Jesse Speedy
Service Learning Journal
Fall Semester
Community service learning
One of the greatest ways for one to contribute to his or her community and make an impact on future generations is to work with the youth of that community. Over my fall semester I made a commitment to assistant coach a youth boxing team two nights a week.
I’ve been involved in martial arts and fitness most of my adult life and to me it’s been instrumental in building the perseverance that has brought me this far in my education and professional career. As I’ve progressed through my academic journey I’ve done the same with martial arts and fitness. I’ve had the great opportunity to make longtime friends and meet some positive mentors. A few years ago, my interest in martial arts brought me to a small local boxing gym. I trained there 5-6 days a week as I chipped away at my bachelor’s degree and worked full time. Ultimately, I challenged myself in amateur competition and finished my degree. After a brief run in amateur competition I wanted to learn how I could continue to get better and learn from boxing. One strategy I’ve used in the past to better understand a familiar subject is to teach it. Teaching gives new perspective and encourages in depth thought which benefits both the student and teacher. I asked our head coach if could help teach the kids class to which he greatly obliged. Our coach has a family of his own, works a full-time job, and is an aspiring professional boxer. The boxing gym doesn’t generate much income for him but it is his passion and he enjoys making a positive impact on the lives of children in our community. I’ve noticed the same trend among many people in the boxing community. Competition judges, referees, and coaches get little more than personal satisfaction from playing an active role in the development of future generations. Martial arts and boxing has helped me greatly in life and now I have had the opportunity to share some of those lessons with a new generation.
When I started assisting with the youth boxing class it was my first time working with such a large group of a dozen or more 6-12-year-olds and surprisingly it was an intimidating endeavor in the beginning. I had trained adults in martial arts in the past but never kids. The children were all so different, some were loud and liked to test the rules, others were quiet and too timid to do anything. I kept a journal and took brief notes after each class. The following is an entry from the second class I assistant coached,
1/18/17 Week 1: Class started with running, I took the kids out to run while the head coach stayed behind at the gym. The main coach instructed everyone to stay together and I found this difficult to enforce. Fast kids didn’t want to run slow and some slow kids weren’t motivated keep up. I had the fast kids run backwards to give slow kids the opportunity to catch up. They seemed to think running backwards was funny and had fun with it. We also covered stretching, basic technique to the group of students, focus mitts, and abdominal conditioning.
The first entry shows my desire to help motivate and include kids from different levels of experience and fitness. Before I made the commitment to help with kids classes our head coach was running the boxing class by himself and the result was that slow or shy kids often missed out. With a second set of eyes the head coach and I could split the group up and give more individualized attention. My first few weeks were a learning process. Eventually the kids got to know me and I got to know their habits and limitations. What started off intimidating became fun and comfortable for me.
Into my second month of assistant coaching I started to see kids making progress and it was a great feeling to be responsible for that improvement. When it was time to do one on one focus mitt drills the kids would run to be first to train with me. I was glad to see I was a positive figure in the gym that kids enjoyed working with. A journal entry from February shows a time when I shared some insight with a child who was struggling,
2/15/17 Week 5: Standard kids class. We started class with a run and one child was having issues with his attitude on the jog back to the gym. The other instructor said the kid wouldn’t cooperate, I took the kid aside and took a walk with him to work things out. The kid said he didn’t want to run today and said he didn’t like running and felt he wasn’t good at it. I explained to him that he didn’t have to run fast but he should try. I pointed out that there are other kids who are regularly last but they still try. After explaining the value of consistent work ethic, the kid seemed less frustrated. He finished up class fully participating including some sprint drills. Class finished with heavy bag work, focus mitts with the lead coach, and some work on combinations.
At one point our head coach was training for an upcoming professional fight and left the Friday evening class to me and a teenage boxing student who has begun to assist as a youth coach. It was quite a compliment to me that the head coach trusted me to run the youth class while he was away. Our boxing team has many local youth champions and a good reputation in the boxing community. I didn’t take my responsibility lightly and felt the need to maintain our high standard. I took the opportunity to bring some of my other martial arts training experience to the table and introduced a martial arts drill modified for boxing to the kids class. I wanted to give the kids something new to keep things exciting and I think my new drill was a good fit. The head coach has appreciated my new drill and it has since become a regular fixture to our classes. The following journal entry briefly shares my thoughts the night I introduced my new drill.
3/3/17 Week 7: Head coach out training for professional fight so I took over fri class with a youth coach. I incorporated a drill from my prior martial arts training and adapted it for boxing. I found it a great tool for the newer students to become familiar with the movement of another person without the added stress of sparring. These guys aren’t ready for sparring yet so this drill helped develop skills to fill the gaps between our usual bag and focus mitt work to sparring. The kids seemed to have fun with it and some of the timid kids even came out of their shell.
As can be seen from these few entries assistant coaching has been a great experience for me. I’ve participated in the propagation of boxing for future generations and it has been quite meaningful to me. In the start teaching kids was a bit intimidating but I quickly learned how to motivate and challenge them. In some instances, I’ve put things into perspective to kids who were struggling with behavior or motivation. I’ve had to step up and run the class myself and things have gone well for me. Initially, I only committed to assistant coach short term to perform a community service. Sometimes it is a challenge to coach on top of all my scholastic responsibilities but I’ve managed my time well and made it work. I’ve found that I enjoy coaching so much that I plan on continuing to assistant coach.
