WE ARE ENTERING YOU INTO THE SILVER GLOVES.......NO WE'RE NOT (HAHA)
Yes. This is a complaint.
I have to say that I am extremely disappointed with something that recently happened at the Cabbagetown Boxing Club.
I was told that if I had met a particular set of criteria, that I would be entered into the Silver Gloves tournament.
Although I said I didn't really want to do tournaments this year, the coach offered to send me because I had done everything expected and had worked really hard this year.
Not wanting to let down the coach, I agreed to go.
I changed my schedule, moved things around, and even asked for time off work, which cost me $220 by-the-way.
After all that was done, my coach told me that the head coach said that I wasn't allowed to go. The reason was apparently due to my last bout ending in an RSC-1, that was 10 months ago. A lot has changed since then.
First of all, my last bout is always going to be an RSC-1 unless I am given the chance to try again. Hello?
Secondly, the head coach must not have a lot of confidence in his coaches if he doesn't believe in what they can do.
Third, the head coach is never there. I have seen him three times in the year and a half that I have been training at Cabbagetown. How the hell could he possibly know what I have been doing if he is never there to see it? He thinks I don't do anything. If he wants to be head coach, then he needs to get his butt into the gym and do some damn coaching. Watch what the fuck his athletes are doing. Otherwise, turn the job over to someone else, but if he does that he also forfeits being able to make such decisions.
Fourth, I had already been invited to go. That means "Yes". That's it. You don't say "Yes" to someone, and then turn around and say "No" a couple of days later. That is disrespectful and also causes a breach of trust.
Who does that?
I mean, who cares if my last bout was an RSC? Move on and do better the next time. That is what being an athlete is all about.
Now I have a weekend off with nothing to do for $220. Is Cabvbagetown going to reimburse that? Of course no.
What am I going to do now for an entire weekend off? Masturbate to '80s music videos?
I am going to a boxing gym specifically to be a boxer. I could go to Planet Fitness for $10 a month if I just wanted to jog on the treadmill for a few minutes a day.
I put a lot into boxing. I travel from home 45 minutes to get there, and 20 minutes from work, and when I go from work my wife drops off my gear at Castle Frank subway station, so I don't have to carry all my boxing crap to work. Then I train every morning for at least 90 minutes.
I even got into an argument with my manager at work over a stupid staff meeting that was going to prevent me from going to the gym. I could have been fired over it because I was still on probation at the time. That is how much I cared.
Yes, I am Beyond Pissed-off.
The only reason I don't leave Cabbagetown is because of the quality of coaching. The coaching there is off-scale, and I don't know if I would be able to get such high-quality coaching elsewhere.
That being said, I don't need coaching if I am not going to be competing, because that is just a waste of everybody's time.
I was considering going to Sully's. It is one of few boxing gyms in Toronto that I have not yet attended.
They moved again, too. Sully's moves as often as I change gyms. They used to be near Dufferin and Dupont. Now they are near Dufferin and Dundas. They are in the basement of a hardware store. I actually wouldn't mind looking at what they have to offer. I already know the coach there, but they are also very expensive. $120 per month. Cabbagetown is a lot less than that.
However, for me, training without knowing when I will be able to compete is stupid.
I agree that coaches need to set expectations for their athletes. Otherwise, they are not good coaches. The thing is that they need to make those expectations clear from the get-go. Don't lead on somebody, and then disappoint him over something stupid.
One idea I had was to train at two gyms simultaneously, but Boxing Ontario had a shit. I forgot that Boxing Ontario is to Boxing what Kim Jong-un is to North Korea.
I have decided to keep training at Cabbagetown for now, but by December when I have to renew by Boxing Ontario membership, I will have to decide where I am going to train. That gives Cabbagetown about two months to "fix" this. I don't know how they are going to "fix" this or even if they can, but that is really not my problem now. The ball is in their court.
What hurts more is that back during my birthday, I did a Facebook fundraiser for Cabbagetown Youth Centre. I raised $100 for them. That is not a lot, but I didn't have to do it, and I will never do anything like that ever again.
This just goes to prove that nobody can be trusted.
THE SARCASM HAS BEEN RELEASED
For those who know me or have been reading this blog for a while, you know that once my sarcasm has been released, it is very difficult to get it caged-up again.
Since the head coach feels that I don't do anything, from now on when I sign in at Cabbagetown, I am going to write in the 'Program' column what more closely reflects what the head coach thinks I do there. For example, on Friday I was sleeping:
The next time I am in will be Monday. I'm not sure what I will be doing then. Maybe I'll be preparing cocktails.
Drink, anyone?
