Discipline and Structure in Sports

In the world of combat sports, wrestling has been at the pinnacle for many years. A sport that has a reputation to elevate your physical endurance and provide you with a resilient mind. Wrestling is a perfect base for MMA, with most UFC world champions at this time having a wrestling background.

 Discipline Wrestling Academy located at South Main Street in Milpitas, CA,  holds up to that standard. With coach Arsen, who has a lifetime of wrestling experience, as the head coach at the academy, students are taught the art of wrestling from the ground up. 

 Like many combat athletes, I wrestled all four years of high school, but upon graduating, I couldn't find any wrestling academies in the Bay Area. That is a problem many combat athletes face: just finding a wrestling school. About two years ago, after doing a Google search, I found Discipline Wrestling Academy and, because it’s nearby, I decided to go check it out.

When I first entered the parking lot, I was wondering if I was in the right place. The academy is located in a center that is surrounded by buildings identical to it, almost like garage storage units but on a larger scale. The red and black sign on the front door saying “Discipline Wrestling Academy” seemed very low-key and isolated. I walked inside and saw a small empty room with a desk, at this point still wondering if I was in the right place. To my right there was an open door with steam coming out of it and huffing and puffing noises. At this point I knew I was in the correct place. I walked through that door and saw the bright red wrestling mats, surrounded by matte black painted walls completely enclosing them. It felt like a sauna in there, with about 10 men on the mats fully focused and concentrated on executing a single-leg takedown, with the coach watching over them. No one batted an eye at me; it was like I was not even there until the coach came up to me with a welcoming tone, introducing me to what was happening and inviting me to get on the mats.

When I first stepped on the mat, I was overwhelmed with joy and excitement. No ego, and no one trying to hurt anyone; everyone was there to learn. Coach Arsen would show us a single-leg takedown and how to execute it, and we would spend 20 minutes just on that move, perfecting it as much as possible before moving on to the double leg.

I made the decision to commit to this gym and showed up again the next day to get the full class experience. Unlike the first time I went, this time I showed up at 5:50 PM, 10 minutes before class had begun. The same men I saw the first day, I saw again. But this time everyone was talking and having fun before class, exchanging ideas on how to warm up and what to expect from class. I felt the passion and excitement from everyone, including the coach. There was a range of student levels all taking the same class: some were complete beginners and some were wrestlers with many years of experience. But all were there for the same reason, to learn.

We began class at 6:00pm, not a minute late and not a minute early. We warmed up for about 30 minutes, beginning with basic jogging and arm and leg swings, then moving to more advanced moves like front and back rolls, ending the warm-up with neck bridges to make sure every part of your body was ready. We then went on to do one hour of drills of medium intensity, repeating the same moves over and over again until they became second nature. Drilling, to Coach Arsen, was the most important part of class. The last 30 minutes of class were dedicated to live flow wrestling to implement what we had learned in a live match. However, these live rounds of three minutes each were intended for us to improve and not hurt each other. We went at about 50–60% and allowed one another to try different moves. This is something you do not see often in most combat gyms. I have been to many wrestling gyms before the academy. Some may exceed in certain aspects like physical space and the number of athletes or coaches present. However, none are as structured, disciplined, friendly, and clean as the Discipline Wrestling Academy.

We ended practice with reflection and preparation for the next day, and this included, of course, cleaning and wiping the gym mats for the people coming in the next day. I felt excited and ready to come back. The discipline and structure of the class made it clear that this was a place where people truly wanted to improve. Everything we did had a purpose, from the warmups to the drills and even cleaning the mats at the end.