Champion's return (CLOSED)

[TertiusHuman]

Peter

I watched Kate as she came into my office, it was clear that she had decided to go with the remorse route. She knew she had done wrong and this was the time to treat her right, if I used the wrong method, I might undo everything I had worked to do with her so far.

"Yes, you fucked up."

I leaned back in my chair, looking at her, "You proved to me that you can take the physical pushing and exhaustion. I will admit that I have pushed you as hard as was safe and as a side note, I am impressed with the progress you made."

I let that tidbit sink in before I carried on, "But in the ring it is not about how fit you are and how strong you are. Sure, they play a large part in dominating an opponent, but you need one more thing. You already proved that you have the heart, but I need you to think, to be aware of the ring and to use it."

I took a breath, "I want you to take two days off."

I held up a hand, "It is not a punishment, you need to get out of your head. You are welcome to come to the gym, but you will not do any workouts. If you wish to work with some people to get their form right, you can do that. But for two days, I want you to not do any workouts, so don't try to sneak in road work or anything like that. When you come back Monday, you will understand why."

 

[milkmaiden38]

Kate

“When you come back Monday, you will understand why."

“Ok, I understand!” I said with a bit of anger. Then I grabbed my stuff and walked out of Peter’s office. As I walked away, I knew I still did not have my anger or emotions under control. I also did not “understand” anything. Taking time off sounded like the dumbest thing I could do.

But when I got home. I actually did nothing. Nothing. A few hours of absolutely nothing. It was good. My mind started to reset. I started to think again. I’m not sure if this is what Peter wanted me to understand, but this is what I thought I understood.

He was giving me some time off to rest my body.

I knew rest was important. I mean nobody questions the value of training to improve performance. But rest and recovery are essential too. They give the body time to repair, rebuild, and strengthen itself between workouts.

So, I rested that night and then again the next day. I mean the whole day. I ate breakfast and had coffee, but then I just sat around goofed off on my phone. Read a book and just chilled out.

As I got in bed that night, I started to understand something else about taking some time off. There was a pretty important mental side as well. The break was resetting my mood. It helped to reduce the stress I was feeling. I also started to see the bigger picture.

I was not in that ring alone. My coach was there too. He was there to help me. He might not be taking any punches, but he was there mentally, help me with tactics, and strategy. I needed to use everything in that ring to help me win.

I slept well that night and, in the morning, as I drank my coffee, I remembered what Peter had said. “I need you to think, to be aware of the ring and to use it”

“Fuck!” I said to myself. He had already told me what I needed to work on, and I was too busy being pissed about punching the shit out of my sparring partner to listen. I wanted to tell Peter right then that I understood why he wanted me to rest. But he said 2 days. So I set my watch so I would walk back into the gym exactly 48 hours later.

When that time arrived on Monday, I did walk through the doors with a spring in my step and a much better mental attitude.

 

[TertiusHuman]

I did not try to contact Kate-Marie during her time off, I firstly needed her to calm down and I knew that she would start to replay everything. With the quotes on her door, I hoped that she would think about the positives and when I saw her walk in through the doors, I knew that she was focused on the good and not the bad.

I waited and when she made to my office, I leaned back in my chair to look at her. The rest did her good and it was showing, she no longer looked like a tired ox just plodding along and getting pissed off when rubbed wrong. I gave her a slight smile and nodded.

"Good to have you back champ. How do you feel?"

 

[milkmaiden38]

Stacy Quade

“Ding! Ding!”

Stacy came out fighting like a wild woman. It was absolute chaos. Her opponent was an experience fighter but not use to Stacy dirty tactics. The champ put in a few cleverly disguised kidney punches, and a hard elbow to her opponent’s face.

Under the bright lights and TV cameras, the screaming coaches, and the yelling audience the referee did not call anything. Stacy was the world champion and would not be called on dirty hits. Her opponent was trying to fight back, and luckily dodged a few punches on pure instinct.

