Behind the building lies the parking space where you enter the building. There is a small door with the yellow sign “Bloomsburg Martial Arts Academy” pinned aside to it. Inside to the left of the entrances lies the martial arts academy.
The interior design is small in view. The numerous equipment (containing pads, gloves, shin pads, etc.) are laid across on the sides on the floor and hung along the walls. This leaves open space for the clear blue mats laid across the floor, where classes commence. At first glance, during opening hour, the mats shine but not to sweat but due to the cleaning materials done before classes. The smell fluctuates inside the studio, and due to the small space, the gentle smell wafts in the entire building. The boxing bags hang in the middle of the studio with 10 laid around the center. Directly across is the boxing ring where sparring takes place, and to the far end holds gym equipment usually found in other gyms. Each area holds a border of about a foot of space from each other.
The types of martial arts classes offered are in three types: MMA, Kickboxing, and Jiu-jitsu. They offer their schedule on their website, https://bloommma.com/. The classes themselves pushes off during the nights to accommodate work hours.
Meeting the owner, Joel, allowed me to get a better idea on how classes are held. The martial art classes are not held in formality. “We don't require students to bow to others like in other martial arts academies. There is no need for formality here.” Despite this view, he understands the gesture of the formalities of it and states that he won't stop anyone who would like to continue the tradition. “If you feel comfortable doing it then you can keep doing it.” The same goes if someone doesn't feel comfortable doing something during the classes.
The atmosphere of informality continues as he explains the classes. He doesn’t stop anyone from leaving the classes mid-session whether for bathroom breaks, water breaks, or leaving the studio. Students are permitted to stay in the studio even after their main classes end to either keep training on the side of the mats or to the next class.
The classes are small in pertinence to the amount of students with the largest I’ve seen being roughly 12 students. The students range from young adults to adults. The majority, if not all, are male. The students of the Boxing and Kickboxing/MMA classes have been participants for a while, with about a year of experience. Boxing is the most practiced fighting style with students taking in Kickboxing for more experience or the class being the closest pick.
Participation in the classes felt informative and fun. In teaching, Joel is direct on the techniques he shows and helps anyone struggling, not continuing until the person in trouble understands what he is showing. In the beginner classes he is slow in pace to allow the new students to get a hold on the fighting style. In regular boxing and Kickboxing classes, more techniques with sparring enters the regiment. A few students stand on the sidelines to watch while the rest spars. The students are respectful and heed to their teacher’s words. “Go on your opponent’s pace, if they can't keep up then slow down to match them and vice versa.” Not one of them goes wild and dominates their sparring partner. When one struggles on a move, their sparring partner shows them the correct form and both of them learn. One student fell down while sparring as he tried to defend himself against his partner. Instead of continuing their session or laughing at him, his partner advised him on how to properly defend against the move he tried to thwart.
The sense of camaraderie intensifies by small actions like yelling in unison once the teacher breaks them apart for sparring or hitting each other's gloves when the session ends saying “Good job” or “That was tough.”
Objectively, the studio lacks notoriety with the students joining the location out of convenience. Despite this, they enjoy themselves telling me they have fun and they respect their teachers. They appreciate and have fun in what they do and they further improve themselves in every session. They don't distract themselves and really focus on how they train to perfect their craft. It is quite fortunate that not many people join the studio as the sense of strong bonds would not have formed so well in a large class. Alongside that, the studio would not be able to hold a large class in such a tight studio.
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