Holiday program packs a punch

Gladiator MMA martial Arts Studio is doing a mixed martial arts school holiday program. Jacob (front) with Danny, Melissa, Violet and Anthony.

By Ewen McRae

Local children have the chance to put their best foot forward these school holidays, with a special mixed martial arts holiday program.

The Gladiator MMA studio is running introductory classes throughout the school holidays, and owner Glenn Cassar said they were always a hit.

“Every school holidays we do this, and we always get a pretty good uptake,” he said.

“So we start off with half an hour of Muay Thai, which is a form of kick boxing, and then we move over to do a jiu jitsu and an MMA session.

“So it touches on basically everything that we offer, but we keep it fun while we teach the techniques and they can get a taste for it if they want to do more classes.”

Mr Cassar said while there was an obvious health benefit to the classes, it was also important to help children build confidence and make new friends.

“There’s a lot of strength and conditioning as part of our classes, so the kids get fitter and stronger while also learning self defence,” he said.

“The camaraderie in the groups is fantastic.

“Kids meet other kids that they may not have spoken to at school and they go on to be friends, so it’s a great program.”

To sign up for classes, visit www.facebook.com/gladiatormma2018

Ewen McRae