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Mixed Martial Arts a hit, grapple and kick
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| Thad Handrick [left], 36, and David Reid, 24, both of the Freedom School of Martial Arts in Palmer Lake are both just beginning their Mixed Martial Arts careers. Courtesy photo |
By Ryan Boldrey
Mixed Martial Arts is one of the fastest growing sports in the USA, and local artists are quietly taking notice.
Thad Handrick, 36, and David Reid, 24, both of the Tri-Lakes area, and both students of the Freedom School of Martial Arts in Palmer Lake— the only place in Palmer Lake or Monument one can currently study MMA— have both decided to use their diverse backgrounds in fighting and step into the ring.
Reid, an Army veteran with a combative background, just fought his first fight Nov. 13 in Colorado Springs, while Handrick, a former four-time national qualifying collegiate wrestler at Morehead State in the 90s, will begin his MMA career Dec. 5 in Castle Rock.
For each of them it was a different road, however, that brought them into the Freedom School.
“I’ve always been interested in it, and I knew my wrestling background would be helpful with it, so I thought I’d give it a try,” said Handrick, who started training for MMA just over two months ago, and has not competed in man-to-man fashion since his collegiate wrestling days ended in ‘96.
“My personality really craves it,” he said of the competition. “All the different aspects of the fighting, the ground grappling, the stand-up striking, the kicks, it’s exciting.”
The challenge for him has been learning the art of striking and kicking.
“I’ve also never had to worry about getting hit in the head in the past,” he said.
The biggest motivator for Handrick, however, has been his three kids, one of whom, Brenden, he helps coach in the Lewis-Palmer Middle School wrestling program.
“I’m just trying to do this to prove to my kids that at any age you can go out and if you have goals you can accomplish them,” he said.
When it comes to coaching he said that competing in MMA has helped him to solidify what he knows in terms of wrestling, since it has been so long since he has competed. “The stuff I am coaching them, I am also bringing it in to the practice room here and vice-versa. It’s helped all around,” he said.
As for Reid, it took driving by King Soopers in Monument and seeing a sign planted in the ground advertising the Freedom School that got him intrigued.
Having studied combative training and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu when in the Army, Reid has had somewhat of an opposite experience to Handrick’s since beginning to put all the different martial arts forms together.
“The wrestling-styled takedowns have been the most difficult for me to learn,” he said. “Everything else has fallen for me very well, but that one has been kind of a hiccup point.”
Reid, who has been training for his first fight since May of 2008, has been eager to get into the ring, and said that the anticipation and build-up has been tough.
“I like the personal challenges, because when it comes down to it, it’s just you and the guy you are facing off against,” he said. “You can’t blame anything on the guys you train with or on your coach, it’s just all up to you.”
Good for him, he and Handrick are both in experienced hands when it comes to their coach. Freedom School instructor Kurt Frankenburg has been practicing various forms of martial arts since 1975 and he has been instructing since he opened his first studio at the Chapel Hills Mall in ‘86.
Frankenburg, 41, grew up in an Air Force family, and because of it moved around a lot. He began studying taekwondo in Alaska at age 7 and then moved on to boxing in South Carolina two years later. From there he went to Tang Soo Do— the same martial art Chuck Norris began with— and then his instructor moved so he went onto Shotokan before settling on Chinese Kempo Karate, of which he holds a fourth-degree black belt and has spent a lifetime studying and teaching.
Frankenburg’s background also includes such things as Phillipino-style stick and knife fighting and Indonesian martial arts such as Silat. As well, he has a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu, which he earned while studying under former World Champion Daryl Johnson. When he first became interested in the mixed martial arts, however, it was the ever-popular form of wrestling that he struggled with the most.
“The first time I saw the UFC in 1993, I had to be real honest that I didn’t know how to defend some of the stuff,” he said. “So I called the wrestling coach at Liberty High School, Dean Wilfong, and said ‘can I come down and learn some wrestling?’ And there I was 18 years into the business and a 15-year-old kid was taking me down with stuff that I didn’t have any defense for, but that was exciting because I felt like a white belt again and I always like to feel like I am learning something new.”
It would likely be hard for a 15-year-old kid to take down Frankenburg today on the wrestling mat, but the mentor is always happy to teach the right kind of people the various art forms he knows.
