It’s about 10 a.m. on a weekday morning, and more than a dozen high school students in Sault Ste. Marie are busy throwing combinations of punches and kicks during a kickboxing training session at Steel City MMA.
But here’s the real kicker: The students will receive academic credits in exchange for training in various combat sports as part of the Minds in Motion Academic Program, a new pilot project launched by the Algoma District School Board (ADSB) earlier this year.
“I’m not throwing any kind of power behind my punches,” Steel City MMA owner and head coach Brent Fryia said to the group. “I’m just making sure everything is nice and clean — making sure I’m getting out after my combinations.”
Fryia, an English teacher by trade who leads the program on behalf of the school board, begins each morning with the group by teaching English class before hitting the mats for the physical education component of the program.
“Most of the academic stuff is connected to the martial arts and the healthy lifestyle side of things,” he told SooToday. “It’s still the same curriculum as regular English class — they still have to learn the same research skills and the same writing skills.”
The class is currently reading Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice, an Anishinaabe author and journalist from Wausaksing First Nation.
“He’s a jiu-jitsu black belt, and he’s going to come visit and talk about both the writing aspect of things and the jiu-jitsu side of things — so that’s kind of a neat thing,” said Fryia.
“Everything is woven together.”
Students participating in the pilot project will earn credits in both English and physical education at the end of the semester.
“It’s aimed at students who might do a little bit better in a less traditional educational setting. Maybe kids who are really physical or something like that – an alternative type of setting might be a little bit more beneficial for them,” Fryia said.
“It’s a real mix of kids who are experienced, and kids who are brand new to martial arts.”
Noah Jansen is one of the students who is enjoying the alternative programming that’s being offered by the school board. He also has some history with Steel City MMA, having trained in a number of different combat sports there since he was eight years old.
“I love it. I get to do what I love — it’s really nice. It doesn’t even feel like school,” Jansen said.
The mixed martial arts pilot for "in-risk" youth ties into a broader effort by the school board to utilize sports in order to address issues around attendance, credit accumulation and overall engagement.
Earlier this year, the board announced the launch of the ADSB Alliance Academy, a new program that aims to build on its Hockey Canada Skills Academy with the addition of three sports — basketball, football, and soccer — for all students entering Grades 9 and 10 who attend the board's three secondary schools in Sault Ste. Marie.
ADSB Alliance Academy planning coordinator Steven Caruso says the board hopes to “re-engage students that may have kind of lost that passion for attending the traditional school setting” by expanding the alternative programming this fall, after statistics showed a 99.5 per cent pass rate for credits attempted since the inception of its hockey academy roughly eight years ago.
“These are the things that we're trying to establish with these programs to satisfy some of those biggest challenges that we have in schools right now,” he said.
As the students ramp up their strikes during kickboxing training, Fryia says there’s hope the Minds in Motion Academic Program at Algoma District School Board will not only continue next semester, but expand over time.
“The school board is really trying to create new programs to engage kids who maybe in a traditional education setting might not be as successful, so there’s a lot of new alternative programs coming out,” he said.
More information on the Minds in Motion Academic Program can be found here.