Couture Camp pt 2

As I made the eight-hour drive to Vegas, I thought through all the scenarios that could occur this weekend at the Xtreme Couture MMA Camp. Randy could recognize all of my fighting potential and invite me to live and train with him. Randy could simply be overwhelmed by my personality so much so that he invites me to hang out all weekend with him at his home (or tag along as he makes appearances, signs his new book, or goes out meeting people and choking them unconscious for photos). Finally, if nothing else, I figure he will want to spar with me. This is where I knock him out, feel awful, and offer not to tell anyone about it on the condition that all the above scenarios come true. Regardless of these daydreams, I am feeling pretty nervous about the weekend and wondering whether this is all too soon. I mean: I am only five months into my training. But, who knows? Maybe this weekend will be like those Fantasy Baseball Camps where everyone is super old and only a few more bratwursts away from a heart attack. I could end up being the most in-shape and skilled person at this thing! Yeah, that’s it!

In actuality, the first night of camp turned out to be none of the above. Although, there were some older guys living out the “fantasy” thing, most of the participants were in the twenty or thirty age bracket and in reasonably good shape. We worked numerous wrestling drills: single leg takedowns, double leg takedowns, and a final technique from the clinch. The best part of the night was getting to slam someone against the cage fence. The resultant springboard effect helped propel my opponent into an easier takedown (and made it seem like I knew what I was doing).

Randy was assisted by Jay Hieron who recently signed with Affliction after spending the last couple years with the now-defunct IFL. Randy was just as humble and soft-spoken as he appeared to be on TV. In fact, with the constant airliner traffic passing over the gym, it was often very difficult to hear him at all. He is a gracious host, though, and spent almost an hour after practice answering any and all questions. Tomorrow is more Randy in the morning and then jiu-jitsu black belt Robert Drysadle in the afternoon.

So, what was making me look good on Friday night: repeatedly hoisting a 300 pound guy up in the air for take downs, now makes me irritated on Saturday. My partner is short, thick, and out of shape. Furthermore, he’s as flexible as a fire hydrant. So, when we drill jiu-jitsu and wrestling on the mat, it’s ugly. He can’t secure a triangle choke. He’s very awkward in his movements. He’s huffing and puffing instantly. It sucks. However, I was in the same boat a few months ago. I simply wish I had chosen someone else to team with. The good part of the day was that Randy signed autographs and posed for pictures all through lunch. He had another engagement and left afterwards. Randy was a very patient coach, and I feel extremely fortunate to have been a part of this training seminar. A highlight of my life will be getting picked up and slammed a few times by Randy Couture.

Jay and Robert led the final day. We practiced jiu-jitsu, and our final session was grappling with the ultra-small, fingerless, MMA gloves. The experience was quite different for me. The gloves got in the way of my submission attempts, but also helped in defending my opponent’s attempts.

I drove home excited to be able to share new techniques with my school, Durango Martial Arts, and I began to think about how to implement better visualization methods in my daily life.

I am having a blast here in Las Vegas at Randy Couture's MMA Training Camp in his gym. He spent last night and this morning with us. He's such a humble guy. For all he's accomplished and has going on right now, he patiently reviewed each technique with everyone here. Also, most impressively, he spent an hour after class (late last night) answering any and all questions from the campers. I was not sure what to expect from this weekend, but I am very glad I came. I am learning a lot about MMA and even more about all the other aspects of fighting: visualization, nutrition, etc. Thanks, Randy!

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Lisa and nephews rock climbing in Estes

Kick my butt, PLEASE!

Top 5 People that I would love to take a beating from:

1. Chuck Norris

2. Debi Purcell

3. The Ultimate Warrior (circa 1990)

4. Gina Carano

5. Joe Rogan

Tweeners etc.

Part of the solution for Churches to engage Tweeners and young adults is to understand their family situations and how it affects our teaching and outreach paradigms. Over one million kids experience their parents' divorce each year. In addition, the fatherless statistics in the U.S. are staggering. Because of how many grow up without a dad---pastors and youth workers need to understand that this emerging generation is not only unfamiliar with traditional Bible stories, but also that, when hearing Jesus' parables and other teaching, younger people will often interpret them differently than older adults. Author Elizabeth Marquardt found that young adults with divorced parents, when hearing the Parable of The Prodigal Son, for example, identified much more closely with the Father character than with the Son who left. For these teens and twenty-somethings, the anxiousness and stress from waiting for someone to come back home resonated much more deeply. Teachers at all levels within the Church need to exhibit a constant and sensitive awareness towards their audience along these lines.

Besides embracing a new sensitivity and awareness when teaching from the Bible, the next step for engaging this emerging generation is to conduct outreach opportunities that create safe places for young people to process their feelings and explore their faith--without fear of judgment. We must listen, notice, and inquire while resisting the urge to condemn. Their questions must be safe with us. It is ours to be brave enough to ask tough, open-ended questions. We can validate their reality without necessarily approving of it. This a key component of compassion. People feel welcome when they feel heard and valued. By deliberately offering these opportunities, Churches will reclaim their role as places of refuge where everyone, in authentic community, can confess and confront in a truly healthy environment.

