Staring at a blank page is almost as scary as your first day at a new gym. You’re worried about what people think of you, if people will be nice to you, if you’ll even like the work that you’re doing there. Fortunately at Reign City Athletics (RCA) this was alleviated for me in minutes. Coach Troy from the first second I stepped in the door was my friend and my mentor.
My friend, Morgan, first approached me to join the gym. I was hesitant, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to start something that I had never done before, but after months of persistence, and the start of a new year, I decided that I would do it. Prefacing things is something that I hate, but I feel compelled to do it here: I am not looking for sympathy or throwing myself a pity party. With that out of the way, 2015 has for the most part been a rough year for me. It began with my uncle unexpectedly passing away and quickly transitioned into my being hit by a car while going to school. I was a few months into training at RCA when all of that began. The first words that I heard from Troy when I told him about my uncle and then later about being hit by a car were “Are you okay? If you need anything at all from me let know.” While I was healing, he didn’t let me fall through the cracks; he messaged me and kept in touch making sure I was all right. When I was ready to come back and start training again, he helped me stay grounded and keep myself from overreaching with my injured ankle. My attendance during this time was spotty, but I was always greeted my smiles and excitement at the gym. RCA is like a second home. I know that I can go there and be surrounded by friends.
Let’s talk a little about boxing itself: I took a year or two of Karate when I was younger, but most of my sports career has been spent playing soccer and lacrosse, so I’m not unaccustomed to a physical workout. Every sport you start requires a different set of muscles to be trained and used. I knew this going into it, and behold the first thing that I found out I would be learning is how to walk. I took to that well enough and a day later, I got practice the fine art of walking backwards, and sideways. At RCA, you start by learning the fundamentals. When you know how to walk you get to jab, when you know how to jab you get to learn combinations, etc. etc. This promotes two things: the first is that you’re being taught a way of disciplining your mind and body (that happens to take the form of punching stuff), and secondly that you’re building a foundation in order to become better.
In my time at RCA I’ve worked with veterans and people who just walked through the door, thus I’ve been on both sides of the mentorship/mentee dichotomy. When I work with people that are new to the game, it provides a great learning experience for not just that person, but myself as well. I get to see the things that a new person does wrong or poorly and it gives me a frame of reference for myself. I’m also in the position where I was just there and I can help that person out by telling them what I learned when I was working on what they are working on. On the other side of that when I’m working with someone that has much more experience than I do, I get to work with people that really care about what they are doing, and want to see others grow. Everyone is there to improve. So if I’m working with someone new, asking questions, or working with Troy on the mitts, or someone that’s been boxing for years: information, advice, and encouragement are found in spades.
The end of a session at the gym is a really important moment for me. It’s when I get to talk with someone, and see if they had any critics for me before the next day. And when they have something they saw that I could improve on I get really excited. Because, the next time we do that drill, I’ll remember what that person told me, and I’ll have something that I can focus on improving as I move through the drill. An example that stands out clearly to me is a night where we ended the session with burn outs. For those of you that may be unfamiliar with the term, you spend three minutes throwing punches in rapid succession on a heavy bag. This may sound simple or even easy, let me assure you, it’s not. Especially after the third round. But, you’re training your body to keep going, and to maintain your form while you’re exhausted. I was not brining my hands back to my face after each punch, instead I was letting them drop down, which is bad to say the least. And I had this pointed out to me. For the next two weeks I eagerly anticipated the moment that we would do burnouts again, and I would get to push myself to bring my hands back to my face every single time.
I recently had the opportunity to begin sparring. My first time standing there in the ring, squared off against my partner, my brain panicked and didn’t do me much good. However, because of the training that I have been a part of there were points where my instincts took over and instead of floundering I found myself cutting my partner’s movements off. I even managed to land a few punches! There was a lot of room for improvement, which my coach and sparring partner provided insight on. The next time I got to spar I did better. Landing combinations, and reacting to some situations well. I could feel the training that we do at RCA working. Moments occur in sparring where something you learned clicks. When you’re learning something and drilling it you’re teaching your body how to do the motions, and which muscles to use. But until the left hook is coming at you and your hand goes up to block it while sparring all you were doing was training your muscles. It’s the moments in sparring where you can move and react freely which allow you to really see all the training and the drilling pay off.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that training with Troy and the rest of the RCA crew has improved my life. RCA has given me a place where I can train myself, mind and body, to be better.