Poway martial arts gym holding open team tryouts

A Poway martial arts school is holding open tryouts this Saturday in a bid to add to its roster of amateur fighters.

Poway Martial Arts, at 13240 Poway Road, will be evaluating potential recruits for its Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Muay Thai, boxing and Jiu Jitsu squads starting at 1 p.m.
Barry Barker, owner of the gym, said the goal is to find undiscovered talent within the Inland Corridor.

“Poway has a great wrestling program and a lot of wrestlers train in martial arts and do competitive fighting,” Barker said. “We thought we’d open up the competition and see if there’s anyone out there who could represent our teams.”

While the tryout and evaluations are free, if selected the fighters will be training at the gym, though team participants could receive discounts.

The gym has been around for 26 years teaching karate and boxing. It added kickboxing in 1988, Jui Jitsu five years ago and the newest program, MMA, debuted two years ago. That team is sponsored by Tapout, and according to Barry, the gym is one of the few in the county to have a full MMA cage.

According to Barry, the tryouts were the idea of MMA Coach Waachiim Spiritwolf, a professional fighter who has won welterweight titles for the World Fighting Championships and Cage of Fire MMA associations.

Spiritwolf is currently training two fighters, Rancho Penasquitos residents Carlos Caliso and Paul Blancaflor, who will be fighting at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar on Saturday, July 3 as part of “SummerFist 2010: Mixed Martial Arts.”

Tickets for the event, which will take place at the Paddock Green starting at 4 p.m., are $30. For more information, go to www.sdfair.com and click on “events”.

“We are looking for all types of fighters for our amateur club,” Spiritwolf said. “All classes, male and female and young people.”

He said that above all, the club is looking for competitors who are willing to work hard, and who understand that MMA is not about just about fighting, but about discipline.

“People don’t realized that the name is mixed martial arts,” Spiritwolf said. “We train hard and we go all out, but after the matches there’s a lot of respect.”

Caliso, who has a 2-1 record, said he was a grappler, but didn’t understand much about mixed martial arts when he first decided to try out the sport.

“Most people think it’s just about brawling,” Caliso said. “But there’s a lot of technique.”

He said that adding to the teams roster will help his training.

“When you’re getting ready to fight you need to go up against all types of body types,” he said. “Having more people will definitely help with our training.”

Boxing Coach Tom DiFrancesco, who has been training boxers — mostly professional — for about 23 years, said the team currently has five amateur boxers.

He said that he’ll be looking for people with the potential to be good fighters, with a mix of natural talent and the patience to train and develop over time.

“Sometimes you find that kid that has that little bit extra … and you just work and train and they develop and next thing you know, they’re headed to the top.”

Brady Rein, a Poway resident and boxing trainer, has been boxing for DiFrancesco for four years. He said he hopes that the tryouts bring some added talent to the team.

“I hope we get a group of people who are interested in fighting and in working hard,” he said.

Alexander Palma, the Muay Thai coach — a professional fighter who is returning to the ring in September — said his team has a solid reputation as one of the best in Southern California, based on its record and the number of title belt holders.

He said he’s always looking to add talent to the Blue Ocean Thai Boxing Team.

Kristina Alvarez, a teacher at Creekside Elementary School, has been a member of the team for less than a year and has a 4-1 record.

She said she first started training for boxing, but switched to Muay Thai after she was asked to spar with a student.

“At first I just came here to exercise,” she said. “But I’ve found that I really enjoy the competition and being part of the team.”

The tryout will be open to fighters ages 16 and over, though those under 18 need a parent present to participate. All are required to sign a waiver.

For more information about the tryouts, call the gym at 858-486-1003 or through e-mail at school@powaymartialarts.com, or visit its website at www.powaymartialarts.com.

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Posted by unestidstwern on Jun 24 2010. Filed under Archive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry