MMA in St. Andrews?

[Medievalist]

Sooo...I was just wondering if there was any Mixed Martial Arts in St. Andrews?

I notice there's Judo and Jujitsu, which ill probably do one or the other, but I'd really like to get into MMA. Right now I'm in New York and I do jujitsu which is fun, we do grappling submissions and striking, but new york state doesnt have any striking tournaments, only grappling ones, which is cool, cause I wrestled all through highschool and undergrad so im into grappling... but for once id like to be able to do a takedown, or rock the guy in the face ya know? I mean it's good to have options lol.

So I was just wondering if there were any mixed martial arts? I mean with judo, jujitsu, boxing, tae kwon do, etc all available i would think someone would be trying to get them all together for the fun of it... bloody fun of course lol

[Delts]

Nope, no MMA in St Andrews currently.

[Medievalist]

Nope, no MMA in St Andrews currently.

This saddens me

[David Bean]

You can always approach the Athletic Union about setting up a club. Advertise around town, see if there's any interest - but take care to be clear that you're looking for people who want to train and compete, not fans.

I don't know how much MMA competition there is among universities in Scotland or the UK - perhaps someone else might know. But even if there isn't much, there's no reason why St Andrews couldn't innovate.

[donpablo]

I was disappointed there was no Kickboxing either.

MMA sounds interesting tho, would be nice to learn some proper take downs and all that stuff. I guess people have suggested these in the past and there is probably some training, insurance, general policy about students knocking the $#!t out of each other that puts these ideas firmly in the bin.

I'd be provisionally up for it that said. Whatever doesn't kill you...

[Hennessy]

Just to take this thread in a completely different direction, as the original question has been answered - what's the point of learning a martial art in St Andrews? It's one of the safest places I've ever been to, there is practically zero crime & even scuffles are rare. Learning how to break someone's arm in three places in a town where even the down-and-outs have a part-time job selling the big issue is a bit of a vanity trip if you ask me, unless you're the kind of sicko who gets a thrill out of inflicting pain and humiliation in your twice weekly sessions in obsolete Asian fighting styles.

I'm sure there are good reasons, but in my experience of being mugged or set upon the wisest option is simply to calm the situation down and get away as fast as possible, by whatever means. It seems more like adolescent fantasy fuelled by tv and cinema depictions of violence coupled with the fact most ordinary people have never been in a real fight produce this paranoia of constant threat off which the instruction in an exotic foreign fighting style thrives.

I guess at least you aren't carrying knives around, that would be stupid.

[donpablo]

Plenty of reasons... improve fitness, control, discipline, speed, agility, awareness just to mention a few.

Not that there is much need in St Andrews for self defence I would agree, but that doesnt mean you won't get attacked. There is still a high level of binge drinking which lets face it is the cause of a lot of scuffles. I don't know where you've been mugged or set upon but in my experience, no one that way inclined ever backs down or can listen to reason.

You seem very misguided on martial arts. Not all originate in Asia and they certainly aren't obsolete. They are used in the military, police, and security industry to mention a few. Oh and sport I almost forgot there is plenty of non/light contact events and competitions. You could chase a ball around or learn something that may save your life at the same time.

And why would I need to carry a knife around when I can learn to disarm someone and use theirs (joke)

[Medievalist]

Just to take this thread in a completely different direction, as the original question has been answered - what's the point of learning a martial art in St Andrews? It's one of the safest places I've ever been to, there is practically zero crime & even scuffles are rare. Learning how to break someone's arm in three places in a town where even the down-and-outs have a part-time job selling the big issue is a bit of a vanity trip if you ask me, unless you're the kind of sicko who gets a thrill out of inflicting pain and humiliation in your twice weekly sessions in obsolete Asian fighting styles.

I'm sure there are good reasons, but in my experience of being mugged or set upon the wisest option is simply to calm the situation down and get away as fast as possible, by whatever means. It seems more like adolescent fantasy fuelled by tv and cinema depictions of violence coupled with the fact most ordinary people have never been in a real fight produce this paranoia of constant threat off which the instruction in an exotic foreign fighting style thrives.

I guess at least you aren't carrying knives around, that would be stupid.

Er... for the sport of it? To be perfectly honest I never truly thought of MMA or any martial art as a means of learning how to defend myself. I can already do that. The fact is that it is fun. I wreswtled all through highschool and college, so I'm used to going 5 days a week for 2 hours each day and putting my strength and agility against someone elses... it is quite fun... the nice thing about mma is that it adds striking (punches and kicks) along with submissions (chokes and joint locks) into the equation, making it far more interesting. It is just a means of being able to put yourself to the test. I klove waking up in the morning, barely able to move because I'm sore and bruised up from the night before its a wonderful feeling... and when you win a match, I can garauntee no other sport offers the same self satisfaction of mma (or its subcategories such as wrestling, boxing, judo, jujitsu, muay thai, etc).

Of course the physical fitness aspect of it is also a benefit.

[wild_quinine]

I klove waking up in the morning, barely able to move because I'm sore and bruised up from the night before its a wonderful feeling...

Well, I think we can all identify with that.

[donpablo]

I was lucky enough to be channel surfing last night and stumbled across Fight Masters on ITV4 and this week just happened to focus on MMA. It's basically a show that looks at all the science behind the art and damn was that ever fascinatingly informative. Scientists with all sorts of measuring equipment actually quantifying the levels of conditioning these guys have. I definately learned a few things. See MMA is even educational

I klove waking up in the morning, barely able to move because I'm sore and bruised up from the night before its a wonderful feeling...

Well, I think we can all identify with that.

So it's not just me then?

[Medievalist]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55RqrGjZ ... re=related

Thats one clip from fight science looking at a couple wrestling takedowns to ground and pound along with defense... quite interesting. There's others that compare UFC fighters kicks to the best martial artist kicks and strikes to those of the best boxers and in every instance of comparison they atleast equal or surpass the boxers/martial artists.

Also sorry for all my typos, I just got a new laptop and I'm still getting used to the keyboard.

[donpablo]

Sweet that is the very same show I saw last night!

For whatever reason they must have felt the need to change the name for the UK market. I guess market research shows more people respond to Fight Master's than Fight Science.

No wonder there is a negative attitude towards the sport.

[SpidersfromMars]

Just to take this thread in a completely different direction, as the original question has been answered - what's the point of learning a martial art in St Andrews? It's one of the safest places I've ever been to, there is practically zero crime & even scuffles are rare. Learning how to break someone's arm in three places in a town where even the down-and-outs have a part-time job selling the big issue is a bit of a vanity trip if you ask me, unless you're the kind of sicko who gets a thrill out of inflicting pain and humiliation in your twice weekly sessions in obsolete Asian fighting styles.

I'm sure there are good reasons, but in my experience of being mugged or set upon the wisest option is simply to calm the situation down and get away as fast as possible, by whatever means. It seems more like adolescent fantasy fuelled by tv and cinema depictions of violence coupled with the fact most ordinary people have never been in a real fight produce this paranoia of constant threat off which the instruction in an exotic foreign fighting style thrives.

I guess at least you aren't carrying knives around, that would be stupid.

So you ever did anything just because it was, you know... fun? Lighten up dude.

And medievalist I think there's a MMA club or two up in Dundee which might be worth checking out if you don't mind a bit of a commute. As for other options in St. Andrews you should come to judo, its good fun.

[LonelyPilgrim]

So I've been gone from St Andrews for 4 and a half years... clearly things have changed.

donpablo... there used to be a kickboxing class/club at the AU. Perhaps it's gone the way of the dodo, but I'd poke around to see if it's not just hiding.

Medievalist ... I did jujitsu for awhile at St Andrews. First thing we learned were chokes, kicks, joint submissions and the like. It was not taught as sport, though the option of competing was there. Don't generalise your American jujitsu experience, since there are dozens of 'schools' of jujitsu. Several years ago St Andrews also offered judo, tae kwondo, karate, and aikido, and perhaps a few other options. AU clubs were notoriously bad at getting their existence publicised, so you may have to actually go and see what's around after you arrive. Please note, that assuming things haven't changed, you will need to pay and apply for a license to practice martial arts in Scotland - I'm not sure, but this might entail a background check.

re: St Andrews being safe. The four years I was there, 2001-2005, I believe there were problems with violent serial rapes and beatings every year. It's great news that such doesn't happen any more, but I wouldn't assume absolute safety. Every year several hundred new people come to town, so you really don't know ahead of time how safe things will turn out to be... just like every other university. And most students travel, so how safe St Andrews may be is not entirely relevant if you're on holiday in Prague or Moscow... or New York.

Hennessey... you're right, if you're being mugged it's best to give them what they want and then run away. But I was attacked three times in the four years I was in Scotland for no other reason than I was American. Once in Inverness, once in Edinburgh, and once in St Andrews. These attacks did not follow provocation or argument which would have allowed me to 'calm down' the situation... they were out of the blue. Since I couldn't exactly give someone my 'American-ness' and it's kind of hard to run away when someone's hands are around you're throat, I'm very glad that I have had some self-defense training. There's a difference between retaliating for an attack by kicking the living shit out of someone - which seems to be what you have in mind when you think of martial arts - and taking actions to slow down your attacker and open up some space to let you escape the situation.

[Medievalist]

Spidersfrommars - Thanks for the invite, I'll definitely be checking out the judo. If I can ill be trying to do both judo and jujitsu... but i also want to check out some rugby too so based on scheduling ill have to determine what mixture of sports ill be able to join.

Lonelypilgrim - a license to do martial arts you say? That is ridiculous... not as ridiculous as the whole tv licensing thing but ridiculous none the less. I'm pretty sure I could get through a background check... although there is one arrest i got against me for barfighting that may pose a threat to that, but it was just a violation so hopefully not.

[Haunted]

It may not be of any relevance, but there seems a bit of politics going on at the Jujitsu club at the moment. They have supposedly severed ties with the governing body for Scotland (SJJA) in favour of joining the WJJF. I'm not sure if they've secured a new coach or what the ability of that coach would be.
It would, however, not be unreasonable to say that the previous coach is going to be a very hard guy to beat in terms of technical ability.

[donpablo]

I can't find any legal information on requiring a license to practice any martial art in Scotland. I think it's more of an administration and insurance thing that some associations will require it and some aren't as bothered. Seems like it is a bit of a catch all term that pretty much boils down to 'registering' as I can't see that any license is transferable between associations or styles and it sure isn't managed by any one official body unlike the SIA licenses required for door staff etc.

And we come to the TV license, a total misnomer! But calling it 'The Government enforced compulsory subscription to BBC' just would have people up in arms. Ironically you dont even need a license to have a TV just make sure you don't receive any signals to it. I don't know the exact legals of it but a contracted company enforces it and they need to jump through so many hoops to enforce the damn thing that they only really target idiots that say 'duhrrr I use a TV without a license, come into my house and look' that ever get charged because they work on commission. Even then captain stupid probably only gets a slap on the wrists. I don't think they even have those detector vans these days? I've not seen one for years or heard a mention of them. I suspect the EU had them put a stop to it due to privacy / human rights issues. Could be wrong there though.

Anyway back to the topic Jiujitsu definately seems worth investigating regardless of the politics and even Judo is tempting me.