Being buddies, not bullies
Pilot program fuses mixed martial arts with anti-bullying message
Robin Grant
Northern News Services
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The children were rapt while listening to veteran mixed martial arts instructor Darrel Ouellette talk about bully prevention.
Nadis Pardy practices a punch during the Be A Buddy Not A Bully program at Arctic Combat Fitness on Nov. 22. The pilot program teaches youth self-defence skills as well as how to deal with bullies. - Robin Grant/NNSL photo |
"They want to take your spirit away, they want to make you feel mad, hurt but you're not going to let them do that," he told them.
"Because you're going to learn skills in this program. You are going to learn how to fall, how to strike but we only use that for what? To defend ourselves."
Understanding how to deal with bullies is the main objective of Be a Buddy Not a Bully, a mixed martial arts pilot program run by Arctic Combat Fitness in Kam Lake.
The program, established by the Edmonton-based Kamikaze Punishment Foundation, trains children in boxing, judo, taekwondo, karate and wrestling.
However, the overarching theme of the program is bully prevention. The classes are specifically designed to help young people understand what bullying is and how it negatively effects the community.
"We work with kids on how to deal with bullies in their schools, their home and how to talk to parents about it," explained Ouellette.
"We try to give the parents some insight too into what's going on, because a lot of people say they are OK when they are bullied - but they really are not."
The program lays out safe and practical ways of dealing with bullies with motivational speeches. It covers the definition of bullying, ways bullying can affect people, ways to deal with bullies, cyber-bullying and effective self-defense tactics.
"The more tools you have in your tool belt, the better you're going to be," Ouellette continued.
He said the program also attempts to get to the root of the issue, such as the reasons why certain children are bullied, and then provides the youth with an arsenal of skills to protect and prevent it.
"They also learn teamwork," he explained. "They're learning about being an upstander instead of a bystander - so if you see your friends are getting bullied what are you going to do?"
One of the participants, Jaden Chocolate, said the program has helped him regain confidence after being bullied at school.
"I came here because I got into fights and I've also been bullied," he said.
"It teaches how to talk to bullies and what kind of bullies there are."
Symone Berube told Yellowknifer she is learning it's OK to be herself.
"It's been really helping a lot," she said. "I've learned how to not to let (bullies) bother you. And make sure you don't let them take your spirit away."
The program takes place every Tuesday evening.
