Western Washington University Western CEDAR Klipsun Magazine Western Student Publications Spring 2010 Klipsun Magazine, 2010, Volume 40, Issue 04 - Spring Allison Milton Western Washington University Follow this and additional works at: https://cedar.wwu.edu/klipsun_magazine Part of the Higher Education Commons, and the Journalism Studies Commons Recommended Citation Milton, Allison, "Klipsun Magazine, 2010, Volume 40, Issue 04 - Spring" (2010). Klipsun Magazine. 251. https://cedar.wwu.edu/klipsun_magazine/251 This Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Western Student Publications at Western CEDAR. It has been accepted for inclusion in Klipsun Magazine by an authorized administrator of Western CEDAR. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EDITOR'S NOTE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Allison Milton MANAGING EDITOR Gabrielle Nomura COPY EDITOR Stephanie Castillo STORY EDITORS Megan Brown Amy Sanford JillianVasquez ONLINE EDITOR Kelsey Sampson DESIGNERS Audrey Dubois-Boutet Rebecca Rice Lauren Sauser Dear Reader, PHOTO EDITOR Angelo Spagnolo You may not realize it, or acknowledge it in any way, but you re doing it right now. Your eyes are going LEAD PHOTOGRAPHER from right to left as you read these words. Time is passing, Cejae Thompson the clock is ticking and somewhere in the world, someone is fighting for social justice and maybe even for his or her PHOTOGRAPHERS right to party. Reiko Endo Movement. It s not just a physical action. Of course, Brooke Loisel movement is incorporated into our workouts and daily Rhys Logan routines. We move from one place to another. We move Madeline Stevens up in the professional world. And we even move our hips Skyler Wilder when Shakira tells us they don’t lie. But, movement is more than that, encompassing many aspects of our lives. ADVISER This issue of Klipsun takes a look at the various Peggy Watt types of movement. You will see how movement can be a daily habit, or a life-altering circumstance. From some­ WRITERS thing as simple as fidgeting to something as serious as Dan Balmer Brooke Loisel migration after a natural disaster, each story examines Reiko Endo Rod Lotter movement in a different light. Michael Homnick Brynn Regan In Handi-capable, the Seattle Slam quadriplegic Oliver Lazenby Madeline Stevens rugby team found new ways of moving, and in Skim Suc­ Rhys Logan Skyler Wilder cess, Western students turned their love of skimboarding into an international business. Happy reading! CONTACT KLIPSUN Telephone 360.650.3737 Allison Milton E-mail [email protected] Editor-in-Chief 2 I KLIPSUN COVER STORIES 12whenthe EARTH MOVES Lives are displaced by natural disasters. 1 6 SKIM SUCCESS A local skimboard company 4 BREAKDOWN OF A goes international. BLOODSPORT 8THERIGHTTO SKATE 20 HANDI-CAPABLE 19TAKING CHARGE Quadriplegic athletes turn disability into ability. 24 NAUTICAL NOMADS 26 ACT II: LIFE AFTER BALLET ONLINE @ KLIPSUN.WWU.EDU: 28 SURVIVAL OF HISTORY Driving South for the Winter Bellingham Auto Racing 31 FRUITFUL FIDGETING Forwarding Kindness ON THE COVER: DB Skimboards team riderTony Saddler throws a frontside shove-it out of a make-shift pole-jam. Blocked at the Border Photo by Skyler Wilder | KLIPSUN SPRING 2010 I 3 A BLOOD SPORT Male and female fighters punch through misconceptions of mixed martial arts Story and photos by Rhys Logan ts like entering another world. in Bellingham, that teaches Brazil­ Not what one might expect to Floor mats, punching bags, ian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai kickbox­ hear from a veteran of the sport of weights, speed bags, striking ing, MMA, wrestling and boxing. hand-to-hand combat, in which the Idummies and Ultimate Fighting The WCFC puts on several events goal is to either knock the oppo­ Championship posters line the walls. a year through Fight Night En­ nent out, choke them unconscious A full-size fight ring fills one cor­ tertainment, a Washington-based or submit them by tap-out. But ner in the former warehouse. The nonprofit organization focused on Houston says at its core, MMA is a strong smell of sweat and cleaning promoting MMA events. sport that breeds humility. chemicals is overwhelming as about Hosting MMA classes, “There is always someone out a dozen chiseled fighters punch, kick, sponsoring an amateur MMA team there who is bigger and badder than train and pound on every piece of and providing a facility for exercise you,” Houston says. “IVe seen guys equipment in sight — or on each and training, the WCFC promotes who have never even spoken to each other. And that is just the ground itself as a place where anyone from other, then fought, and now they Ve level. Upstairs, an entire floor of mats beginners to professional fighters been friends for years.” is dedicated to sparring, wrestling, can train, learn and enjoy the sport Houston