Martial Arts Club teaches self-defense

by kate bernath
staff writer

PLNU’s Martial Arts Club offered a self-defense class for beginners Wednesday evening in the Rec Room. About 20 people attended the event.
Some said they were lured in by the idea of seeing their math professor Tom Blamey perform martial arts, while others said they felt the need to be able to defend themselves in the real world. Blamey stressed that self-defense is important.
“Knowing how to defend yourself gives you a level of confidence that transcends to other parts of one’s life,” Blamey said.
Blamey, the club’s faculty adviser, and Ippolito (Paul) DeLuca, the club’s president, ran the event. Together they demonstrated moves for their audience and then paired people up so they could practice.
After a few minutes of practicing defensive moves, DeLuca and Blamey demonstrated the correct form for both punches and kicks. A few of the male students who had attended were recruited to put on chest body guards and become practice dummies for the women as they tested the various techniques.
One such recruit, freshman Jarret Stinger, took the beatings for a while, but then passed the privilege to Alysha Porco, a regular participant of Martial Arts Club events. Stinger said he attended the event because he heard about it from Blamey in his pre-calculus class.
“I liked how he put me into the punching drills,” said Stinger of his experience.
Although he said he could take it for only so long before it really started to hurt, he said he would come to an event like this again.
One attendee, Rebeka Reed, was not a PLNU student. She came from West Covina, where she attends Mount San Antonio College as a senior majoring in animation. She heard about the event through Facebook and made the two-and-a-half hour drive to attend because she is a friend of both Porco and DeLuca.
“I wish we had done more grappling, but I really liked the transition into take-down,” said Reed, who had previously taken a self-defense class from Porco.
DeLuca said the program is great because it caters to every level of experience. One of the most popular events the club puts on is “Yoma,” which is the combination of yoga and martial arts.
It takes place every Thursday night from 7-8 p.m. If students are unable to attend because it doesn’t fit their schedules, DeLuca encourages them to e-mail him at ippolitodeluca0211@pointloma.edu so he can set up private individual or group seminars.
DeLuca has been the president of the club since his freshman year, and earned his black belt three years before that. He found out about the club at the resource fair his freshman year and was “immediately drafted.”
DeLuca said his presence helped redefine the club. When he joined it was known as the Karate Club, but he helped move it toward martial arts.
“[Martial arts] encompasses any type of exercise that disciplines the mind and the body in unison,” DeLuca said.
The Martial Arts Club’s next event is March 1 in Colt Forum. The group will have “Sunset Yoma” from 6:30-8 p.m. so students can watch the sunset as they learn about Tai Chi, a form of martial arts, and sip Chai tea.
“It’s going to be one of our best events this semester,” said DeLuca.