Participated in what I would call my first real sparring session at this boxing gym yesterday. Officially I need a doctor's sign-off to engage in their dedicated sparring hours so I'm grateful that this coach had us spar during class regardless of that. First 2 rounds were with jabs only and then 1-2s only, but the third round was everything. Different partners each round.

As soon as the coach finished explaining, the tallest guy in class and I immediately turned to each other partnered up. Haven't seen him before but he looks to be around 6'4". I'm no giant at 6' but I'm taller than 80% of class and I have a long reach, so I genuinely got excited at the opportunity of being the smaller man for once. Pity I couldn't trade with him during the full round and we could only jab. We both landed good shots, and I had such an easy time tagging his body when I got low that I made a point to challenge myself and focus on connecting with his head more. Expectedly, I found my jab falling short a few times so I would adjust and see better success by not going into autopilot but actually calculating the distance better. 

Second partner was someone I've worked mitts with before. He throws hard but gasses out. His aggression allowed him to connect to my forehead and temple a few times but I blocked or parried everything coming to my chin. One right cross that hit my temple was particularly hard and he stopped to apologize, but I had rolled with the punch pretty well and told him I'm good. 

Third guy was a young dude about as tall as me. He was very cautious and I found myself adjusting my pace just a little so I wasn't the only one throwing for stretches of time. I was surprised at his lack of aggression because he's high-energy during drills and looks good while shadowboxing.

Did all this with an injured back, which has been slowly getting better. Movement is far better for it than laying or sitting around, and I actually forgot about it in the hour session. Legs also started to cramp from charging in and back, but I hid the pain from my partners and outlasted it.

We finished off with just the right amount of ab work to work the muscles but nothing crazy that strained my back. Got through the 1-minute plank with no issue.

Feels great to spar again. I'll be getting that doctor signature soon.