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LISD seeks students for first mixed martial arts class
By Chris Roark, Croark@acnpapers.com
Lewisville ISD students wishing to learn about self defense and other components of mixed martial arts will soon get their chance.
North Texas Mixed Martial Arts, located in Flower Mound, is preparing for the 2011 fall semester in which sixth- through 12th-grade students will be allowed to take mixed martial arts as an external physical education credit for the first time.
The LISD Board of Trustees voted in January to approve mixed martial arts as an allowable course for external PE, becoming one of the first districts in the state to offer it. McKinney ISD also offers it.
He will teach Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing and Mauy Thai kickboxing. Corkran said the class will be taught in a disciplined environment and will focus on increasing flexibility, strength, conditioning, respect and self-confidence.
“Every parent who comes in with a child with discipline problems says that this class makes a difference,” Corkran said. “And the same with adults. They see that they won’t last long if they smoke. But they can’t do that if they’re training. This gives them confidence and helps them set goals.”
Each class begins with stretching and cardiovascular work, followed by strength training exercises such as push-ups and rope climbing. Then about 30 minutes is devoted to mixed martial arts techniques. The end of the class is reserved for optional sparring exercises.
“Typically in every class, we talk about having good grades, not talking to strangers and bullying,” Corkran said. “It’s something to educate the students. It’s more than just martial arts. They’ll learn something that will stick with them their whole lives.”
Corkran said the bullying discussion isn’t designed to promote fighting.
“The first thing we tell the students when they’re being bullied is to walk away and tell someone they trust about what happened, like their parents,” Corkran said. “But if they’re ever in the position where they need to protect themselves, they will have the skills to do that.”
Corkran said while Jiu-Jitsu, known as “the gentle art,” teaches kicking, striking, takedowns and on-ground grappling, he said students will not be encouraged to attack in a bullying situation but rather to perform takedowns to control the situation.
Students can receive half a PE credit if they attend 10 hours per week or a full credit if they attend 15 hours a week.
Corkran, who said the instruction will be textbook-based, said the students will be graded on written exams and physical tests, including how many exercise repetitions a student can perform in a given time limit and how well they know the techniques.
The course had to meet certain criteria set forward by LISD, such as the number of hours per week students would attend. It also had to be related to an Olympic sport.
“The main thing that we want to accomplish with this is that it meets the criteria set forth by the Texas Education Agency,” said Randy Mayes, LISD athletic director. “Not only that, but we want their version of physical education to offer something to help what the entire country is trying to do, which is to get our children into good shape.”
LISD already offers a variety of external PE courses: swimming, tennis, ice skating, gymnastics, equestrian, art skating, ballet, golf, rowing, Tae kwon do, ice hockey, lacrosse, cycling and fencing.
Cost for mixed martial arts will be the same as the other external PE courses. For middle school students, it will be $75 per semester or $150 for the year. For high school students, it will be $100 for each nine-week period, $150 for two semesters or $250 for the year. Mayes said the cost is based on the average cost of how much school districts in the area charge for their external PE courses.
Mayes said there are two part-time employees the district pays for to help coordinate between the vendors and the campuses throughout the district.
Last year, the district received $56,850 in student enrollment charges, and it spent $27,000 on travel and salary for employees supervising the program.
Interested students are encouraged to ask their school counselors for registration information.
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