It’s 6 p.m. on a Wednesday night and people are just starting to file into the small padded room in the Spaulding Gymnasium at Keene State College between the basketball and racquetball courts. Most KSC students don’t know the modest room exists—its closed doors could be mistaken for a janitor’s closet – but it’s here that the Brazilian Ju Jitsu club calls home.
“I like the club because it’s a good workout,” Ryan Daly said. “Plus I get to choke out my friends, what could be bad about that?”
Zach Winn / Sports Editor: BJJ President Arian Deihim-Panah teaches club members a take-down technique at a meeting in the Spaulding Gymnasium on Sept. 17.
All the club members laughed at Daly’s reasoning because they know things never get too serious during sparring sessions.
In fact, when asked about the worst injury they’ve heard of at the club, no one can come up with anything worse than a sore shoulder.
“I think that’s the most common misconception, that we’re brutes or bullies or fighters,” Club President Arian Deihim-Panah said. “I got the general feeling that people were intimidated by the idea of martial arts, probably because they think of karate studios where people are squatting for half-an-hour and punching cinder blocks. It’s nothing like that.”
The club was started back in 2008, when the school began paying a black belt to come to the campus and instruct students.
Soon it was decided that it would be cheaper to fund students’ memberships at the local Brazilian Ju Jitsu club, Flow, in Swanzey, N.H.
That’s where Deihim-Panah, who frequented Flow throughout high school, came in.
“Once I decided to go to KSC I was asked by the president at the time [Shane Merritt] to start coaching,” Deihim-Panah said.
So now Deihim-Panah, a sophomore majoring in exercise science, runs the club on campus on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
They also go to Flow for black belt instruction every other day of the week, although they stressed that every day is optional.
“Ju Jitsu is the gentlest form of martial arts,” Deihim-Panah said. “You can spar everyday, whereas other martial arts you can’t. If you get a concussion you can’t spar for a while.”
Deihim-Panah is referring to the fact that there is no striking in Brazilian Ju Jitsu, only grappling. Add that to the list of things that may surprise the casual martial arts fan about the club.
“The main thing is that it’s a very friendly club and that you learn a lot,” sophomore Sydnie Kleiman said.
“You can practice MMA [mixed martial arts] without being afraid of getting hurt.”
Kleiman is one of four girls who regularly attends the sessions in addition to the numerous people that occasionally show up for the on campus sessions.
But those people have been coming less often as of lately, and that has got Deihim-Panah scrambling to find new members.
“We really need to develop our student body,” Deihim-Panah said. “Right now that’s our biggest concern.”
Deihim-Panah went on to list his participation in the student involvement fairs, the flyers he’s peppered the campus with and the club’s newly created Facebook group as the methods he’s used to reach out to students.
The group is also looking to compete in tournaments and hold seminars like ‘Women Empowered’ and ‘Bully-proof.’
But those ambitious expectations seem far away on this particular Wednesday night, as just seven students show up for the session.
Not that any of them seemed to mind.
“We all love Brazilian Ju Jitsu,” Daly said emphatically.
“We all watch [Ultimate Fighting Championship] and get pumped up, then realize it’s not that much fun to get punched in the face all day. This is an awesome way to stay in shape without breaking my nose six times a week.”
This time no one laughed. Daly had a point.
Zach Winn can be contacted at
zwinn@keene-equinox.com