Service Learning Journal
Fall Semester
Community service learning
One of the greatest ways for one to contribute to his or her community and make an impact on future generations is to work with the youth of that community. Over my fall semester I made a commitment to assistant coach a youth boxing team two nights a week.
I’ve been involved in martial arts and fitness most of my adult life and to me it’s been instrumental in building the perseverance that has brought me this far in my education and professional career. As I’ve progressed through my academic journey I’ve done the same with martial arts and fitness. I’ve had the great opportunity to make longtime friends and meet some positive mentors. A few years ago, my interest in martial arts brought me to a small local boxing gym. I trained there 5-6 days a week as I chipped away at my bachelor’s degree and worked full time. Ultimately, I challenged myself in amateur competition and finished my degree. After a brief run in amateur competition I wanted to learn how I could continue to get better and learn from boxing. One strategy I’ve used in the past to better understand a familiar subject is to teach it. Teaching gives new perspective and encourages in depth thought which benefits both the student and teacher. I asked our head coach if could help teach the kids class to which he greatly obliged. Our coach has a family of his own, works a full-time job, and is an aspiring professional boxer. The boxing gym doesn’t generate much income for him but it is his passion and he enjoys making a positive impact on the lives of children in our community. I’ve noticed the same trend among many people in the boxing community. Competition judges, referees, and coaches get little more than personal satisfaction from playing an active role in the development of future generations. Martial arts and boxing has helped me greatly in life and now I have had the opportunity to share some of those lessons with a new generation.
When I started assisting with the youth boxing class it was my first time working with such a large group of a dozen or more 6-12-year-olds and surprisingly it was an intimidating endeavor in the beginning. I had trained adults in martial arts in the past but never kids. The children were all so different, some were loud and liked to test the rules, others were quiet and too timid to do anything. I kept a journal and took brief notes after each class. The following is an entry from the second class I assistant coached,
1/18/17 Week 1: Class started with running, I took the kids out to run while the head coach stayed behind at the gym. The main coach instructed everyone to stay together and I found this difficult to enforce. Fast kids didn’t want to run slow and some slow kids weren’t motivated keep up. I had the fast kids run backwards to give slow kids the opportunity to catch up. They seemed to think running backwards was funny and had fun with it. We also covered stretching, basic technique to the group of students, focus mitts, and abdominal conditioning.
The first entry shows my desire to help motivate and include kids from different levels of experience and fitness. Before I made the commitment to help with kids classes our head coach was running the boxing class by himself and the result was that slow or shy kids often missed out. With a second set of eyes the head coach and I could split the group up and give more individualized attention. My first few weeks were a learning process. Eventually the kids got to know me and I got to know their habits and limitations. What started off intimidating became fun and comfortable for me.
Into my second month of assistant coaching I started to see kids making progress and it was a great feeling to be responsible for that improvement. When it was time to do one on one focus mitt drills the kids would run to be first to train with me. I was glad to see I was a positive figure in the gym that kids enjoyed working with. A journal entry from February shows a time when I shared some insight with a child who was struggling,
2/15/17 Week 5: Standard kids class. We started class with a run and one child was having issues with his attitude on the jog back to the gym. The other instructor said the kid wouldn’t cooperate, I took the kid aside and took a walk with him to work things out. The kid said he didn’t want to run today and said he didn’t like running and felt he wasn’t good at it. I explained to him that he didn’t have to run fast but he should try. I pointed out that there are other kids who are regularly last but they still try. After explaining the value of consistent work ethic, the kid seemed less frustrated. He finished up class fully participating including some sprint drills. Class finished with heavy bag work, focus mitts with the lead coach, and some work on combinations.
At one point our head coach was training for an upcoming professional fight and left the Friday evening class to me and a teenage boxing student who has begun to assist as a youth coach. It was quite a compliment to me that the head coach trusted me to run the youth class while he was away. Our boxing team has many local youth champions and a good reputation in the boxing community. I didn’t take my responsibility lightly and felt the need to maintain our high standard. I took the opportunity to bring some of my other martial arts training experience to the table and introduced a martial arts drill modified for boxing to the kids class. I wanted to give the kids something new to keep things exciting and I think my new drill was a good fit. The head coach has appreciated my new drill and it has since become a regular fixture to our classes. The following journal entry briefly shares my thoughts the night I introduced my new drill.
3/3/17 Week 7: Head coach out training for professional fight so I took over fri class with a youth coach. I incorporated a drill from my prior martial arts training and adapted it for boxing. I found it a great tool for the newer students to become familiar with the movement of another person without the added stress of sparring. These guys aren’t ready for sparring yet so this drill helped develop skills to fill the gaps between our usual bag and focus mitt work to sparring. The kids seemed to have fun with it and some of the timid kids even came out of their shell.
As can be seen from these few entries assistant coaching has been a great experience for me. I’ve participated in the propagation of boxing for future generations and it has been quite meaningful to me. In the start teaching kids was a bit intimidating but I quickly learned how to motivate and challenge them. In some instances, I’ve put things into perspective to kids who were struggling with behavior or motivation. I’ve had to step up and run the class myself and things have gone well for me. Initially, I only committed to assistant coach short term to perform a community service. Sometimes it is a challenge to coach on top of all my scholastic responsibilities but I’ve managed my time well and made it work. I’ve found that I enjoy coaching so much that I plan on continuing to assistant coach.