BATON ROUGE — Gridiron Mixed Martial Arts is hosting its community grand opening on Wednesday, but the gym, located right off Hooper Road, teaches more than just takedowns and punches.
“When we talk, we talk about building capable humans, and what that means is being able to rely on yourself, and being able to do that means to be able to take care of yourself, defend yourself, defend the things you love, and a lot of things come with that. It’s not just all about defending yourself; you build friendships,” Owner and Instructor Rami Patan said.
He stresses that the lessons learned inside the gym go far beyond the mat and the classroom; they carry over to the outside world.
“I think everybody can benefit from it, and this area can benefit from it, then that’s what I did my job,” he said.
District 2 Councilman Anthony Kenney says the gym gives young people another positive outlet to strengthen their mind, body, and competitive spirit.
“People think extracurricular is just about after school, which it is, but organizations like gyms such as this one give kids the opportunity to explore beyond what they know about,” Kenney said.
Patin says the name Gridiron MMA reflects his background and his mission.
“What I did was I made the name for to kind of marry the two, to have the individual sport of jiu jitsu and MMA with the family feel of a football team,” he said.
The community grand opening is at 10 a.m.
