MIXING IT UP CONSIDERING AN EMERGING SPORT
Text and Photos by Patrick Hutchinson, Fri, 2007-04-13
Mixed martial arts, the combat sport popularized by leagues such as
the Ultimate Fighting Championships, is becoming a popular hobby and
form of exercise.
Mike Sweeney, instructor at Martial Arts Planet in Kingston, teaches a variety of classes from fitness, to jiu-jitsu, to muay thai kickboxing. Sweeney has been teaching martial arts for 20 years and has been studying them since he was 13 years old, but says he never really decided to teach.
"When I was 13 my instructor was an alcoholic and only showed up to half the classes. I was the senior student so I ended up teaching classes as a teenager. As an adult, I just hung out at the school so much that it was a natural thing for me to start teaching," he said.
In 1987 the opportunity to run a school in Kingston came up for Sweeney and he moved there to take it. Since then, the sport has evolved significantly Sweeney said. With the sport being presented regularly on free television, MMA has developed a dedicated following and almost everyone who comes in to the school has a favourite fighter. The fighters themselves have evolved as well.
"Ten years ago you had guys who knew karate
coming in against guys who knew taekwondo, things like that. Five years
ago you had boxers coming in who knew a little bit of wrestling, or
jiu-jitsu fighters who practiced a little bit of stand-up. Today, you
have people coming in who did MMA since day one," Sweeney said.
Now there are dedicated MMA camps where conditioning, grappling and striking are all taught together. While Martial Arts Planet teaches its students in MMA style, the majority of its students come for the exercise and love of the sport.
"Just like people go out and play tennis without thinking they're going to go to Wimbledon, people come here to do MMA because they like the sport, but they have no aspirations to become a professional fighter. That's a very big deal," Sweeney said.
Kyle
Anderson has been a student of Sweeney's for six months, and is still
a white belt, the first level of the belt system most martial arts
use as a measure of a student's progress. Anderson, who attends two
to three classes a week, said it takes a long time to progress in MMA
as there are so many skills a student needs to master.
"Mixed martial arts does a bit of everything, from stand-up fighting to clinch work to ground work. To move up to your next belt level you have to have all three at that belt level," Anderson said.
Anderson attends
conditioning classes as well. These classes, known as combat conditioning,
are very intensive, Anderson said.
"If you can do two classes a week you'll be in shape in no time," he
said.
Sweeney's wife, Rebecca Sweeney, not only trains and instructs at Martial Arts Planet, but has competed twice in King of the Cage, an MMA league. With a 2-0 record, the school has generated at least one serious contender.