With the popularity of mixed martial arts skyrocketing, Diablo Valley College students may be wondering where they could learn some of the same techniques of their favorite fighters, along with many other students who are interested in similar and different arts.

The DVC aikido jiujitsu club is a club that meets for training on Sundays from 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. for jiujitsu training. They continue from 3 p.m. to 5:30 for Aikido, and conclude with weapons training from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The sessions are lead by Sensei Steven Rodriguez and Sensei Derek Baure, both of whom are black belts.

They teach their students the principles of danzan ryu jiujitsu, as well as the principles of aikido.

“Danzan ryu jiu-jitsu is focused towards joint locks, pins and throws using the principle of leverage,” said Baure, “whereas with aikido [it] is more of a nonaggressive discipline of martial arts that comprises more of the defensive techniques and principles of movement.”

In Aikido they work with weapons such as the bokken, which is the wooden sword, and the jo, the mid-length staff.

Unfortunately the club has yet to attend a tournament because of their current club status, where they aren’t actually an official DVC club yet.

Issues that the club is facing are the contrasting cross of the two disciplines and styles, which make it difficult for them to find tournaments that the entire group can participate in. With a group of about 50 students over the past two semesters, the club has been largely successful in bringing interest to students especially through demonstrations in the quad. During the demonstrations club members take what they learn in training to show students the benefits of joining the club.

The training sessions are based off of student participation, with the day’s lessons geared toward answering student’s questions, whether they are on techniques that they need to work on, or something new they have seen and were eager to learn. The senseis oversee the training sessions to help their students improve, through training techniques and light informal competition.

 “At the end of the class we do light competitions, and if we have questions about where we could have improved, they are both always very enthusiastic about helping,” said Mardig Ekmekjian, a student in the Aikido- jiujitsu club.

The success of the club isn’t measured in their status, but in the enthusiasm in their members.

“Personally I feel that these are some of the best instructors I’ve had, not because they know more than someone else or they are of a certain rank but because they won’t stand by and watch when they see something that could be corrected, they show you how to improve yourself and everyone around you.” Said Ekmekjian “They aren’t teaching classes to make a living, they’re teaching classes because they love doing it, they love to share their knowledge and guide students to a better understanding of what’s being taught.”

Unfortunately the difficulty of finding their adviser and gaining their club status is halting their progress.

“The only difficulty the club has had is finding a faculty member to sponsor them,” said Travis Jenkins, the club secretary.

However the club isn’t concerned with that, because to them the learning is the most important aspect of the club.

“Through training both martial arts our goal is to hone not just the body but also the mind,” said Baure.