With the year coming down to an end and this Sunday marking the last month of 2013, we're definitely feeling an overwhelming collection of emotions and thoughts regarding 2014.
December 2nd will mark the sixth month anniversary of Hulk's grand opening so we'll be entering into 2014, the new year, with half a year of business under our belt, amazing. Honestly, it really doesn't feel like we've been open for half a year but we have. We've been officially open for 198 days and in those 198 days we've had the privilege of meeting and training 180 members. That's pretty awesome.
December 26th, the day after Christmas, will mark the one year anniversary since we told Junior Mint our plan to open our own boxing club. After almost six years of training with Junior Mint and letting him into my life like no other, on December 26th we told him our news and he instantly disowned me. He's yet to even come visit our club and this issue, which is still so fresh and is still very much an open wound, became the topic of discussion at an early afternoon meeting.
2013 was amazing, it was the start of our dream in physical form, but 2014 is going to be different.
I found out in a most unexpected way today that I should perhaps hire another worker for our club sooner than later. We casually threw word out a while back, that we're looking for a full time worker, and we got quite a number of responses but it wasn't until today that I started considering calling any back. Today I interviewed one -- the only one I called back. I don't know if we can really afford him but he's got amazing credentials not to mention his boxing ranking and status. Hiring him would definitely mean a switch in how our club is operated. He'd take on a big part of the boxing training responsibilities, Snickers would then take on the crossfit while still doing the boxing, and I'd be kind of like a floater -- managing the training for the new members, doing the weight training/boxing circuits with one-to-one trainees and juggling the juice bar.
Another option we're pondering is just hiring a part time worker, preferably someone who is bilingual and has some boxing training under their belt as well as weight training. It's not practical for me as a 54kg female to be doing padwork with members that are much larger than me so if this person is going to help out with the boxing than they are to be bigger and stronger. My fear is that if Snickers keeps going at the pace he's going with taking on the majority of the padwork with members, he's going to turn into another Junior Mint -- sore and grumpy. Padwork significantly hinders the shelf life of a boxing coach and if Snickers is going to step back into the ring next year as a fighter, juggling both training others and training himself is going to need some readjusting.
Yes, 2014 will also mark Snickers stepping back into the ring but not necessarily in the ring everyone is expecting him to fight in.
2013 has been a very productive year but also a very hard year of non-stop work, non-stop emptying of our pocket books and energy levels, non-stop testing of patience and stress levels. As it stands, we're really wanting to start the new year off fresh and full of new energy but I know doing so is going to require every last drop of energy we currently have.
To kick off the new year fresh, for starters, I'm contemplating firing our cleaning kid. With him showing up every week with a new crew of annoying friends I then feel like I have to monitor and babysit, he's proven to be more stress than help. I know he's an awesome kid and he's only bringing friends to our club because he wants to show it off, but it's really draining to go through managing the club by myself the whole day and then having to deal with his irresponsible crew when I just want to clean and go home. I know cleaning the club by myself bumps up the 1 hour task to 2.5hrs but it's worth it to me in the long run because I can simply blast the music and save my patience at the cost of some extra time required.
Just recently I've gotten myself involved in a Christmas charity gift drive for the orphanage across town. I added on to the gift drive by launching a dry food drive among our club members but a sensitive spot on Snickers and I has been touched and we want to continue doing something for the orphanage beyond just Christmas. I've been trying to get out to the orphanage on Sundays when some of my friends visit but it's been hard. There are two reasons why I've struggled to make it out to the orphanage. One reason is that I don't want my sponsor to not see me at the club and assume I'm simply taking the day off work. I know he believes in us but I don't want him to have any reason why not to believe we're working our hardest and trying our best. The second reason is due to a little boy I met when I was teaching floor hockey at a camp last winter. I remember when they told me he was an orphan I really had a hard time going back into that classroom and looking at him. I've never felt so heartbroken for a child before, or even remotely heartbroken for a child for that matter. If I go to that orphanage and meet those children, I'm going to get attached and am going to want to keep on visiting but I can't. I can't take off every Sunday or more than one a month. It's not fair to Snickers and our sponsors expect us there regardless if I'm away for a good reason. I could be off saving the world and curing cancer for all they know.
Having said all this and rambled on for longer than I expected, Snickers and I are collectively trying to think of a way to not go and visit those at the orphanage but a way to bring the orphanage to us. My idea is to have a monthly event day for them at Hulk's -- a day or two when they can come and enjoy some free fun at the boxing club. I know that there's both children and teenagers at the orphanage and that the younger kids do get weekly visitors on Sundays but I was thinking that perhaps our monthly idea could be something special for the teenagers specifically. Our club isn't exactly children-safe, what with the above-the-head sitting medicine balls and sitting kettlebells every visitor is tempted to pick up, but I'm sure the teenagers would love it. As it stands, this is just an idea Snickers and I have been bouncing around over our morning coffee together but I hope it becomes a idea put into motion come the new year.
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