Scrap Lifts 2

Training the Next Generation

One of the many things boxers do is help train the kids.  Some will go on to become great boxers, some will get beat up good on a regular basis and leave the game, most will train for a few years and move on to other things.  Yet every one of them can take something good away with them, that will be with them for the rest of their lives.

The ones that do it for a little while and discover it’s not for them still have a greater understanding of what they can do—and have proved to themselves that they have the courage to risk a licking in the ring.  They have done something besides play with their electronic gadgets—they have worked hard; they know they can do things that others can’t.

Scrap and little Liz both like the workouts, the punching, the rush of trying to not get punched too hard or often; both want to get better at it.  Big Liz is doing what all the experienced boxers do at good gyms—helping the kids along.Big Liz sees a real firebrand in Scrap, and has a feeling the kid will go far—she’s got everything—speed, power, and most important, determination.  Right now, she gets hit much more than she should—but details like that can be worked on with time.  (As a result, she has proved that she can take a lot of punches and keep on fighting…)

Little Liz is still uncertain about how far she wants to go with boxing—it’s fun, but there’s many other things in life as well.  Only time will tell if she stays with it for years, or boxes for a while and moves on—but the life lessons she gets here, the confidence, will stick with her forever.

One big thing they al have taken to heart—you won’t know your limits unless you push them.  Sometimes the limits are expressed in the form of a beating from someone tougher than you expected…

That method of finding the limits HURTS, but doesn’t deter Scrap—the girl’s always ready to get in the ring and thrash anyone—or try to.  Liz is a bit more cautious—if the coach recommends that she not fight someone, she’ll listen—unlike Scrap, who sees it as a challenge.

Both teenagers have found something good here, and Big Liz (so called because there is a need to keep Big Liz and Little Liz separate when people are talking about them) is enjoying training the two of them—and right now, ready to help if Scrap’s bit off more than she can chew.  She let Scrap go with that weight to show her that there’s things she can’t do—but the kid’s doing it…