COMMUNICATION DEADLINES:

Mixed Sports Martial Arts Exhibition

Warming Up

On Sunday, February 20, 2012, the students of the Zariyat Ryu Dojo performed an exhibition for the NYPD Explorer Program with the 42^nd Precinct, which was held at Morris High School. The meaning of the dojo’s name is Zariyat means “the winds that scatter” and Ryu means “life or death”; the students were all white belts except for the Sandan, which means 3^rd degree black belt, Kenny Melendez. They exhibited their routine of stretching, and then performed different exhibition combos of defensive techniques that included evasive moves, the twelve steps of the warrior and a leg stance. The students ranged in age from 6 years old to 15 years old, who are learning mixed martial arts (MMA) which is a full contact sport that allows a wide variety of fighting techniques and skills, from a mixture of other combat sports to be used in competitions or real life self defense.

The rules allow the use of both striking as well as grappling techniques, both while standing and on the ground. The MMA or fighting in general can be broken down into striking, takedowns and ground grappling. The training in mixed martial arts imparts many benefits to the trainee, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. These students who practice mixed martial arts are boosting their physical fitness with strength, stamina, flexibility and movement coordination as the whole body is exercised and the entire muscular system is activated. Beyond contributing to physical fitness, martial art training is also beneficial to their mental health, contributing to their self-esteem, self-control, emotional and spiritual well-being. The varying grappling styles added striking techniques to their arsenal. This increase of cross-training results, these students are becoming increasingly multi-dimensional and well rounded in their skills.

Flexibility in martial arts, Zariyat Ryu does in particular play a bigger part of their lives than any other training aspect. We already have enough strength to do everything we need in this modern world, unless you are a builder, speed is not of the essence, we have transport for that but flexibility is needed. If all of us could touch our toes without a warm up so many more things would be better in our normal everyday lives. It would be much harder to hurt ourselves when falling over, as would be less likely to pull any muscles. It also helps in most sports, especially in martial arts, as flexibility also contributes greatly toward agility. This in turn helps the students learn the skills in any sport in a much more efficient way.

Overall, the students are feeling of empowered and confident within themselves, by having a working knowledge of self defense methods that adds to a healthy sense of self. Sandan Kenny Melendez, teaches the students to keep their wits about them and also sends the message that being proficient, making genuine effort to really learn the skills provided is highly encouraged.  Another message he sends to his student’s is to be ready for anything because there is no way of knowing exactly what an assailant is going to do ahead of time. With continuous practice, these students will get a sense of what might come next, allowing the attacked individual to be a step ahead. Finally, the students will adopt positive habits that will stay with them for life as a direct result of attending the Zariyat Ryu Dojo.

SPORTS DEADLINES

I was able to meet my deadline for posting the blog by the deadline; this was due to the event being early in the afternoon that gave me the time to process and write the event up. The pressures I faced were when writing up the event, the choice words I would have to use to make it sound interesting, engaging and with the ongoing reliance and trust that it was going to be recorded in the right manner. Another, challenge I faced was when needed to upload the pictures and videos, the laptop I was using was not recognizing the USB port I connected it to. So, I had to improvise and ask to borrow my family laptop to upload them on a cd and then come back to my laptop to finish the blog. I needed to educate myself about mixed martial arts, as well as the terminology that is used when practicing that form of martial arts. I needed to speak to the Sandan, Kenny Melendez to receive more clarity about this form of mixed martial arts he practiced and teaches.