A Kelmscott gym has taken the saying “wrestling with emotions” to a whole new meaning with programs designed to help mental health.
Earlier this month, Armadale District Police visited Based Wrestling to learn more about the anti-bullying programs the gym has been hoping to introduce in schools.
While Based have general wrestling classes, they are hoping to secure grant funding to help youth in local schools and community groups.
Director of the gym Fiona Paech said she would like to see the programs frequently running.
“The aim is to build clubs at schools so you could have interschool competitions,” she said.
“If you have three kids, that’s a competition. It only takes two people to play the game.
“We’re just currently not running any of the programs because of funding, so it’s about getting that engagement which is the biggest hurdle we’ve come across.”
Participants in the programs “wrestle it out” on the mat as a release for what is upsetting them, which prevents them from lashing out on other people in a physical manner.
Ms Paech said the programs were created by the gym manager’s daughter, who was a professional wrestler in her early teens.
“She had some mental health challenges and wrestling helped her deal with those,” Ms Paech said.
“There’s a worldwide program called Beat the Streets which started in Canada, where they take disenfranchised youth, teach them wrestling and give them life skills, and hopefully they turn out to be people who can cope with life better.
“Off the mat we talk about stress management. What they thought about it, what they learnt while they were on the mat playing the game, did they learn anything about how they feel and what stress was and how they can manage it.”
Ms Paech said she thought wrestling was ideal for children struggling with stress as it’s easy to adopt in the home.
“Anybody can learn in five minutes. We have four-year-olds come because kids love wrestling,” she said.
“We have got a rule set for hearing impaired people, we’ve got a rule set for vision impaired people. It’s really accessible.
“At home, you’re not allowed to but here you’re allowed to come and wrestle. If you want to take down your big brother, off you go.
“The beauty of having wrestling as the tool is it’s one on one. What you take to the mat is up to you.
“You can’t blame the winger who didn’t pass to you or the goalie who let it through. It’s up to you and it’s your own.”
The programs were designed to teach problem solving to youth community members.
“You always show respect to the other person,” Ms Paech said.
“Your opponent is allowed to believe what they want to believe; you’re allowed to believe what you want to believe.
“You don’t have to agree and that’s fine, and it doesn’t mean you can’t still be friends.”
Coach Cameron Monk said he thought the programs and wrestling lessons at Based were helpful for confidence and self-control.
“People feel more comfortable in their own skin and in their own body when they feel they have some kind of physical defence mechanism,” he said.
“Especially with the background being in at risk youth, it’s really useful because kids are less violent and less aggressive when they have a martial arts background because they know how to control themselves, and they know how badly things can go if they pick a fight with the wrong person.
“People tend to become a lot more self-aware because the people we see through these programs are very quick to get angry, very quick to get violent, and they’re the people who haven’t been in a situation where they know they can lose.
“It’s usually bullies who pick on weaker people but wrestling and self-defence in general is a good way to break that mindset and make kids more emotionally regulated and more respectful of other people.”
Mr Monk said he has enjoyed coaching students in wrestling as he can see the personal growth of participants.
“Obviously the matches are one on one, but you work as a team during your training so it’s a good mix of individual mindset stuff with how you deal with challenges on your own,” he said.
“Wrestling also teaches kids how to work as a team and how to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
