Johnson student Crystal Kessler does not have the appearance of a martial artist; she is a small, light-framed woman who likes to wear the heavy coat her boyfriend gave her. That she’s been a member of JSC’s Martial Arts Club almost since its inception should not be a shock though, since anybody can learn the tenets of self-defense.
In Kessler’s case, she proudly says, “I’ve been practicing since I was five!”
Her attitude towards danger is best described in-scene: she’s on the mat with a man twice her height, learning a simple evasive maneuver. The man flubs his aim and kicks her square in the gut, her shirt holding a footprint for a brief moment. She shrugs, ignores his apology, and continues as if nothing happened.
The Martial Arts Club meets twice a week in the SHAPE facility, currently under the leadership of Mixed Martial Arts enthusiast Alex Cullen. The club is a simple setup in SHAPE’s downstairs yoga room, which used to be a racquetball court. This court provides the same explosive acoustics to fists hitting hanging bags as it did balls hitting walls. The Christmas lights hanging above the entrance are a permanent feature despite their inexplicable nature, but at least the encouraging notes taped to the wall behind the sway bag make sense.
Just about any given meeting this club has could feature a different topic, from open-handed, strike-based Kung-Fu to the precise leverage of wrestling and the brutal dance of endurance that is boxing. Cullen based his club’s philosophy on Mixed Martial Arts, a modern blend of striking, wrestling and submission holds, so any and all disciplines are welcome in the court as long as everybody is willing to try each other’s styles and treat each other as equals.
“Everyone has different body types and different abilities,” says Cullen. “What’s best for someone else might not be best for another. Mixed Martial Arts isn’t only about finding the best aspect of each martial art, but finding the best aspect of each martial art for you.”
Cullen has a disarmingly friendly appearance and hair best described as a mop, but looking closer shows a few scars on his otherwise young face. “I started Tae Kwon Do when I was really young,” he says, “I’d say nine or maybe twelve, I did it for like three years.” Like many kids, he was bullied a little bit—”Well, maybe not a little bit,” he adds—when he was young and small. “I never really was a fighter, never really liked fighting people, not because I couldn’t but because I just didn’t like the whole idea of it, I was always a really passive person.”
Cullen soon found that martial arts were about more than just defending your own body. He found strength in the tenets of Tae Kwon Do and the respect for self and others those tenets encourage.”
It wasn’t really necessarily as much technical fighting as it was patterns, and a fighting mentality,” he says, “like how you want to view yourself as not necessarily a physical fighter but more of like a metaphysical fighter. You can fight mentally and spiritually, with opposing views and opposing beliefs. We’re all fighting, in a way.”
His transition to Mixed Martial Arts started around high school, when his older brother’s love of televised MMA events brought the phenomenon to his attention. The way he describes it, “I started watching it with him a little bit, and I was like, ‘wow, this is pretty cool,’ so I started training myself and I fell in love with it. I haven’t stopped doing it since.”
Mixed Martial Arts is a varied subject that includes elements of boxing, wrestling, kickboxing and Jujitsu. A typical session led by him will start with jumping rope and careful stretching, followed by punching drills and ending with an overview of a particular ground-fighting technique. One such maneuver is the Triangle Choke, which begins with you pinned under your opponent and ends with said opponent’s head caught in the joint of your knee much like a lobster in a nutcracker. Submission holds such as the Triangle Choke are meant to end a fight before major injuries occur, either through the opponent’s surrender or their rapid loss of consciousness.
Cullen is not the only martial artist in the group, of course, and other members of the Martial Arts Club bring vastly different styles of self-defense to the table. One of those members is Antonio Allen, a humble Kung Fu practitioner. Allen’s technique resembles a stream bending around a stone, smoothly transitioning between strikes and blocks in one continuous, deliberate motion. Though it may be visually stunning, there are no wasted movements in Kung Fu.
Allen’s personality is similar, carrying a quiet dignity in everything he does. “It’s just something you have to put your effort and spirit into. You get back as much as you put in. That’s what Kung Fu means to me.”
While he enjoys the physical nature of his art, he also has a natural curiosity about the more spiritual nature of the world. “My teacher says that the translation of Kung Fu means, ‘work’, or ‘endeavor’, or something achieved through great effort,” he says. His eyes have a focused squint the entire time he explains his views, and his voice remains quiet and mellow. “Kung Fu can be anything that you put your mind to and work hard at to perfect—you can have good Kung Fu with dancing, or painting, or drawing, but Kung Fu in the sense that I use it is a martial art.”
Though Allen may be interested in the mysteries of life, the story of how he started his studies is far simpler. He had always been interested in martial arts, but could not afford lessons until college. “In college,” he says, “they were offering a Kung Fu class, so I took it, the teacher liked me, and he invited me up to his school.” Beginning was as simple as that—and though becoming as good as he is today was difficult, he endeavored to persevere. “It was probably the first time in my life that I’ve felt like I’ve actually been challenged by something,” Allen says as he nods slightly and leans forward, “and I like that.”
Cullen has a simpler explanation for his love of martial arts. “It makes me feel a little bit more comfortable, it gives me confidence that I can take care of myself if something ever happens.” The pride and excitement in his voice fills the room. “Not only does it make me safer, more comfortable, but I absolutely love doing it.”
At its heart, JSC’s Martial Arts Club is all about liberating your body, clearing your mind and dusting off your soul all at once. “There’s something freeing about it,” says Cullen. “It’s the most natural way for me to move my body. I’ve tried other sports, other things, and there’s nothing that compares to it in terms of what works for me.” When he gathers his club together every Monday and Wednesday night, the members participate not in the strict student-teacher of their gym or dojo, but as friends who like to share and practice their knowledge.
Practicing these arts in a focused group has a certain sense of community to it that brings everybody involved closer, regardless of their past. “It feels good, man,” Cullen explains in summary. “I think that if I hadn’t been that kid that was pushed around, I wouldn’t be as good a martial artist as I am now.”
