Sunday, December 9, 2012

Cappy's Boxing Gym - Building Confidence.

      At Cappy's Photo by M Barrett Miller

When I wandered into Cappy’s the other day I was slightly surprised to see a number of high school girls ripping thunderous hooks into heavy bags.
I shouldn’t have been surprised.
I knew better than to expect an all boys boxing club.
As I watched, neither the girls nor boys broke stride as they moved from the heavy bags to floor exercises. The floor exercise routine included jumping jacks, crunches; push ups and shadow boxing at their elevated feet while doing modified sit-ups.
A drill involving throwing five combinations at your partner, who fields the punches with a flat mitt, followed the exercise interlude.
This is how it goes for sixty minutes.
The kids rotate from station to station pounding away at bags, mitts, shadows, jumping, squatting, running in place, dancing, firing away punches and firing away punches.
I found I grew tired as I watched them, and I was sitting in a chair!!
They could have gone longer!
The next day I was back to watch a smaller group do what they had done the day before, but with a few added challenges to keep them on their toes.
Literally!
They rotated from pummeling a heavy bag to finesse punches setting up their “knock-out” shot.
Don’t kid yourself! A few of these kids could definitely bring stars to your eyes.
And, you know what?  They’re loving every moment of it.
Here, watch the video. It will give you a good sense of what’s going on at the gym.
Yesterday I enjoyed the opportunity to speak with Coach Mike Priebe. After a few comments about the routine and how the kids enjoy the challenges we got right down to it.
Confidence.
Mike, and the other coaches, help develop confidence in kids so they have that little extra internal “go to place” to support them when times get a little hectic.
Their minds and bodies get tuned to support their changing self-image.
Self-image is so important to kids developing through their teens.
A poor self-image leads too many kids down paths they probably wouldn’t take if they felt just a little better about themselves.
When kids have confidence in themselves they tend to lean back on the robes and take a longer view before throwing themselves into a decision.
Cappy’s is there to help-
Cappy’s Boxing Gym is doing some great work for a lot of kids in our communities.
Thanks Cappy!

M Barrett Miller
Let Kids Be Kids

1 comment:

  1. Cappy’s Boxing Gym is doing some great work for a lot of kids in our communities. Your really a hero to kids out there that wants to be in boxing gym somehow. work out items sportshopsusa

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