I'm terrified of contact sports. And I mean any kind of contact, human or otherwise. When my friends played soccer, I would never want to actually touch a soccer ball even with my foot so I'd choose to be the goalie instead. Then, when I actually had to block a goal, I closed my eyes and ducked.
Of course, I didn't remember just how afraid I was of contact sports until it was too late. I'd already walked across the gym to an array of punching bags and a locker full of punching gloves where a bunch of guys in the Boxing Club were jumping rope.
In elementary school, I once won a jump-roping contest on the playground, so I figured I could handle whatever I'd gotten myself into for now.
Still, I didn't want to wear myself out during the warm-up because I'd heard that the coach, Elvis Lowe, is awesome at what he does. As in, he was the former Barbados national champion.
Turns out, I didn't have much to be worried about. Almost everyone else there the majority of whom were male were new, too.
"The first two to four weeks are basics learning how to jab, moving your feet, moving your head and doing conditioning," Boxing Club president Arturo Waner '13 said. "As people get those down, we start doing more boxing exercises with gloves and bags and incorporate boxing skills you need in a fight. It takes a couple weeks for everyone to get it."
After warming up, Lowe and Waner, along with the club's vice president Christian Opperman '13 and treasurer Ben Nguyen '14, showed us how to throw punches. Thankfully, we started punching midair and without gloves.
I started feeling klutzy and disoriented when I compared my movement to theirs, and I expected to be judged for my flailing arms and the clanking silver bangles I thought would be a good idea to wear to practice. But Lowe and the club's leaders were more than understanding and helpful. This was nothing like whatever image I'd conjured up in my mind of some tough guys who wouldn't want to help me.
Turns out this helpful, friendly mentality isn't just for practice.
"I think boxing is one of those sports where you're very friendly because you're hitting each other," Waner said. "Once you're done fighting, it's over. There's very little animosity."
In the process of helping me throw a better punch, however, I was surprised to be shown how to properly punch by thinking in terms of an opponent. Who would have thought that boxing would involve hitting other people and not just the punching bags I saw? Probably everyone but me, but whatever.
"Every punch you throw leaves you open to a counter punch, so you have to be moving all the time," Waner said. "If you're not moving, you're
just a punching bag. There's a lot of strategy involved."
I didn't want to be a punching bag. As scary as it was to think about hitting someone else, it was cool to think about it not in terms of dreaded contact, but rather in terms of the strategy.
"Boxing is pretty much a mind game," Nguyen said. "Chess with your hands' is the best way to put it."
After punching work came the final, hardest part of the practice: conditioning. And with this came the use of body parts that I haven't used in a very long time and an even deeper awareness of just how out of shape I am.
Once practice was over, it was nice to think that if I did go back, I could get in better shape. That is, if I could handle the intensity.
"We usually start the term with 60 people the first day, 50 by the second day, 40 by the third," Waner said. "By end of term, we usually have around 13 people."
As of now, I plan on going back. There might also be hope for me beyond just the fitness aspect.
"Girls learn how to throw a powerful punch, and not just one, but four to six in a row," Waner said. "If a girl has stuck around long enough to spar, she'll hit hard."
Maybe I can finally get over my fear of contact. While the end of practice was as intimidating as trying out for the Boxing Club initially, the experience ended up being worthwhile and fun because it didn't involve the contact I was expecting. And fun is all I'm really looking for, anyway. Oh yeah, and maybe to get in shape.
