Quote Originally Posted by sourpuss View Post
I think I'm going to take a long break after this tournament. If I come back at all...we'll see.

It's not the competing that's getting to me, it's the sparring. I'm the only girl in my club and I weigh 115 pounds and the only people I have to spar with are guys who are 155-165 pounds. None of them understand the concept of just working with me. They all go all out and try to take my head off. Even my coach. I've mentioned it to my coach a couple of times and it's like he can't not go all out. It's either hit me as hard as he can or just turtle up. So sparring with him is either I just hold my hand in front of my face and he batters me or he turtles up and I just punch his arms. Completely pointless.

The other two guys I spar with are skilled enough to throw combinations and make me work but have no idea how to not hit full force. They are also a little wild and since they are quite a bit taller than me, I'm constantly getting hit on the top of the head. I've been getting a lot of headaches and I've noticed a significant drop in my ability to concentrate and remember times and dates.

Unless someone my size magically joins the club and is ready to spar and work in the next two months, I'm afraid there's no real point to continue. Which sucks because I really want to box and be competitive.
For real?!
I can understand the concept of partners wanting to hurt you, I get it all the time, but I don't know any guy that would try and hurt a girl.

Subsequently, I don't think any proper coach would advocate regular all out sparring, its just not educational and takes more than it gives.

Sorry to hear about you're entire predicament, is that the only club near you?

[quote=Sharla;569559
Size is the biggest pain in the arse! I have even seen it with small guys sparring bigger guys - the tempo is still there - us midgets can still put the pressure on but the automatic response is not always as controlled as it should be!

Other times it's just not sparring at all and pretty demeaning. I dont' want to 'spar' someone who just holds up their hands and tells me to hit them! I HATE being tapped on the top of the head - it's so not something that happens in a normal bout and so just saying something like "oh you little bittle cutie short shit come in the ring to play with us big boys"!

Have you thought about looking at different clubs with more small people. I know that at our size that probably means sparring juniors but some of them can be pretty tricky and fun to spar.

I have a crap memory but have never wanted to think it's from the boxing. The idea of permanent brain injury (because your brain cells don't grow back) has scared me too much to entertain the thought. I have always been a ditz though. I was always absent minded and often criticized for being a 'day dreamer' as a kid so i like to think that a good proportion of adult ditziness is more inherant in our nature than brought about by boxing.[/quote]
You training hard for when we spar?
WAR