Jiu Jitsu Class at UB

“I really need to learn how to defend myself,” is what many people around campus are saying after recent events around campus have left students fearing about their own safety. What many students don’t know, is that there is a club at UB that teaches self-defense. The Kuntao Jiu Jitsu club meets every Tuesday and Wednesday night from 6:30 to 8:30 pm in the Martial Arts room in Wheeler Recreation Center. Kuntao Jiu Jitsu was designed for the purpose of protecting oneself if attacked in the open. The techniques are designed to end any altercations within 3-5 seconds, no more. It is a very brutal, violent, and fast system, and it is without a doubt one of the most effective styles of self-defense you will ever find. The class is taught by Sensei Matt Mendillo, a chiropractic student at UB, who has been studying martial arts for seventeen years and Kuntao Jiu Jitsu for eight. Sensei Mendillio will be tested for his second degree back belt in December of this year.”I really enjoy my self. Sensei Matts, my hero, I really look up to him. He’s a great teacher, he has taught me how to defend myself,” says student, Nate Martinez, who is being trained by Sensei Mendillo and hopes to one day be a UFC fighter. The club was actually started when he was a student at the University of Rhode Island, when a friend asked him and his instructor to do a seminar after a student was attacked on campus. That lead to more seminars and finally, to the opening of the Jiu Jitsu Club which became the second largest club after the SGA. When coming to UB in 2003, Sensei Mendillo lobbied the SGA to start up the Jiu Jitsu Club to teach students how to defend themselves with little-to-no effort. Here at UB, the club is thriving. Students are not only learning self-defense but also, a greater sense of self-worth, self-esteem, along with a certain knowledge of anatomy, including the skeletal system, and the nervous system, and finally, how to achieve the maximum effect with minimum effort.Lets face it, Bridgeport is not the safest place to live. Look around you; consider the recent events that have unfolded in the past week. It is a dangerous area, at a dangerous time. In this day and age, we all need to learn to defend ourselves because we don’t know what danger may be lurking around every corner. You don’t have to be defenseless, you can fight back and with Jiu Jitsu, it doesn’t have to be that hard. Anyone who has been to even one class can tell you that in 3-5 seconds you can have your opponent face down on the ground, either physically unable to continue or mentally not wanting to. Danger may be lurking around any corner. Don’t let yourself be caught defenseless.