ParaParaJMo's Blog

May 13, 2011 4:24 AM
Well, I may not have gone on vacation during my Golden Week, but it was sure as hell quite a refresher. I didn't get out of the country. Hell, I didn't even leave Niigata prefecture. I just practiced and coached the boxing club at my Friday school, Niigata Kita (meaning north). Three boys from the team went to Hiroshima for tune-up fights. If I knew much sooner, I could of gone with them. I'll get into what happened there a little later. Anyway, since I don't have a gym to train at anymore, I just use the school's facilities. Since trains ran at a less frequent basis in comparison to Hiroshima and Tokyo, I'd take an early train just so I could do my own thing until the team arrives.

Since this is a high school sport, they train and compete by amateur rules. As opposed to 3 minute rounds, they are 2. So when I'm by myself training in the mornings, I just train for 3 minutes. Other rules are points are scored by how many punches you land as opposed to a 10 point must system. If three out of five judges ring a bell when a punch lands, it is one point. I really don't like the system. It's screwed up in the olympics as well. The amateur style is more technical and not as aggressive as it is in the pros. I could never compete in amateur boxing ever. Regardless, my experiences and being a sparring partner (better yet, a paid human punching bag) for prospects, journeymen, contenders, and champions and training with them has been a value asset to the team.

First, I want to talk about work last Friday. I'll admit I did have my frustrations during my last class. The first class went so-so. I felt I made my explanations and demonstrations too complex and time consuming, but my students got the picture. My next class I corrected all the mistakes I was making, but I felt there was something still missing. Despite that, it was still a very productive class in comparison to the first one. The last class, I was able to fit that final piece, but the kids just didn't listen. They would really talk over me and the Japanese Teacher of English. I was close to screaming "HOW DO I REACH THESE KEEEEEDS!!!??" at the top of my lungs.

Then when it was time to do the activity, they didn't know what to do. They asked us to explain it to them, and we told them we did. We had the class demonstrate it like 5 times and all that mumbo jumbo. Students would just chit-chat. Moments like that make me miss my old 8 year old student back in Hiroshima who used to cry all the time. Not because she sucked, but because she tried hard.

After class, these students just wanted to annoy me, so I had to go Chiaka Shinichi (the main character from an anime and TV drama series called "Nodame Cantabile") on their asses. Sadly, they got the reference way too much, and I think I made things worse. The Japanese teacher of English I was working with that period was like "whatever" attitude the whole time.

In my second class that day, I was relying on two boys from the boxing team who I know can and will respect me to get things working. And thankfully, it did. Being involved in a club at times does work. Just glad I found a school that has a boxing team for once and hope to stay here for awhile.

But in the end, I'm glad that my short but various experience are paying off. In order to I wouldn't say succeed, but to pretty much do the job day-by-day, you just have to go with the flow. Everybody might have expectations of things being systematic and organized, but changes can and will happen at the last second. This has been a bit more common in the jr. high and elementary, but in high school not so much in comparison, but can happen. But when things like that happen, always have like 5 back up plans. Thankfully, I haven't had to just yet.

But I'm sure in time, everything will work out, but since I've been here, time has been my best friend and worst enemy for a variety of reasons. I just really want things to just simply work out. I still got August 2013 left on my visa, so I got to take advantage of it while I still have it.

But back home, I'm glad things are working out. My cousin Robyn got married, and it was the birthday of an old friend, Brandon. Plus, Pacquiao dominated Mosley and America's best takes out bin Laden, so all of that factored into a highly spirited break for me.

Anyway, last Saturday, I checked out the footage of 3 members who went to Hiroshima. One member one his matches, and won by 30 second RSC (meaning Referee Stops Contest; equivalent to a TKO when the referee stops a fight). The truth is, this kid fought lousy competition. If this kid continues to fight crappy opponents, I'll corner his opponent and tell how how to beat him. His opponent in the fight he won by points just wouldn't fight. He just threw a couple of jabs and that was it. Plus, I heard that kid he fought was the captain of his team. I wonder how that kid became captain.

Unfortunately, one of the students lost by RSC. He was officially knocked down two times. In amateur boxing, getting badly rocked even when you don't touch the canvas can be counted as a knockdown. This kid was badly rocked twice in the second round, so the referee stopped the fight. The kid had no defense what-so-ever and just showed bad form. It really pissed me off. Looks like I have to work on keeping his right hand up whenever he throws his left.

Anyway, I'm back to work, but it's mostly mid-term preparations and mid-terms for now, but I'll have time to catch up on some personal and professional stuff.
Posted by ParaParaJMo | May 13, 2011 4:24 AM | 1 comments
Reksho | Mar 16, 2012 5:55 PM
Enjoyed reading your posts about Japan. By all means do write more!
 
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