'Hands-on' psychology

 

"D on't just stand there! Jab! Move around! You're just letting him hit you!"

Not the kind of words you'd expect to hear in psychology class. Unless, of course, you're in Randy Robinson's 9th-grade psychology class at Rock Point Community School, in which case you hear stuff like this about once a week.

Boxing day may come once a year for the British, but for Robinson's class, it's every Wednesday when they hop on a bus and make a trek to Damon-Bahe Boxing Gym in Chinle.

Robinson admits it's not your run-of-the-mill activity for psych class.

"It's kind of hands-on psychology," he said on a recent Wednesday as his lanky young charges laced up each other's gloves and poked tentatively at punching bags.

Robinson, a wiry, bearded Oregon transplant, believes that learning about good mental health starts with practicing it.

This semester, he ended up with an all-male class, so he decided to focus on the psychology of teenage boys.

"We do a little sex education," he said. "We work on self-esteem, relationships with others, that kind of thing."

Having been a teenage boy himself at one point, Robinson has a few theories on what adolescent males need to be healthy. One aspect is something he calls "physical confidence."

"My theory is that, if you know how to defend yourself, you carry yourself a little differently and you're actually less likely to get into fights," he said.

So, Robinson looked up Cal Bahe, who presides at Damon-Bahe and is, perhaps, the Navajo Nation's only boxing coach.

"I was kind of surprised when he called me," Bahe recalled. "I didn't understand what he was trying to do. I'm still not really sure. But, hey, if somebody wants to learn how to box, I'll teach them."

Next, Robinson had to sell the idea to the school board.

"It was a sell," he said. "Not a hard sell, exactly, but a sell."

Five weeks into the program, Robinson can already see a difference in some of the boys.

"Two of them in particular seem a lot more confident," he said. "The rest are coming along."

Bahe hasn't picked out any natural-born fighters in the group, "but they're doing good for beginners."

On Nov. 12, their fifth boxing class, Bahe had them leave the punching bags, put on headgear and spar one on one in the ring, using only their left hands.

Some of the kids hopped around, jabbing like old pros. Others, much to Bahe's dismay, covered their faces with their gloves and hoped for the best.

"It's OK," he soothed. "Everybody gets the jitters when they have to fight somebody."

"It's scary, kind of," said Nathan Begay, 16. "You get in the ring with the other person, you don't know how fast he is, how good he is."

"I was like, 'Oh Jared, don't hit me!'" said Delvyn Etcitty, a smallish 14-year-old.

"Listen," said Bahe. "One of these days, you're going to get into it with somebody. It may not be your fault. You'd better learn these things."

What's to prevent these kids from using their newfound skill to start fights?

Robinson doesn't seem worried about that.

"I think once you actually learn how to fight, you have more respect for it," he said.

Bahe gave them another good reason not to become bullies.

"I hear one of you started a fight, you're out of the gym until you can show me you understand what you did and you won't do it again," he admonished the youths.

What if the other guy starts it?

"That's a different story," Bahe said.

After an hour in the gym, the boys are sweaty, relaxed, and all smiles.

They ask the Navajo Times photographer if they can pose for a group shot, and bunch together, leaning on each other like a rock band. One flexes his bicep.

They are the picture of physical confidence.

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