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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2012
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Jiu Jitsu club welcomes any with interest
JOSEPH DAUGHERTY
jdaugherty@kansan.com
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The University of Kansas jiu jitsu club has 20 new faces this semester, including some who have never practiced jiu jitsu before.
The skill levels of the members of the jiu jitsu club vary, ranging from seasoned veterans with years of practice to beginners without any exposure to the mixed martial arts sport. Many of the club members joined without any experience and ended up loving it.
"When I first started, it was really rough because I was rolling with guys who were a lot better than me," said Andrew Johns, jui jitsu club president. "You kind of get your ass kicked for a while before you learn what you're doing. I mean you have to learn the hard way."
Johns said at the beginning that it was difficult and he frequently lost, but his fellow teammates helped him learn from his mistakes.
His freshman year he competed in a Chicago tournament and did well, and that gave him more motivation to keep practicing jiu jitsu. Johns has now been practicing the sport for nearly four years — his entire college career.
Jiu jitsu is a martial art based on taking people to the ground. The sport is designed so the smaller person has an advantage once taken to the ground.
When describing the martial arts sport, John explains jiu jitsu as the part of Ultimate Fighting that takes place on the ground.
Other members of the iju jitsu club
compare it to physical chess. Jiu jitsu is more than physical prowess, with the smaller person often beating the larger opponent. Chris Goessing, one of the coaches for the jiu jitsu club, weighs in at around 145 pounds.
"It is more of a mental game than the physical game," Goessing said. "I like the focus on technique and not on strength because I am a smaller guy, but bigger guys have fun with it too."
With so many new members in the jiu jitsu club, there were many different reasons as to why people joined the club, and each new member joined with a different skill level.
"I have always been interested in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), and I have a black belt in taekwondo, and I was a wrestler," freshman Tanner Taylor said. "It's kind of like a mix of martial arts and wrestling, so I thought it would be a good fit for me."
The jiu jitsu club is not just for guys; there are four girls in the club. One of the newest female members is the club president's sister.
"Hearing my brother talk about it is what really got me interested in the club," freshman Katie Johns said.
But as far as being a girl, Katie said she has never felt out of place practicing with the guys and gets treated like any other member of the club.
"The first couple (of practices) have gone really well. The coaches do a great job of going through the move step by step and breaking them down for the newer people."
Edited by Laken Rapier
TENNIS
Fournier pleased with transfer back to Kansas
TYLER CONOVER
tconover@kansan.com
Last year, junior Haley Fournier decided to transfer from Texas Tech and return to her home state of Kansas to play for the Jayhawks. Fournier went to high school 36 miles away from the University of
Kansas at Blue Valley North in Overland Park.
She had an impressive high school career, accumulating seven state championships
Fournier
Following high school, Fournier decided Texas Tech was the right fit for her. Although Fournier had a good freshman season, she said she wasn't happy playing 11 hours from home.
while at Blue Valley North playing soccer and tennis. She was named a two-time All-American in tennis as well as being rated the number one women's tennis player in the state, according to Tennisrecruiting.net.
"I got home sick, I just wanted to be closer to home," Fournier said. "I just have such a bigger support system here. It is a lot
Fournier will be a helpful addition to the layhawkes for the 2012 season. She was unable to play in 2011 because of NCAA transfer regulations.
more comfortable playing at Kansas."
"I think she is going to transition really well," Hall-Holt said. "She is definitely a mentally sound player, a mentally tough player, so I think she will add a lot of command to the team."
Kansas did not have the best season last year with a 9-13 record, but eight players are returning from last season. And with the addition of a proven winner like Fournier, the team hopes there will be a spark on the court.
Even though she has yet to take the court, coach Amy Hall-Holt believes Fournier will be an instant contributor for the Jayhawks in the upcoming season.
After a disappointing season, getting on the right track might be difficult, but Fournier is aware of the challenges ahead. After missing last season, she is ready to get back to the grind.
Edited by Ryan McCarthy
"I feel like I'm on my home turf now." Fournier said. "I'm excited to be able to compete again after having sat out for a year."