And beginning in May of 2008 with students such as Reid, he began teaching all of the combined art forms that he loves under one banner.
For more information on the Freedom School, contact Frankenburg at kurt@freedomschool.com.
Thad Handrick, 36, and David Reid, 24, both of the Tri-Lakes area, and both students of the Freedom School of Martial Arts in Palmer Lake— the only place in Palmer Lake or Monument one can currently study MMA— have both decided to use their diverse backgrounds in fighting and step into the ring.
Reid, an Army veteran with a combative background, just fought his first fight Nov. 13 in Colorado Springs, while Handrick, a former four-time national qualifying collegiate wrestler at Morehead State in the 90s, will begin his MMA career Dec. 5 in Castle Rock.
For each of them it was a different road, however, that brought them into the Freedom School.
“I’ve always been interested in it, and I knew my wrestling background would be helpful with it, so I thought I’d give it a try,” said Handrick, who started training for MMA just over two months ago, and has not competed in man-to-man fashion since his collegiate wrestling days ended in ‘96.
“My personality really craves it,” he said of the competition. “All the different aspects of the fighting, the ground grappling, the stand-up striking, the kicks, it’s exciting.”
The challenge for him has been learning the art of striking and kicking.
“I’ve also never had to worry about getting hit in the head in the past,” he said.
The biggest motivator for Handrick, however, has been his three kids, one of whom, Brenden, he helps coach in the Lewis-Palmer Middle School wrestling program.
“I’m just trying to do this to prove to my kids that at any age you can go out and if you have goals you can accomplish them,” he said.
When it comes to coaching he said that competing in MMA has helped him to solidify what he knows in terms of wrestling, since it has been so long since he has competed. “The stuff I am coaching them, I am also bringing it in to the practice room here and vice-versa. It’s helped all around,” he said.
As for Reid, it took driving by King Soopers in Monument and seeing a sign planted in the ground advertising the Freedom School that got him intrigued.
Having studied combative training and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu when in the Army, Reid has had somewhat of an opposite experience to Handrick’s since beginning to put all the different martial arts forms together.
“The wrestling-styled takedowns have been the most difficult for me to learn,” he said. “Everything else has fallen for me very well, but that one has been kind of a hiccup point.”
Reid, who has been training for his first fight since May of 2008, has been eager to get into the ring, and said that the anticipation and build-up has been tough.
“I like the personal challenges, because when it comes down to it, it’s just you and the guy you are facing off against,” he said. “You can’t blame anything on the guys you train with or on your coach, it’s just all up to you.”
Good for him, he and Handrick are both in experienced hands when it comes to their coach. Freedom School instructor Kurt Frankenburg has been practicing various forms of martial arts since 1975 and he has been instructing since he opened his first studio at the Chapel Hills Mall in ‘86.
Frankenburg, 41, grew up in an Air Force family, and because of it moved around a lot. He began studying taekwondo in Alaska at age 7 and then moved on to boxing in South Carolina two years later. From there he went to Tang Soo Do— the same martial art Chuck Norris began with— and then his instructor moved so he went onto Shotokan before settling on Chinese Kempo Karate, of which he holds a fourth-degree black belt and has spent a lifetime studying and teaching.
Frankenburg’s background also includes such things as Phillipino-style stick and knife fighting and Indonesian martial arts such as Silat. As well, he has a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu, which he earned while studying under former World Champion Daryl Johnson. When he first became interested in the mixed martial arts, however, it was the ever-popular form of wrestling that he struggled with the most.
“The first time I saw the UFC in 1993, I had to be real honest that I didn’t know how to defend some of the stuff,” he said. “So I called the wrestling coach at Liberty High School, Dean Wilfong, and said ‘can I come down and learn some wrestling?’ And there I was 18 years into the business and a 15-year-old kid was taking me down with stuff that I didn’t have any defense for, but that was exciting because I felt like a white belt again and I always like to feel like I am learning something new.”
It would likely be hard for a 15-year-old kid to take down Frankenburg today on the wrestling mat, but the mentor is always happy to teach the right kind of people the various art forms he knows.
And beginning in May of 2008 with students such as Reid, he began teaching all of the combined art forms that he loves under one banner.
For more information on the Freedom School, contact Frankenburg at kurt@freedomschool.com.
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