Martial arts training may not be for everyone, but for those who want to learn mixed martial arts in Weyburn, the Weyburn MMA Club is the place to start. Most women, however, tend to be intimidated by joining the regular adult classes, which is why Coach and Instructor Tara Day has created two Friday-evening classes just for women: Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.<\/p>\n
“It’s mainly adult women that come, but we do have some more mature young girls from our club that want extra training, and they don’t really want to be stuck with all the other kids, so we invite them to come along, too. So one, they only come for the Muay Thai, and then we have another girl, she only comes for the Jiu Jitsu.”<\/p>\n
Clarifying that the classes are about self-defense more so than fitness, Day said Muay Thai does involve cardio, and one does work up a sweat with bag-hitting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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“But I’m more teaching you how to properly throw that punch. What’s the purpose to that punch? When can you use it? I do try to make sure it’s instructional. That’s going to be something of value you take away from it, and it’s not just working up a sweat.”<\/p>\n
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The club is, of course, most known for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, with members regularly competing in tournaments, earning medals and belts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I build a strong base for everyone to build off of. I’m really more defense-based with my approach to things because it was explained to me once that I can know every submission in the book, but if I can’t get them to that point, or if they get me in a bad position, then I’m the one that’s in danger. This is knowing the fundamentals of essentially folding laundry with people still wearing it.”<\/p>\n
Day said the world can be more intimidating than a fight club, which is exacerbated by social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Even if you never take it to a competition, just knowing the basics of how to defend yourself and how to just get away from a bad situation, it takes a lot of the fear out of it, and it builds a whole level of confidence. I know there are a couple of girls who trained with me and had never done anything like it before in their life, but were interested in it, and gained quite a bit of confidence from it. One of the young girls who comes to Jiu Jitsu was so quiet when she first came to the club. She’s a refugee from Ukraine, and she’s so quiet, and I’ve heard her just start talking and opening up so much because it’s just somewhere she feels so comfortable. And well, she’s honestly, she terrifies me a little bit. So I’ve seen what she can do to people in competition when she’s only 12.”<\/p>\n
She said she covers a lot of defense moves, having members sparring against each other.<\/p>\n
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“I’ll run a gauntlet, so one person’s in the center for five minutes, and every minute you get a fresh opponent, and it’s a surprise because we all do different things. I do heavily rely on my kicks more than I do anything else, but the next person, they rely on their punches more.”<\/p>\n
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Day said, as she learned in 4H, you learn by doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’ve seen so many people just progress from not being able to throw a proper punch to making the punching bag literally swing.”<\/p>\n
“I like to think you’re learning enough to at least get away from the fight, get away from the bully, and get away from whoever’s threatening you at the time. And that’s just something I always thought would be fun to learn for myself. I’ve been with the club for about 11 years now, being trained under Dean [Hodgkin] since he was a blue belt. So it’s been quite fun. I feel like I’ve learned a lot, especially I’ve learned a lot from Dean, and he does still constantly kick my [behind].”<\/p>\n
Day is now a purple belt in BJJ after 11 years in the club, and Hodgkin recently received his black belt. She said training with the men is not as intimidating as one would think.<\/p>\n
“It’s a great thing about our gym is, we’re so ‘small town’, so local, so interconnected community that these guys, we know each other. They don’t really have egos. If I beat one of them, they don’t go, ‘oh my God, I lost to a girl’. They’re like, ‘oh, what’d you get me with? Show me that’. And I’m like, ‘I don’t wanna show you that because I know I’m gonna get you with it’.”<\/p>\n
She said training with the men helps her improve her game, which helps when she trains the women and children.<\/p>\n
“I get to have the fun of being the fun coach that the kids all love, but it’s more because I’m childish like they are. Dean lets me deal with herding them and be the fun coach while he gets to be the stricter, stern one. But a lot of the kids, we coach the basics to them, focusing on the basics because that’s what everything is built off of, and it’s your foundation. I know there are guys who know how to do so many fancy things, but I can still beat them with a basic move. You can know all these flashy things. You can be stronger than me. You can be bigger than me. But if I have a solid, basic foundation, I can still get you.”<\/p>\n
Day is now able to give out stripes up to the blue belt level.<\/p>\n
“I actually get to give out my first stripe, and I actually gave it out to my wife as well. Honestly, she does beat the crap out of me when she goes fast. She’s really fast, and I’m not. I’m more slow and methodical, but she’s really fast. And that’s, again, where different dynamics come into it. I’m slow, methodical, and I like to trap.”<\/p>\n
She said even during competitions, she can’t help but stay in coach mode, often having to resist the temptation to tell her opponent what to do next.<\/p>\n
The women’s programs run year-round in three semesters. There is no obligation to compete, and the first class is free. Comfortable clothing is encouraged, and some like to have rash guards for their arms.<\/p>\n
Day said they have members from every walk of life.<\/p>\n
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“Every walk of life is welcome. Every experience level is welcome. And there’s no expectation other than just try your hardest and don’t beat yourself up if you get beat up because I still get beat up.”<\/p>\n
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“Just come down and give it a shot. If you don’t like it, then you don’t like it, but at least you came down and tried. But if you do like it, we have a drop-in rate for 10 bucks a class, or if you stay for both classes in the night, it’s 15.”<\/p>\n
She said there is also the option for a monthly rate and a yearly rate. Find rates and insurance information below.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We don’t fight each other too hard. We don’t go to injure each other. We just go have some fun, learn some things, hopefully have a good takeaway, and a good time. It’s just a nice space trying to provide for people who just want to get out of the house in the small town.”<\/p>\n