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Traditionally, amateur boxers pass on what they learn through example and demonstration, from coaches to senior boxers to junior boxers. After age thirty-five, boxers upgrade to Master Boxers, which means you're old.
In America, I'm a Senior Citizen. headed down the path to Elder. I hung up my coaching ways some time ago, but when approached for boxing training, I agreed with the idea I would use the opportunity to switch from a coaching mindset to side-by-side learning. The fellow I train with is older than me, between senior and elder. I've trained Senior Boxers before, but it's different training with someone following the side-by-side method. So, I'm gaining expertise in the journey from Senior Citizen to Senior Boxer.
Senior boxers have lived through much change and accumulated immense data. When they first assume their boxing stance and explore the concept of inviting the punch, defensive patterns immediately appear somewhere on the range of fight, flee, or freeze. Boxers train to convert reaction into response, from fight to invite, flee to return, and freeze to move. It becomes the senior boxer's role to release old reactive algorithms and design new ones that allow the punch path to flow.
We're all familiar with a compulsion to do things right. I work hard to get back on track when I hit the mat, to stay in shape, and to handle stress with some degree of grace. But, as a senior boxer, I find it has come time to let go of this archaic belief. There is no right, just who shows up…
