Tazmanian Boxing Club in Carson City teaches anti-bullying, self-defense for community

It's a frigid Wednesday night outside, but inside the Tazmanian Boxing Club in Carson City, the gym is packed with children and adults working up a sweat while learning valuable skills.

Club owner Francisco "Cisco" Rodriguez has surrounded himself with a team of fitness professionals empowering clients to do and be their very best in life.

From self-defense training to an innovative anti-bullying program, instructors at Tazmanian Boxing Club are training generations of people to stand up for themselves.

Juan and J.J. Torres are a father-and-son mixed martial arts team that run Torres MMA out of Tazmanian Boxing Club.

Both have played a critical role in bringing the club's anti-bullying program to life.

"We teach kids how to stand up for themselves and for others," said J.J. Torres, a seven-year veteran of MMA, kickboxing and boxing. His father, Juan, is a perennial kickboxing champion, who began teaching J.J. Kung Fu at the age of 3.

"Our program is designed to give children more self-confidence and teach them the difference between good and bad behavior," J.J. said. "We're mostly working on their self-confidence and getting them comfortable with certain situations.

"We want them to be able to say they can take care of themselves in a bullying situation," he added. "Many kids feel insecure about themselves, and here we help them regain that confidence."

A successful anti-bullying program, he said, focuses first on learning to speak up for oneself and how to avoid getting into a fight.

"Kids get bullied and they feel ashamed, embarrassed and keep to themselves," J.J. said. "We try to give them that confidence to speak up for themselves and know the importance of camaraderie."

A healthy support system is key to helping a child overcome bullying, he said, a team of adults and peers who are positive influences.

That same support system, J.J. said, can also hold a child accountable for their actions and prevent them from becoming bullies themselves.

"Put friends around you that will keep you in check," he said. "Just because you are friends doesn't mean it's okay to let a friend bully."

Learning to give respect to one another first in order to get respect back is a foundation principle of anti-bullying, J.J. said.

"We have to teach our kids how to be in control of themselves and situations," Tazmanian Boxing Club owner Cisco Rodriguez said. "We teach them the values of self-control, self-respect and respect for others."

But not all situations can be mitigated with respect if one person has none for the other.

That's why Juan and J.J. incorporate self-defense into their curriculum.

Nick Artam teaches his own unique style of self-defense at Tazmanian Boxing Club.

The 10-year, active-duty U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) and Afghanistan combat veteran brought what he calls military martial arts to Tazmanian Boxing Club in December.

Though Artam also teaches traditional MMA for sport, his military martial arts training for geared toward survival in dangerous situations.

"Mine is not designed for sport," he said. "It is more for practical self-defense, teaching people how to get out of a situation; not really fight, but get to safety and call for help."

Artam said he uses a lot of techniques that he learned from his combat training. He also taught self-defense as a Marine Sergeant.

"We do a lot of what I call combat conditioning," Artam said, "which technically is circuit training and high-intensity interval training (HIIT)."

Artam said he did some MMA fighting in the ring as part of the USMC and he also participates gives anti-bullying self-defense lessons for children. But his specialty is the self-defense component of combat that every Marine must learn to survive in battle.

Artam, also a personal trainer, currently teaches military martial arts Mondays and Wednesdays from 7-8 p.m.

Nick can be reached at Nicholasartam@gmail.com or by calling 775-400-1138.

Youth classes, including the Torres MMA anti-bullying program, occur every week night at Tazmanian Boxing Club from 6-8 p.m.

Visit tazmanianboxingclub.com online, email Tazmanianboxingclub@gmail.com, or call (775) 722-1752 for more information.

Tazmanian Boxing Club, located at 3737 North Carson Street in Carson City can be found on Facebook, too, at www.facebook.com/Tazmanian-boxing-club.