On Thursday Jan. 30 during Winter Week, sophomore Jason Mai introduced mixed martial arts (MMA) to a group of students. This was Mai’s first time bringing mixed martial arts to WHS’s Winter Week.

“I thought Winter Week needed a change. The past winter weeks have been flooded with dancing and singing,” Mai said. “I thought it was pretty boring, so I wanted to bring something different to the table.”

During the demonstration Mai taught self-defense moves that included how to get out of a chokeholds, how to pin an aggressor and even how to out of situations when an aggressor has a gun or knife.

Mai encourages the use of effective moves that are easy to remember and can be executed simply.

“Use moves that work. Keep it simple. I hate martial arts that force confusing moves and complicate things,” Mai said. “Simple moves always work.”

MMA isn’t well known compared to the typical school sports that many students participate in. Mai was never interested in these kinds of sports.

“As a kid I was always scrawny and never did the traditional sports like baseball or basketball that most kids usually do, so I decided to take up martial arts and get tougher,” Mai said.

Like other sports, MMA endorses good discipline, but it can also teach you how to protect yourself. MMA also teaches self-reliance because it’s a sport where you face an opponent one-on-one.

“I think [MMA] is the most real sport,” Mai said. “If you get into a match with someone, you don’t depend on your teammates like in basketball or soccer. It’s a true test of individual skill to see if you’re truly better than your opponent.”

Mai has enjoyed learning MMA for the past five years, believing that MMA has helped him as person through self-discipline. He also credits his sensei why he enjoys mixed martial arts.

“He’s a great guy. He teaches a lot of great life values, so I’ve learned a lot from him. I treat him as a second father figure,” Mai said.

Mai really enjoyed teaching MMA to students this Winter Week.

“I really enjoyed teaching it and hopefully I’ll be doing it next year too,” Mai said.