Fighting Fit: Martial arts mixer

> Douglas students run MMA club

Adam Tatelman
Arts Editor

 

ixed Martial Arts (MMA)

has a reputation as one of
the most brutal combat sports in
history, although that criticism is
somewhat unfair. In professional
tournaments like the UFC, the
referees are the best in the world,
their decisiveness equal to that
of the fighters they watch over.
Really, it is the amateur bouts
which boast the greatest risk
of injury. But in truth, most
people don’t study MMA out
of a desire to compete. They
merely seek a varied and dynamic
training regime, as befits the
MMA philosophy of taking all
the most useful elements from
as many styles as possible.

To that end, the Douglas
College MMA club offers a
unique method of teaching that
is rarely seen in the martial arts
world. Depending on the day,
and provided you have had some
prior training, anyone can lead
class. Although club founder and
president Ronaldo Ferreira is the
primary instructor, he encourages
students to share their knowledge

of martial arts with the rest of the
class. Ferreira himself has over 10
years of kickboxing experience,
and he is currently seeking any
students with wrestling or Jujitsu
training to share what they know.

On the subject of training,
there is a definite calisthenic
focus in class, reminiscent of
orthodox boxing training. The
first 15 minutes of class involves
a good deal of cardio, as well
as the traditional pushups and
sit-ups. If you don’t know how
to jump rope, you will certainly
have a chance to learn. Although
there are some spare ropes, it is
best to bring your own, as well
as gloves and a mouthguard
for the purposes of sparring.

The kickboxing-focused
classes will be most familiar to
anyone who has studied karate,
tae kwon do, or muay thai. Given
the uniform nature of the human
body, there are only so many
practical ways to kick forcefully
while maintaining good balance.
You'll get a good deal of flexibility
from training these kicks,
although some of the turning
manoeuvres are not as practical
as the more linear techniques.

Playoff blues

> Men's basketball fall short of golden ambitions

Davie Wong
Sports Editor

 

t was never going to be an easy

weekend for the Royals. Going
into the playoffs seeded fifth out
of sixth was not an ideal start for
the team with dreams of a gold
medal. However, if they wanted
that medal, they would have to
battle up a mountain, and then

some.

They started that battle on
Thursday night as they played the
hosts, the fourth seeded Capilano
Blues. The Royals boasted a
veteran starting line-up, with 2nd
team All-Star, Grant Campbell,
leading the charge. The Blues,
boasting a much younger roster,
started their best, led by ist team
All-Star, Martin Bogajev.

Right out of the gates, things
were not looking good for the
Royals. Their first few possessions
were marred by unlucky bounces
and bad turnovers. From there,
things continued to deteriorate
rapidly. Communication, or the
lack thereof, played a huge role in
the Royals’ first quarter struggle,
and they limped into the second
trailing the Blues, 23-10.

Using the short quarter break
to his advantage, coach Denis
Beausoleil took the opportunity
to re-focus his team. Getting
out of the hole the team dug
themselves in the first would

od

be a challenge, but it wasn’t
impossible. With that in mind,
the revitalized Royals squad hit
the court for the second quarter.
The team looked significantly
better. They drove the net well
and shot much better than they
had in the first. However, for
every point that Douglas put up,
Capilano had an answer. This
included a 12-0 point streak to
answer the Royals earlier 4-point
streak. The Royals would end

The downside to the Douglas
MMA club is its availability.
Monday classes take place
from 5:30pm to 6:30pm, and
include access to training tools
like punching bags, speed bags
and climbing ropes. However,
Thursday classes take place
from 7:00pm to 8:oopm in room
2221—a much smaller space with
no such equipment. Although
the room has a padded floor
better suited to sparring, there
isn’t often an opportunity to
do much fighting due to the
classes being only one hour
long. This may be a turn-off for
some MMA practitioners who
want more of a sparring focus.

The greatest assets in Douglas
MMA's favour are its ease of access
and no-charge policy. Anyone
can practice for free, and since
the classes are held on campus,
they are extremely convenient to
get to. This makes Douglas MMA
an excellent supplement to any
current ongoing training you
may be doing. If you're unable to
make it to your usual dojo, you
can drop in for a quick hour-long
session keep yourself in practice,
and share what you know.

 

Sees

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up capping off the quarter with
a 7-point streak of their own,
heading into the halftime break
trailing, 39-27.

Coming into the second half,
it seemed like all the Blues had to
do was hold on. But both teams
came back into the game fired up
and ready to play. The two went at
it for an extended period of time,
with both racking up fouls, left,
right, and centre. What it all came
down to was execution. The Blues

 

   

Image by Davie Wong

made no mistakes converting
their free throws, while the Royals
struggled from the line. They
shot 50 per cent from the free
throw line in the game, missing 15
points in the process.

By the end of the third, things
were looking grim for the fifth
place team, down 18 points.

With everything on the line, the
Royals sprinted out of the gates
to start the fourth. Rallying on
their veteran shooters and well-

Image via thinkstock

practiced set plays, Douglas
looked to mount a comeback
against the staggering Blues.
They ended the quarter with a
12-0 streak, but it was too little
too late for the Royals, as the
hometown Blues rode their lead
to a quarterfinal win, taking the
game, 83-74.

Despite the loss, it was not all
gloom and doom for the team.
Campbell ended the game with a
double-double, scoring 14 points
and picking up 10 rebounds. After
the game, Beausoleil spoke about
the team’s performance, and the
season as a whole.

“I love how positive this
team is. They always have a
great outlook on the game, what
we're doing well, what we need
to improve on, and they’re not
negative about anything. Ifyou
don’t have that cohesiveness,
you get totally blown out. So
I’m happy that the guys stuck
together.

“Tonight, we weren't hitting
shots, and they were hitting a
bunch of them. They broke our
press, so we stopped using that.
We didn’t have the season of
success that we thought we would
have coming into the regular
season, nor did we have the
season we wanted. It’s been up
and down this entire season. But
it’s been great coaching the guys.”