says he has seen grappling with training classes given of MMA. the shocking difference in society's almost every night of the week. “One thing we have based acceptance of MMA since he began This is home for Cody this gym on since day one is a fami­ training 10 years ago. He used to Houston. Houston is the head ly and team environment,” Houston rent Ultimate Fighting Champion­ instructor at West Coast Fight says. “This type of training really ship videos from porn shops because Club (WCFC), a mixed martial arts develops strong bonds — everybody they were considered indecent. (MMA) gym on Franklin Street here is literally family.” “People just called it a 'blood sport,”’ Houston says. “But that was LEFT; Fighter Stephanie Eggink lands a right hook in a Muay simply because they didn’t under­ Thai Kickboxing match versus Gabi Maxwell during the Fight stand what we do.” Night Entertainment "Round V"fight series last September at Houston says sometimes the Bellingham Sportsplex. he worries that MMA’s increase SPRING 2010 I 5 LEFT: Fighter Stephanie Eggink practices her punching fornn on the hand of fellow WCFC fight club mennber Kyleen Smith. RIGHT: WCFC Fighter and wres­ tling coach Harrison Bevens, top, practices striking from the "guard" position with professional MMA fighter Jason Crawford at West Coast Fight Club. in mainstream popularity could says she experienced too many partner up and use a flat-surfaced contribute to the sport losing its politics and too much arrogance in glove to practice combination heart. Television shows such as “The boxing. punching. Next, the fighters work Ultimate Fighter” can misrepresent “MMA is a much more on grappling and wrestling, in what MMA fighters do. humble than boxing,” Eggink says. which fighters partner up and prac­ “We dont bring in the egotis­ “In boxing it takes just your hands; tice escapes, take-downs, submis­ tical fighter,” Houston says. “We do in MMA it takes your entire body. sion and wrestling maneuvers, all our training in here, so there is no You have to give it all.” while striking each other in spar­ reason to go out and prove anything Eggink says one of her big­ ring style at an energy level of what on the street.” gest challenges in MMA is over­ Houston calls ‘75 percent.’ Exemplifying the progression coming the stereotypes of womens A cardio workout and more of MMA is WCFC boxing coach sports. stretching finishes the day for most and fighter Stephanie Eggink. She says comments always of the fighters in the studio, but Eggink, 21, was formerly on surface regarding looks, or the Eggink isn’t finished. Houston the U.S. Olympic National Boxing sarcastic realization, 'Oh, she can trains Eggink and WCFC fighter Team and a professional boxer. In actually fight.' and wrestling coach Harrison Bev­ 2007, at just 18, she was named “I want to prove that girls can ens a little extra as amateur spon­ number one in the nation in ama­ be just as badass as guys,” Eggink sored team members. teur boxing and competed for the says. “We definitely have to work Several circuits of roundhouse U.S. in the Pan American Games in harder to get respect.” leg kicks, rope climbing, catching Brazil. And Eggink works hard. A and throwing the medicine ball leave In January, Eggink won her typical workout at WCFC starts Eggink and Bevens doubled over or first professional boxing match at with stretching, warm-ups and laying on the matted floor. the Silver Reef Casino in Ferndale. jump rope circuits. Houston, Eggink and Bevens But Eggink traded it all for It then transitions into tech­ spend most of their daily lives at MMA. She retired from profes­ nique drills, perfecting punching WCFC, and wouldn’t have it any sional boxing, and now focuses all form and body position. Punching other way. her training on the sport. Eggink mitt drills follow, in which fighters “I don’t do much else besides // IN BOXING IT TAKES JUST YOUR HANDS; IN MMA ITTAKES YOUR ENTIRE BODY. YOU HAVE TO GIVE IT ALL. // - STEPHANIE EGGINK, MMA FIGHTER 6 I KLIPSUN work and come here,” Bevens says. amateur bout he defeated an op­ ton says. Bellingham native Bevens, 23, ponent who outweighed him by 80 Houston says the future of teaches WCFC classes Wednesday pounds. the gym and of MM A is bright. nights but continues training in “When I get in the ring, I get “MMA will eventually be in preparation of defending his Fight tunnel vision,” Sorrentino says. “You the Olympics,” he says. “The athletes Night Entertainment title as the don’t hear the crowd or anything else in mixed martial arts are some of the 170-pound titleholder. but your coaches in your corner.” best trained athletes in the world. “I like knowing that my Sorrentino says there is Even in 10 years, you will see a com­ teammates are focused on getting nothing like getting your hand pletely evolved version of the sport, me ready,” Bevens says.