She kept fighting, and did not fall, which pissed Stacy off. She even got in a straight left cross to Stacy’s head. Causing her head to snap back.

The round ended, but Stacy was so mad, she slipped in an after the bell hit into the girl’s ribs. With TV camera’s rolling and instant replay, the Ref had to say something. He did. Stacy just turned her back on him and went to her corner.

“Stacy… no more late hits. You have this fight!” her coach instructed her.

Stacy eyes narrowed “when I walk into a ring, if I’m not fighting dirty, I’m not fighting”

The second round started and Stacy came out strong, throwing jabs and pivoting, while her opponent play defense. Stacy was getting frustrated as her opponent did not provide any opening. Stacy moved in close and then landed a low blow right into the other girl’s crotch.

Her opponent dropped her guard a little bit and then Stacy landed the exact shot she was looking for: a big straight right over the top blast to the girl’s head. That put her on the mat and the fight was over.

Most fighters are respectful to each other after the fight, but not Stacy. She called her opponent a loser and spit in her face.

The crowd loved it!View attachment 2231950

 

[milkmaiden38]

Kate

“Peter. Again sorry about what happened. I understand now, that I need to work on my mental game as well as my physical." I told him

"Good" he replied

"I’m ready to step it up. Particularly in my mental skills" I told Peter

“The mental strengths for boxing are… confidence, self-belief, motivation, discipline, emotion control, focus.” Peter explained “You have discipline and focus. You need to work on your confidence, self-belief, and emotion control.”

"How do I do that?" I asked

"You need to become centered, like a monk" Peter explained "A little mediation would be good for you. Visualize how you fight. Visualize how the match will go" He said.

"Now?" I asked

"Yes"

I closed my eyes, and I was in the ring. I was fighting Stacy... and it had been a long fight. It was the last round. I used my signature move, which had always been multiple feints, until my opponent got pissed and tried to punch me. Then I used my defensive blocks, followed by a powerful counter punch. This could be either a right cross, or hook. In this example I used a right cross. I sent Stacy falling to the mate, out cold. I opened my eyes.

"That felt good... I beat Stacy" I told Peter

 

[TertiusHuman]

"Good, I wanted you to feel that you can do it. So the next time you are outside and standing in the ring, look at the size, feel it out in your mind. Move around the edges, make sure that it is your home, when you step in between those ropes, that space is yours and you need to love it with your entire being."

I tapped my head with a finger, "In here is where you will win or lose and I want to help you to enjoy boxing and do it because you love it."

I gave her a wicked grin, "And any case, you've been lazy for two days, I can see that you put on some weight. Go sweat it off."

 

[milkmaiden38]

Kate

I put in extra hard work outs for the next few days. Then Peter put me a full training match against Jo. The same Jo, I had lost control fighting earlier.

Tony, my boss from Tony’s Cuppa, and his friend Ernie Johnson were both watching the match. It was nice to hear them cheering for me.

Tony couldn't believe the changes in me. He hadn't seen me in a few months. He knew my fighting style had hit another level.

Jo was a good sparring partner and it was a tough fight. She also had something to prove, and let’s face it, a little payback from the last fight. The difference this time, was I held it together mentally.

I ducked Jo's punches. She was going for head shots. I mentally told myself to stick to the plan. I ripped in some hard body shots to her left side. That was her weakness. She tried to slow down the fight but I relentlessly stalked her. Several more body shots found their mark.

Then Peter rang the bell for the end of the 6th round.

 

[TertiusHuman]

Peter

I placed the chair in the corner and waited for Kate to take a seat

"You're thinking, starting to get your old rhythm back and you are definitely lighter on your feet. I am going to let this go for two more rounds, then I am going to call it. Keep this up."

I gave her sweaty shoulder a squeeze and left to go inform Jo about the extra rounds, and to give her extra instructions. To taunt Kate, try and pull her out of her comfort zone again. I wanted to see if Kate really had it together or not. When the break time was over, I went over to the table and rang the bell for the next round.