There is a foul problem overwhelming the youth of Downtown Los Angeles. It is by no means a new problem, but rather a parasite that has for generations, eradicated hope in the desperate downtown community. While many programs, including some introduced by the Los Angeles Police Department, have been set forth to combat gangs and gang violence, all have fallen extraordinarily short. One man has decided to fight negative violence with positive violence! While this may sound like an oxymoron, Matthew Jensen is harnessing his great knowledge of ultimate fighting to actively combat this destructive problem.
Training Grounds has been in existence for less than a year and runs out of the Los Angeles South Los Angeles Youth and Community Center. While the program itself hasn’t been around for a long time, the problem it sets out to combat has a storied history in Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, “during the past five years there were over 23,000 verified violent gang crimes in the city of Los Angeles,” and “more than 250 active gangs… with a combined membership of 26,000 individuals. Gang members participate in a variety of anti-social behaviors including battery, mayhem, sexual assault, damage to property, larceny, murder, gang wars and other criminal activities” (LAPD.com). Matt Jensen saw a problem that wasn’t being met and understood conventional means of combating this problem were insufficient.
Matt Jensen envisioned a new and unconventional mode of social change. In High School Matt got involved with wrestling and made his first contact with underground fighting. He began training in Mixed Martial Arts and fought in the underground Cage Fighting circuit for six years. Mr. Jensen was undefeated in eight professional fights (although the official ultimate fighting website says otherwise). Cage Fighting came crashing to an end with a suicide note and a 16-gague shotgun in his mouth. It was there that Christ met Matt. He immediately left Cage Fighting and found himself at the corps officers door at Torrance. He left underground cage fighting and all its negative influences becoming a salvation soldier on fire for Christ!
After years of abstinence from ultimate fighting and extensive personal involvement in ministering to the lost of downtown Los Angeles, Mr. Jensen recognized a real need in the local community. Despite all the best intentioned efforts, gangs and gang violence were continuing to plague downtown.
Matt Jensen decided to try something new. Understanding that if you want to catch a wolf you can’t go out and say “here wolfie, wolfie, wolfie,” you must instead entice it with something it wants, a bloody piece of meat. Dusting off his sparing equipment, Mr. Jensen set out to change the violent gang community by drawing gang members into The Salvation Army South Los Angeles Youth and Community Center with ultimate fighting training. The obvious chasm between those involved in gang culture and those trying to share God’s love is great, but in using this sport as a gang member magnet Mr. Jensen has found a way to break through this barrier
His intimate understanding of Mixed Martial Arts is a fantastic to bridge to the gang community. Matt hopes to see gang divisions disintegrate in the hearts and minds of the youth that attend and see them all grow spiritually through weekly devotions.
Mixed Martial Arts is a growing and viable program. From gang ridden communities to mainstream society, Mixed Martial Arts is gaining real momentum. When Mr. Jensen started his career in cage fighting there was no silver lining. The sport had more in common with the gladiators of old than mainstream sports like baseball or basketball. According to the Bleacher Report, “mixed Martial Arts is both simple and violent-a perfect recipe for a popular sport in America. So, it is not hard to see why it is… one of the fastest growing U.S. Sports.”
When Matthew initially dreamed up this program he tried to generate money for new mats. A website was generated and meager donations followed. At opening day the five thousand dollars he had hoped to raise was only about eight hundred. Furthermore, there is no fee for participating in Training Grounds. There are forms to fill out for participation in The Salvation Army South Los Angeles Youth and Community Center but no money is required for enrollment. There continues to be a small push for money in order to purchase equipment for more advanced Mixed Martial Arts Training.
Training Grounds’ funding is perfectly reflected by its zero budget. Mr. Jensen volunteers his time at the facility and is the sole instructor for the program. Vanessa Jensen, Matt’s wonderful wife, also volunteers her time offering support and keeping the program within Safe from Harm and Protecting the Mission guidelines. Mortimer Jones is the administrator for the multi faceted South Los Angeles Youth and Community Center and provided four hundred dollars for initial purchase of equipment. Mr. Jensen continues to hopes for the five thousand dollars needed to purchase new equipment for the betterment of this relevant program.
Some concerns about this program stem from the violent stigma attached to Mixed Martial Arts, most likely due to its unsavory underground beginnings. But, according to Natural News.com “Mixed Martial Arts is far safer than Gymnastics, in which kids are often paralyzed from severe injuries sustained while training for various exercises,” it also “takes [kids] off the streets, out of gangs, and away from bad influences.”
Many of the concerns hearken back to the target group and those individuals currently involved in this program. If you are going to use bloody meat to attract wolves… you better expect some real issues that will need to be resolved. When the program started boundaries were quickly drawn in color, in gang affiliation, in hatred, and predominantly in ignorance. Participants sat on separate sides of the classroom as to avoid physical or even any unnecessary visual contact.
Praise God, many of these invisible but seemingly inescapable lines have miraculously been thrown out the window. Participants that started on what might as well have been different sides of the world, are now brothers bound together by this class and Bible study. Students have learned the importance of brotherhood, friendship and sportsmanlike conduct as well as character building and changed hearts.
Matt has let me know that “if this program is to continue, leaders need to be trained to take over when I go into training next year. Furthermore, money will need to be invested in the program if there is any hope of increasing capacity and quality of the program.” He is concerned about the programs viability without his active involvement. While intimate knowledge of Mixed Martial Arts is not necessary to facilitate this program, great knowledge of the sport is necessary for teaching and training.
It’s sad that money has as much power as it does, but if this program hopes to continue and another great lover of people with great knowledge of the sport can’t rise up in Matthew’s place this program will be doomed in its current incarnation. When Mr. Jensen becomes Cadet Jensen a great hole will need to be filled. If it can’t be done through volunteer involvement this program’s budget will need to be greatly adjusted or may find itself with no future.
Despite its questionable future, there is no doubt that this program has made a fantastic and tangible difference in the lives of the individuals involved. Mr. Jensen’s vision will have some wonderful effects on the community when its students share what they have learned with the struggling community they live in. They are now lights in the darkness. Matt’s unconventional means for real change might be discouraged by those unable to move past the stigma surrounding Mixed Martial Arts, but no one can discredit the remarkable results.
Works Cited
Bleecher Report. Bleecher Report.com. 10 November 2008 <http://bleacherreport.com>
Natural News. Natural News.com. 10 November 2008 <http://www.naturalnews.com>
Official Website of the Los Angeles Police Pepartment. LAPD online. 10 November 2008
<http://www.lapd.org>
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