...

The winter session has begun, and most of the kids who were showing up during the fall have disappeared.  I gave Princess' mom a new registration form to fill out.  However, I haven't seen hide nor hair of Princess since that time.  It...

Not many kids show up on Saturday, but this time, a few did.  It was mostly the girls.  One of the girls, whom I'll call Tough, came in with her older brother and younger sister.  All of the kids kept running back and forth between a b...

I had just come out of the field house.  The building closed early because of the New Year holiday.  One of the kids runs up to me and asked if the gym was open.  There have been signs all around the field house with the holiday closin...

This is a photo of the ring with ropes around it.  Next month, I hope to fill out the gym with extra equipment based on what will be available in the field house's budget.  The kids keep asking me about putting in another Cobra bag or two.

A couple of the kids spar as two other kids look on.Had to break up yet another real fight this week.  Princess was at the center of it again.  I couldn't understand it. . . Princess had just sparred with the girl whom she was picking on. &...

In this photo, taken by Martine Granby, I'm alone in the gym, folding up a hand wrap.Only one kid under 12 showed up at the gym yesterday.  During the week, only one teen showed up during the 13 and up class.  They both wanted to spar, but...

I spent two days of training at Garfield Park.  Every time I go there, I'm reminded of the time Ma took me there to get my immunization shots before I began Kindergarten forty-eight years ago.  The building, with little upgrades here and th...

The photo is of me surrounded by a group of kids in the gym at LaFollette Park.  I think I was matching the kids up for sparring that day.  It hard to do that because the kids are a wide range of sizes.  Most of the twelve year olds ar...

In a photo from 2011, Alan watches some sparring action at Loyola Park.When I saw Princess not long after I got to LaFollette Park, I automatically knew it would not be an easy day.  She didn't come in until about a half-hour or so after the gym...

If you think the man in the photo above looks tired, you'd be correct.  Alan was too tired to work out the night I paid a visit to Loyola Park.  Luckily, it was a light night.  Not too many people came in.It felt good to get in an hour...

Lord, help those of us who work with kids.   The girl I was grumbling about in the previous post -- let's call her Princess -- got into it with another girl -- let's call her LaLa -- in the gym.  I overheard an exchange of words that includ...

The photo is of the headgear stand at Loyola Park.  I need one at LaFollette.Earlier in the week, one of the kids had a bad nosebleed.  It wasn't from sparring.  Unfortunately, it was a bit too warm in the gym.  The kid was one of...

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