Tag Archives: boxing training

Of marathons and dreams

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Of marathons and dreams.

Yesterday was the annual New York City Marathon.  Elite runners aside, the NYC Marathon is made up of the tens of thousands of little stories about endurance and heart that see runners  pursuing their dreams of completing the 26-mile course through the streets of the five boroughs.

It’s a day when runners are cheered on by the crowds of New Yorkers lining the route; clapping and pulling for the ones that seem tired or lagging, and reading all the special dreams on people’s T-shirts.  We recognize ourselves in those dreams; of work we pursue with dogged determination and grit, or friends we know and love who endure hardship.

We are each marathoners in one way or another in how we ply our boards day after day to accomplish goals large and small.  For the boxer, it’s not so much the fight as the pursuit of perfection in each jab thrown in the daily grind of the gym.

To my mind, yesterday was a celebration for all us who push to accomplish something, so congratulations to all of us for getting the job done.

 

 

No time

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No time …

for anything today except finishing a paper!  For anyone needing inspiration here’s some fight footage of Alicia “Slick” Ashley:

Women’s boxing seminar

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Women’s boxing seminar.

USANA Pink Gloves Boxing Seminar 2010

My daughter turned 11 yesterday.  Her very excellent day included the evening session of a three-day Aikido seminar sponsored by a local Brooklyn Dojo.

It got me to thinking about how supportive these types of events are.  In the Aikido world, master teachers train participants in new techniques, general practice concepts and offer opportunities for augmenting learning, including special sessions for kids.

A women’s boxing seminar might work equally as well, perhaps beginning with a half-day event.  I know that there are fantasy camps around, but in the seminar concept, a gym facility could be borrowed on a Sunday and trainers as well as experienced boxers could lead participants in a variety of drills, boxing techniques, boxing exercises and sparring.

An hour or two could also be devoted to kids and/or invite girls of 11 or 12 on up to participate in the day’s  activities.

The seminar would have to be self-funded in order to pay for facilities and trainers, but with enough interest and a reasonable fee it might well work out.  It’s also an especially nice way for women boxers both novice and experienced to feel as if they are part of a larger community.

I know that in boxing in particular, training is often one-on-one and the relationship between the boxer and her trainer is sacrosanct. The seminar or clinic concept can augment that relationship by teaching new ways of thinking about the sport and providing a supportive atmosphere for trying out new techniques, not to mention  the chance to meet up with old friends and a place to make new ones.

Please contact me if there is any interest out there in planning and/or sponsoring such an event.  With the Olympics looming on the horizon in 2012, now might be a great time to start thinking about these kinds of sports clinics if nothing else than to build momentum and a fan base.

 

***P. S.  How’s this for timing!  It seems that Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, NY will be sponsoring an All Female Boxing Clinic and Show on April 21, 22 and 23, 2011!

Who do I box today

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Who do I box today.

For all my extolling of the virtues of the vote, I want to puke!

As a friend reminded me yesterday, Emma Goldman once said, “If voting changed anything they’d make it illegal.”  In a new variant on that, voting seems to have assured yet another period of acrimony and division in the service of big business and bigotry.

So who do I box today?

The public has “spoken.”

I’m just glad I don’t live in Arizona where the  public  voted to ban affirmative action. Or Wisconsin for that matter where Senator Russ Feingold was voted out of office, the only Senator with the temerity to vote “no” on the Patriot Act of 2001 and one of ten who voted against the renewal of 2006.  Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t like the idea of people reading my mail without the consent of an open court.

Oy!  I’m so depressed!

I guess it’s time to hit the bag.

 

 

No time like now

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No time like now

My emotions are on a hair-trigger these days – sure symptoms of an erratic gym life and I am determined to get in some time today.  When I’m off kilter like that it’s a fine balance between doing too much and killing the muscles, and doing too little which will mean I won’t satisfy the gym itch and more grumpiness on my part.

My plan for the day is to run some, stretch, shadow box, and then do a few rounds each of the heavy bag, double-ended bag, and speed bag, with a fine finish of some abs.  Hmmm.  Nice plan.

As for its execution, there is no time like now.

 

Post Script:  Gleason’s was great!  Not quite to plan, but good enough.

Fighting it

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Fighting It

A full-length documentary film, “Fighting It” is a personal look at the lives of five women fighters.  The film is in the final throes of post-production with a release date set for next year.  The film’s perspective is to portray the passion, work ethic and accompanying emotional highs and lows of women who box, their compelling stories and the conflicts they face as they pursue their dreams.

The women featured in the film range from amateurs training for the Golden Gloves to professionals struggling to make a go of it in the burgeoning women’s professional boxing world.  All have wonderful and inspiring stories of what has brought them to the fray of the boxing ring.  It is a story that will be well worth the wait.

http://www.fightingitthemovie.com/

Olympic dreams

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Olympic dreams

With the Olympics twenty months or so away, there hasn’t been much in the news lately  about women finally being given the nod to fight in three weight classes in the 2012 London Olympic Games.  What I wonder is whether the hard work and sweat of the young amateur boxers who have begun their preparations for the games will result in Women’s Boxing being taken more seriously in the run-up to the games and beyond.  Let’s face it, at this point, we’ll take an ESPN “Ocho” just for the chance to see the sport at all on television.

It’s also not as if there’s a hug pot of dough to support American male boxers, so the question is how are the American women with Olympic dreams going to support themselves if there is so little out there to begin with?   Women have been in the amateurs for years, so at least there is institutional knowledge to train women to score points under the international amateur system.  That doesn’t mean that these women will be given the kind of material assistance, “team” training camp facilities, coaching know-how and enthusiasm necessary to truly boost their chances at winning gold.

So, what to do?  For one thing, it’ll be up to all of us to push USA Boxing to give equitable treatment to the Olympic dreams of these young hopefuls and to push the press and sports television to recognize that Women’s Boxing is here to stay and needs to be recognized.

Shadow boxing in the dark

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Shadow boxing in the dark

I’m up really early this morning with a full day in front of me and no likelihood of getting to the gym this afternoon.   So here I am, ready to do at least a little something at home.  The hard part is figuring out how to get started when all I really want to do is get back to bed.

This morning I’m shadowboxing to “Payback,” by James Brown.  The thing about the song is I can move to it and imagine that I’m hitting a giant double-ended bag as I shadowbox in the living room.

Mostly what I love about this song is the sway.  And somewhere around the lyric, “gotta deal with it, gotta deal with it” I’m into the groove.  Jab, jab, right, left hook, right upper cut, left upper cut, left hook, left.

After the song finishes, I have an instance of “what now,” panic.  Playing it again feels right and with muscles starting to wake-up it does feel good to prance around the room.