EXTREME SPORTS
A TV camera films during a bullfight in Valladolid, Spain on Wednesday Bullfights returned live to Spanish state TV Wednesday evening, six years after the fights were banned from the widely watched public channel with the broadcast featuring one of Spain's most storied bullfighters.
Bullfighters make television debut after serving six-year ban in Spain
ASSOCIATED PRESS
But the Socialists were ousted in November by voters outraged over Spain's nose-diving economy, and the conservative Popular Party that won in a landslide is lied
MADRID - Bullfights returned live to State TV with a glittering and music-filled display on Wednesday evening, six years after the fights were banned from the widely watched public channel.
The broadcast featured three of Spain's most famous bullfighters and bulls by a renowned breeder, giving a boost to a tradition hit hard by declining popularity and a dire economic crisis.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The transmissions were hated in 2006 by Spain's previous Socialist administration, which said they were costly and coincided with key TV viewing hours for young children.
Julian Lopez, known by his stage name of "El Jilu", killed three hulking half-toon bulls raised by Victoriano del Rito.
He and fellow matador Alejandro Talavante delighted the crowd at northern city Valladolid and were carried out of the bullring on their assistants' shoulders, an honor accorded only to fighters that have thrilled their audiences.
The RTVE broadcast was a big victory for pro-bullfighting forces that saw bullfighting banned altogether this year in the northeastern region of Catalonia; it's a defeat for animal rights activists who denounce bullfighting as barbaric.
Lopez and the other fighters had waived image rights payments demanded in better economic times to broadcast their battles, a decision that helped Spain's new austerity-minded conservative government in its drive to get the fights back on national TV and promote bullfighting as important cultural heritage.
"I am now conscious of the fact that the future of bulbfighting is far more important than my own future," said Lopez.
by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, a staunch bullfighting defender.
Bullfighting aficionados hope the revived national broadcasts will spur renewed interest in the fights and reverse the trend of increasingly graying audiences seen in bullfighting rings with more and more empty seats. The tradition has also suffered deep cutbacks over the last several years by Spanish towns and cities that traditionally fund fights during the summer months.
But bullfighting is steeped in history, and the centuries-old events that inspired the likes of Goya, Picasso and Herningway are also popular in Colombia, Ecuador, France and Mexico.
Wednesday's fight is one of the last of this year's season and RTVE
hasn't yet said how many it will air next year, though supporters want frequent broadcasts, especially from the most famous bullrings in Madrid and Seville
he subsidized buses so Madrid fans 30 or under could get there for €25 ($30) each for the 420-kilometer (260-mile) round trip voyage.
Bullfighting foes who were energized last year after Catalonia became the second Spanish region to ban bullfights are decaying the live broadcasts as a waste of air time for spectacles squeezed by declining interest driven by generational change and hard times.
"It's a step backward from the achievement of removing bullfights from the television schedule" said Aida Gascon, a spokeswoman for the anti-bullfight group AnimaNaturalis.
She called the move a desperation effort to jumpstart interest in a sport that is doomed to fail, claiming "bullfires are followed mostlv
Elite Spanish bullfighter are millionaires who can make more than €100,000 ($125,00°C) for each appearance. El Juli this year started paying half the cost of bullfight tickets bought by people age 30 and under. For Wednesday's event,
"Hopeless now through Spanish TV our media can once again generate enthusiasm among the people, the masses," said Del Rio, the breeder of the six bells killed Wednesday by El Juli and two other matadores. Bullfighting, he added, "is something that changes every second, a moment of life, a momentary breath, that I believe will once again take root among the people."
VICTORIANO DEL RIO Bull breeder
placed by younger people."
Alfonso Nasarre, communications director of Spain's state TV, said the decision to include bullfights in the schedule once again was not politically motivated. "Accurate audience data will prove we are right," he said, but he would not confirm that bullfights will form part of the broadcaster's permanent output, saying only that "bulldog- related news will be given a higher priority."
Bullfighting advocates aren't easing up the pressure with their coup of getting the fights back on TV.
Last March they presented a petition with 500,000 signatures
to Parliament, demanding that bullfighting be classified as being in the interest of preserving Spanish culture. Rajoy's administration is expected to introduce legislation that would give the events the designation, which would overturn the Catalonia ban and a 1991 bullfighting ban for Spain's Canary Islands.