THE FINAL EXAM

After an absence of many years, colleges are begining to offer some kind of instruction in boxing.  Students are organizing boxing clubs to compete on the intercollegiate level.  While this activity will never approach the Golden Age of NCAA collegiate boxing when the sport was dominated by San Jose State and the University of Wisconsin, the renewed activity means that the excitement of college boxing is returning.  The National Collegiate Boxing Association, a member of USA Boxing, supervises competititve intercollegiate boxing, including the annual tournament carried on ESPN.

Not all colleges offer competitive boxing, yet many offer basic instruction in the sport through sponsored-recreation programs or human performance (PE) classes.  I had the opportunity a few years ago to observe one of these classes.  I was the final exam.

It was the first week in December.  I had some time off so I took a trip to visit my old alma mater.  While I was on campus, I ran into my old boxing coach, Don.  He was teaching a boxing basics class through the recreation service program.  Over coffee, we talked about his class and the 15 or so students who were learning by doing drills.  He noted that there were a few students in the class who would like to spar. 

Sam gets ready to spar with me for the "final exam."

He asked if I would be interested in doing some light sparring with them.  It was Saturday, the last day of dead week.  Final exams started Monday morning.  From the look of the crowd in the library, the students were starting to try to cram on quarter's worth of learning into a single weekend.  After all, why shouldn't you wait till the last minute on Sunday.  Start Saturday and avoid the rush.  Of course, I repleid that I would be happy to do some light sparring with students.  I had worked with some of the novice boxers at Don's gym a few years earlier.  He knew that I would be mainly defense, that when I counter punched, I wouldn't clobber the kids, and that I was good at working basic drills.  In fact, one kid had called me "the punching bag with arms," a description that stuck.  As shown in the picture below, in my black shirt and running shorts, the description ain't so far from the truth.  Besides, clocking a new boxer turns him or her off to the sport and just shows the insecurity of the person doing the hard punching.  The objective should be to work with new boxers, not to work over new boxers.

Sam was the first one to come forward.  He seemed eager to spar, but was a little hesitant.  Despite maximim protection headgear and 18-ounce gloves, your first time in supervised sparring against an unknown opponent can be a bit intimidating.  I tried to put him at ease by telling him "that he should pick on someone his own size!"  He laughed.  I told him that I wouldn't tee off on him if he made a mistake.  If fact, during the match I coached him, motioning him to keep his hands up when they started to drop, and so on.  After a round, he really seemed to get the feel for it.  He hit me with a solid left-right combination and I decided to shut up and box.

Sam and I do some supervised sparring.

Don, who was supervising the sparring, suggested that Sam "could increase the intensity in the next round."  He also was giving the Chem E major a lot of good advice on how to get inside my jab, which I had been throwing a lot in the first round.