StandAlone provides confidence
Chico’s MMA academy offers classes to help keep students active
By Walter Ford
Published: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Updated: Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Chaz Mcbride
Brian Archibald and Matt Morgan practice MMA.
Loud repetitive pops filled the gym as fists crashed ferociously into pads during a striking drill. Back and forth with combo punches and quick breaths, these young fighters were getting a workout with multiple benefits.
This is the scene most weeknights at StandAlone Mixed Martial Arts Academy at 845 Cherry St. where Chico State students are honing their mixed martial arts skills.
StandAlone offers classes in different fighting techniques at various different stages for anyone who wants to learn the craft. The academy also sports a professional fight team.
StandAlone co-owner and fight team member Cedric Schwyzer said he estimates the academy’s enrollment is made up of 85 percent college students from both Chico State and Butte College.
Because of the sport’s skyrocketing popularity, the academy hasn’t had a shortage of novice fighters looking to be trained. The gym has grown in the past few years and is now looking to expand, Schwyzer said.
“We actually started the gym when the economy started declining and we have not felt the recession at all,” he said.
Even though the sport is on the rise and the academy benefits from the popularity of mixed martial arts, Schwyzer warns that a fighter’s life isn’t one of ease.
The life of a fighter at the beginning of a career is filled with sacrifice and it’s very taxing financially, mentally and physically, Schwyzer said.
For Schwyzer’s first professional fight he was paid $300 to show up and $300 for the win and that was after training for eight weeks, he said.
A lot of fighters have to work night jobs at local nightclubs as security or bartenders, Schwyzer said.
Schwyzer said he works graveyard shifts at Oroville’s juvenile hall from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. and is back in the gym for practice from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Workouts include wrestling, running the bleachers at Chico State, boxing, sparring, strength training, Muay Thai, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and conditioning. What starts as a three-hour training shift can become a six-hour event and sometimes there are two-a-day sessions.
Fellow co-owner and fight team member Jeremy Rosales said the sacrifices are worth it.
“The success of a win is huge,” Rosales said. “It’s the total domination you feel over another person, it’s a rush.”
A victory in the ring isn’t all students are taking from the academy.
When the gym first opened a lot of students who were coming in had been picked on or bullied, Rosales said.
“Training gave them confidence in their lives to really open up and enjoy life and not be so timid,” he said. “You could really see them grow.”
Chico State senior Brandon Archibald said he’s been going to StandAlone for two years and benefits from the training have helped him in several ways.
“It’s a lot of fun, if you have any pent-up anger or anything you can just wail on these pads,” Archibald said.
Not only is mixed-martial-arts training a good way to relieve stress, it’s great for building compact muscle and is a good source of self-confidence, Archibald said.
“You see a lot of guys who are big but don’t have any muscle endurance or useful muscle; Whereas I’m at 135 pounds and probably can hit harder than them and know how,” he said.
Creating compact muscle and knowing how to hit hard isn’t just for men at StandAlone. The academy has a female team member and several women enrolled in its classes.
Maribel Calbillo, a junior at Chico State who attends classes at the academy, said her workouts at the gym are superior to most other workouts.
Some women may find mixed martial arts training with men intimidating, but it’s actually advantageous, Calbillo said.
“Guys are bigger and if your attacker is bigger than you, with this you’ll be better prepared,” she said.
Though Calbillo was the only female in the intermediate/advanced class, more and more women are starting to pop up in beginner classes, she said.
Both Archibald and Calbillo have aspirations of one day competing in mixed martial arts events.
Anyone interested in becoming a fighter should spend at least two years training, improving upon their strengths and eliminating weaknesses before they ever get into an organized fight, Schwyzer said.
Getting into the sport professionally is a very delicate process and without good management and good people around you it can be a very quick career, Schwyzer said.
Walter Ford can be reached at
wford@theorion.com
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