Sports has always acted as an outlet and therapy for athletes of all ages and it continues to do so here at Delta college.
Delta offers many sports such as basketball, football and wrestling but there is a whole in athletics that needs to be filled.
Currently Delta only offers one combat sport and that’s wrestling, with MMA and the UFC quickly becoming a worldwide sport it is high time that Delta offers more options.
With classes in jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, and boxing it will give wrestlers at Delta the ability to expand upon their skills and for students not particularly interested in wrestling, it will give them more options to consider if they like martial arts.
The best thing about martial arts is that it offers a certain discipline that you can’t achieve anywhere else and the people at Delta seem to agree.
Delta’s athletic director Tony Espinoza stated that “They had their individual conditioning class do a segment on kickboxing so we have ventured towards more conditioning type sports.”
Delta has shown that they have and are willing to go down this path.
Espinoza also stated that “The drive and determination that majority of our athletes have for their sport, a lot of it carries over to their academics.”
This is great because Delta’s number one priority is making sure students succeed academically and if this can help them with that then Delta should get the ball rolling and the student athletes themselves have shown interest in it.
Freshman wide receiver Dwayne Thomas said “Sports made me more disciplined about the things I need to take care of.”
In regards to martial arts offered at Delta, Thomas went on to say that “It could help kids learn to defend themselves in certain situations and it would be kind of a safe place for kids who might have trouble at home dealing with their anger.” Thomas also expressed that he would be very interested in taking a class in something like that.
Freshman wide receiver Pulusi Ionatana said in regards to mixed martial arts “I think it’s a great thing, especially as an idea for Delta to consider.”
Both staff and student athletes alike love the idea of having more combat sport options for Delta and it couldn’t be more obvious, it is just a matter of finding which martial arts would be the best choice for here at Delta.
Something else Ionatana said was “I took jiu-jitsu for a couple years and I loved it. It definitely builds character and really taught me to be humble which is one thing I lacked.”
Martial arts has a very positive impact on people especially mentally, bringing in a martial art to Delta like jiu-jitsu, muay thai, or kickboxing can only improve the community we built and possibly help students to excel more academically, which at the end of the day is Delta’s priority.