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Highland High School Jiu-jitsu Club
SELF-DEFENSE ARTS - Highland High School Jiu-jitsu Club President Melina Rodriguez, left, and Rose Brewer work on sweep arm bar moves. RON SIDDLE/Valley Press |
By TITUS GEE
Valley Press Staff Writer
"If somebody is on top of you, if somebody is smothering you, I know exactly what to do," Melina said. "It's self protection. I think everybody should know what to do."
Melina is president of the Jiu-jitsu club and a second-year student in a Jiu-jitsu class at Highland High School. She spent part of a recent afternoon passing on pointers to a beginner classmate. The girls took turns playing the "attacker" so each could practice a "sweep to arm bar" combination. The move allows the "victim" to go from pinned on her back to sitting atop her attacker with one of the aggressor's arms in a potentially painful lock - in about three seconds.
"I think it's great that girls are in here. I recruit as many girls as possible," Melina said.
Her studies have given the diminutive club president an outsized confidence. "I can protect myself," she said. Even if faced with a much larger and stronger attacker, "I can take them down. That's what's so great about Jiu-jitsu. It's not so much about size."
Melina helped start the club and class after taking a self-defense class with teacher Esaul Viramontes, she said.
They started last year and now have more than 50 students willing to arrive at 6:30 a.m. every morning.
Viramontes, a Jiu-jitsu purple belt and instructor of the mixed martial art "Hayastan Jiu-jitsu," created the course curriculum from whole cloth, he said, studying state standards and designing a physical education elective that incorporates Jiu-jitsu and other martial arts. "We also teach self-defense, basic wrestling, some kick-boxing, as well as Pankration (an ancient Greek grappling technique) and Sambo (a Russian mixed martial arts form)," the teacher said. "It's an eclectic mix."
"I have kids that are in band, International Baccalaureate students, students that are involved with drama … one thing they have in common is learning Jiu-jitsu," Viramontes said. "More than 80% of my students are not athletes and this is their first time taking martial arts."
The teacher said he hopes the teens will continue studying martial arts after graduation, but added there are many other lessons that come with the grappling skills.
A Jiu-jitsu student "has to be a highly structured, highly disciplined student," he said. "Some of these students have seven classes. It's amazing what these kids are doing - They want to be able to defend themselves. They like the camaraderie that comes with it."
Senior Eddie Correa, 18, said he sees a dramatic difference in himself since joining the class. Melina encouraged him to try Jiu-jitsu, he said.
"At first I was scared to join," Eddie said, but now "I actually want to pursue this … I encourage a lot of people to do it."
He counts his 11-year-old sister among the recruits.
In his second year of training with Viramontes, Eddie serves as vice president of the Jiu-jitsu club.
"It leaves you more confident," he said, and, "I think my health is really good now … I almost don't want to graduate because I want to stay in this class."
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