Competitive mixed martial arts growing at BC
By Luna Meilekh
Chris Rangel is a 6th Degree Black Belt Master who offers martial arts and aerobic kickboxing classes in his own martial arts and fitness studio in North Newton. Under his guidance, three athletes from Bethel College will be participating in a Tae Kwon Do state championship for the second year in a row.
“Several NFL teams have implemented the martial arts program for their football players in off-season conditioning” explains Rangel. “When I started working at Bethel, some of the students asked me about it, and I said ‘if you think it’ll help, I’ll definitely work with you.’”
Students Christ Gallagher, Zach Towns and Landon Branine started practicing martial arts with Rangel in January 2007. After practicing for just three month, they made it to the state championship and took first place as a group.
“We’re all pretty good athletes and we learn real quickly and Chris is an excellent teacher. He can teach anybody to be good,” is Towns’ explanation for this success.
Now they have begun practice again for the annual state championship that will be taking place on April 5 in the Chisholm Trail in Newton.
“This year, they compete for a state championship team title and a national berth. They’ll be competing in several different forms: pre-choreographed moves, and weapon forms with bow staff and nunchakus, and Olympic-style sparring” says Rangel.
Recently, Gallagher, Towns and Branine were joined by Noah Morford, the strength and conditioning coach for the Bethel College football team, and together they attend Rangel’s aerobic kickboxing classes.
The aerobic kickboxing wave that has swept over Bethel College (with both intraural and for-credit activities in the past few years) combines cardio training with development of martial arts skills.
“Chris’ cardio kickboxing class is an excellent way of exercising for people of all ages and I recommend it to everyone” says Towns. “It doesn’t feel like hard work because it’s a lot of fun,” adds Gallagher.
An assorted group of people gathers at Rangel’s studio for those classes: football and volleyball players, but also students who don’t participate in any athletic program.
Hence, kickboxing is also a great opportunity to get to know other people. “Chris will make us switch partners and work with somebody we haven’t worked yet,” says Gallagher.
For football players, Rangel and Morford lead different types of workouts. “What I do is focus on short bursts of speed and power, whereas Chris focuses on cardiovascular work, which is work that takes a long period of time,” said Morford.
Under the influence of Rangel’s workout, Morford integrated parts of the aerobic kickboxing workout into the conditioning program of the football team. “Chris does a lot of heavy bag punching and boxing. It’s a good workout and it’s fun to do instead of doing the same stuff everyday,” explains Morford.
Gallagher and Branine attend aerobic kickboxing training up to 5 times a week; even if it means they have to be there at 6 AM. When class is over, they stay and grapple with Rangel and learn different martial arts techniques and do one-on-one training.
As for the rumor that they are preparing for cage fighting tournaments, Towns says, “It’s something to look into when I’m done with college - as a hobby - to make some money and keep the competitive ability.”
Competitive ability, but also plain fun, seem to be shared traits among those guys. Perhaps it’s best demonstrated by Morford, who said to “just tell Landon, Chris and Zach that whenever they want a piece of me, come and get it.”
But on the more serious side, there is a lot of hard work and dedication from all sides. As Gallagher concluded, “Chris will do anything for us and we’ll do anything for him.”