Presidential Challenge

Most serious athletes keep a training log of some sort. All of you boxers might want to consider doing the same. I've been keeping mine at the President's Challenge for the last couple of years. I log all of my running, cycling and boxing activities and I earn points for everything I do. The points are roughly equivalent to the number of calories burned doing the exercise and the points accumulate towards fitness awards - bronze, silver and gold. If you want, you can get a certificate and medal for achieving the awards for a few dollars. I've already achieved the gold level and have continued tracking my workouts towards the platinum level . The gold award requires 50,000 points and a decent night at the gym will earn you at least 500. The platinum level takes 500,000 so that's going to take me awhile but I'm up over 300,000 so far.

In addition to the individual record keeping, you can also form a group. I'm a member of a group called Keeping Up With Mengel, oddly enough. Presently I'm ahead of my closest competitor by about 20,000 points. I started this school year off 16,000 behind but with my gym workouts and my supplemental running and cycling, I've managed to take the lead once again. If you're at all competitive, and who shows up to a boxing gym who isn't, the Presidential Challenge is a great way to have a little friendly rivalry with a few of your buddies and keep yourself motivated to workout.

We all need to exercise on a regular basis. The President's Challenge is a great way to get the whole family involved. There is a long list of physical activities to choose from including strenuous things like boxing but also easier activities like gardening, bowling and even household chores. And those of you training for a fight can look back and see how much preparation you actually did. If you ran out of gas in the third round and the training log doesn't show any road work, that's going to be the proof in black and white. As long as you're honest filling out your log, you'll know what you need to do to continue at a level or step it up to hit the next level.

Get signed up and start keeping track of what you're doing. It doesn't cost a thing and only takes a couple of minutes to get your account set up.

Photos

The photos I ordered came in Monday's mail. They look real good. The two 8x12's were rolled up in a protective tube, the 8x10 was in a cardboard mailer and they were all in a cardboard box as well. Safe and sound. I'll have them at the gym on Thursday so you can take a look at them. I missed Monday due to getting out of the dentist late and having some lingering issues from the root canal. Holding mitts and having someone keep jarring me around just didn't seem real appealing to me.

Surly is planning on coming down next Monday for a test shoot for some portrait work for the fighters. If things go well, we'll set up a photo shoot so everyone can get a nice posed photo taken in their boxing gear. I'm thinking old school type photo with the fighter facing the camera with their hands wrapped and up in the classic pose. Of course, Surly may have something else in mind.

Check out the Golden Gloves and fundraiser photos at Surly Camera. Order yourself a couple of keepsakes of your younger days as a fighter that you'll be able to look back on when you get to be an old guy like Coach Mengel!

Fundraiser Photos

Surly Camera has some photos from our recent fundraiser posted at his site now. The link should take you directly to the gallery of photos. There is a really nice shot of Jonah and there are photos of all the fighters at the end of their bouts. The photos I ordered the other day have been shipped, so now it's up to the U.S. Postal Service. I'll let you know as soon as they come in.

Boxing Photos

Photos from this years Golden Gloves are now posted and for sale at the Surly Camera site. I ordered a few for the gym to check out the quality and the service. They should be here in a few days and I'll report in as soon as they come in. Disclaimer: Surly is my son but you'll have the photos at the gym to check out for yourself. The prices are reasonable and shipping for three large photos was only $4.50. Check back in a few days and I'll have the review. He's going to be posting some from our recent fundraiser in the next few days as well.

Don't forget our Facebook page too.

Junior Olympians

They don't look all that tough but looks can be deceiving.

Facebook

DeMotte Boxing Club now has a Facebook page. Since most of the young fighters are all on Facebook, the club can communicate with them in the event of a weather related closing or just to talk shop. Just type in DeMotte Boxing Club and there we are.

Terre Haute Weekend

Here's the rundown from this weekend's fights from Terre Haute as told by Coach Jimmy:

Saturday

Kreed Gentz and Jonah Wilson both dominated in their performances. Both won decisions. Jon Stepp lost a decision to a tough kid. Jon just never really got into the fight. Patrick Garcia was winning his fight when the doctor stopped it in the third round for too much blood from the nose. The ref after the fight told me that the doc shouldn’t have stopped it and that the doc. hasn’t done a boxing match before and didn’t know what he was doing. After the first round, Patrick told me that he felt horrible. After the second round, a round that he spanked the kid in, he said that he felt awesome! The kid is a fighter! At the end of day one, our record for the Jr. Olympic Tourney was 2-2.

Sunday

Doug Stamper left no question as to who won his fight. He landed explosive shots that at one point almost knocked his opponent through the ropes! Decision victory for Doug! Kreed was up next. Kreed came out more hungry than the day before! He was relentless in his attack. When asked if he was ready to fight, his response was a growl!! I knew he was ready to fight! He picked up two wins in two days! Next up was Matt Mezzacapo. Matt lost a tough battle that had everyone in the crowd wondering who the winner would be. It was three non-stop, action packed rounds for our viewing pleasure! This was Matt’s first fight, and after getting settled after the first round, he was nailing the kid with shot after shot! The kid he fought had already had previous fights. Matt lost a close decision. Anthony Perry couldn’t wait to get in there. He seemed to fade fast and was out of gas, down on the score cards, and bleeding heavily from the nose going into the third round. Anthony somewhere pulled in a second win out of nowhere! He won the last round on the scorecards 17-2. He had the crowd on their feet and yelling. Mezzacapo had the fight of the day until Anthony stole it away. The crowd went crazy while Anthony was calling his opponent in, then bouncing off the ropes and hitting him with straight right hands, left hooks, and uppercuts! Anthony Perry was the winner after 3 tough rounds! Final fight of the trip was the Biscuit, Steve Beseke. Biscuit lost the first round and was not responding in the corner, I thought I would give him a little of the second before I stopped it. Some how, Biscuit pulled some energy out. He turned it up and won the second round with his jab. Third round was more of the same. Biscuit the victor in a decision!

Great trip, Great time! Coach Ern and I became officials at a coaching clinic! We can’t wait to travel again! Wished you could have been there Mengel!