At the same time, those of us within the Church need to confess and confront our outdated paradigms because so many young adults and teens are missing out on the connections that we use to take for granted. It is our responsibility and privilege to offer hope in new ways not only from the pages of the Bible but also in the way we conduct our meetings and ministries. We have to realize that this generation resonates with Bible stories and characters differently than previously assumed, and we have to alter our presentation accordingly. We must go out of our way to offer emotional 'safe zones' for people to connect with one another--and, in part, re-create the family that is painfully missing. These are our brothers and sisters in Christ, and, for the older adults among us: these are your Spiritual children, too. We cannot abandon them nor abdicate our responsibility in caring for them. They have already faced too much of that at home and in school. Our churches must become places of real connection. Our teaching must connect with its young audience through an ever-evolving awareness and sensitivity to the issues our young people are facing. We cannot afford to take comprehension or connection for granted anymore.

Fighting Like A Girl

With all the attention female mixed martial arts has recently garnered from the prime time television debut of Gina Carano, I had the privilege of interviewing promising young talent Angela Magana. She gave me her thoughts on the current state of women’s MMA and her plans for the future.

Angela, who fights at 115 pounds with a professional MMA record of 5-1-1, turns 25 later this year, and has a bright outlook in the sport despite her troubled past. She escaped East L.A. and her heroin-addicted parents’ home by moving to Northern New Mexico to live with her grandparents. Once there, she became an accomplished Golden Gloves amateur boxer amassing over 40 fights. In Junior High and High School, Angela was the only female wrestler on the team and overcame all the prejudice that came with it. However, her drive to be the best propelled her beyond the stereotypes. Angela enjoyed destroying the bias she faced almost as much as destroying her all-male opponents. “Guys quit after I beat them.”

On May 31st, Magana refused to quit in the biggest fight of her career. In Claremore, Oklahoma, before a hostile, standing-room-only crowd, she won her co-main event match for the Freestyle Cage Fighting Women’s Championship by defeating hometown favorite, and so-called ‘first professional female MMA fighter from Oklahoma,’ Nicdali “The Nite Queen” Calanoc.

Angela rotates her training among Greg Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, Floyd Sword’s Team Four Corners in Farmington, NM, and Durango Martial Arts with pro fighter Chris Jones in Durango, CO. Angela has a five year old daughter, and balancing her fight preparation and personal life offers its own unique challenge. “The guys in the gym don’t realize [my responsibilities]. [My child] has to be in bed my 8p.m., and some nights we don’t even start to train jiu-jitsu until after 8p.m. The guys can leave their kids at home with the wife. Not me! I’m a single mom.” Sometimes, she simply brings her daughter to the gym, and when I asked her whether she would encourage her child to pursue MMA, Angela responded, “She does train a little bit of jiu-jitsu. She doesn’t like to tap out. I think we both have a really high tolerance for pain.”

What does Angela think about the state of female MMA? She is excited about the possibilities and, when I asked what her reaction would be to a promotion’s attempts to turn her into a sex symbol, she added, “If they want to put make-up on me and dress me up cute . . . and use that . . . I mean, what do people love? Sex and violence. I’ll use it. It opens doors. Like Gina [Carano] and American Gladiators. I’ll use it to open doors.”

Angela Magana hopes that the doors to her future in MMA will open even wider in the near future. “Someone from Cage Rage (in England) called and Herb Dean was talking about wanting me [to fight in] Guatemala.” She expects Elite XC to contact her soon, and Angela gets several phone calls per month from other promotions. She is enjoying her success so far. “Now, I don’t have to plan my life around my fights; I can plan my fights around my life.”

When I asked Angela about her ‘wish list’ of future opponents, all she did was call out the toughest fighters at her weight class: Lisa Ward, Megumi "Mega Megu" Fujii, and Yuka Tsuji. She has one other opponent she would love to fight: Jessica Aguilar—whom she has faced twice. Each fight ended controversially, and Angela wants another shot, “I would fight her for no money.”

Angela Magana has unquestionable toughness. She takes great pride in refusing to quit. After breaking her back last September, she proved her mettle to everyone by taking three fights in the six months since having her body cast removed. Angela realizes that the sport has evolved and constantly seeks to improve her skills. She said, “There are a lot of girls who think they are ‘tough,’ but they are not very technical. They are good at a lot of things but not great at anything. That doesn’t work [anymore]. You have to be great at more than one thing.” Finally, I asked her to rate her chances for success in MMA. Magana replied, “I’m going to do good [because] winning isn’t always about winning. It’s about never giving up. I don’t give up. I live my dreams.”