High School for the Mixed Martial Arts

By Sijin Kurian

Starting with the next school year, Team Tooke MMA will be the home for the High School for the Mixed Martial Arts, a fully accredited college preparatory program that will also allow students to train during the day.

Team Tooke founder and head instructor, Travis Tooke, was approached with the idea by a friend and Team Tooke student, Angie Maxey, who is also a school teacher. She got the idea after hearing about a similar program for snowboarding. After doing the research, she approached Travis with the idea.

“I thought it was pretty cool—didn’t know how realistic it was, but she kept talking to people and meeting with people involved with the program,” Travis said.

“They will have all the regular high school classes available to them, as far as their basics and things like that. The only requirement would be a laptop, because they would essentially take all of these classes online. As far as the martial arts training goes, they basically get two training sessions per day that will be geared toward mixed martial arts…it will be a combination of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and a striking art.” According to Travis, days will be similar to a regular high school day, except that part of it will contain MMA training.

So far, they have received a good response from the local community. “Assuming that it does well, and we’re going to do everything that we can to make it grow, our ultimate goal is to get beyond just a local community, whereas eventually we would like to add room and board; that way students not from just Houston, not from just Texas, but from around the country would have the opportunity to come and be part of this program. You have similar programs with other sports, where students from other countries come to pursue their goals in that sport….As enrollment grows, we’ll grow and add whatever staff is necessary.”

In addition to classes and training, the program will also have academic coordinators to help students choose the right classes that will match their career choices, as well as determining the right schools for the student after graduation. Also, while students are encouraged to compete, competitions are not mandatory for the curriculum.

The High School for the Mixed Martial Arts is currently accepting applications for students for the 2012-2013 school year. For more information and to learn how to apply, visit mmahighschool.com.