Martial Arts Fest to showcase clubs’ talent

Board breaks, joint locks and sparring are just the beginning of the activities taking place this weekend at the Martial Arts Fest.

The event will be from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday in the Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center Fieldhouse.

Aikido, Brazilian Jiu Jutsu, Fencing, Filipino Martial Arts, Hapkido, Karate, Tae Kwon Do and Tai Chi Chuan clubs will all be participating in the Martial Arts Fest.

“Basically we are joining all eight martial arts clubs together in one event and trying to promote our clubs to the student population, so that they’re more aware of everything that’s offered to them,” junior and Tae Kwon Do Club President Meghane Masquelin said.

Each club will perform a 15-minute demo during Martial Arts Fest, showcasing what they’ve been working on in practice. There will also be tabling for each club, where members can answer questions and people can sign up for more information.

“We’re trying to promote our clubs and have a greater amount of people that show up, and not necessarily students, but faculty members and people in the community as well, to increase our active membership,” Masquelin said.  “It would benefit us, but at the same time it would benefit the club members involved.”

Membership to the clubs is not limited to IU students. Any person older than the age of 18 with access to Wildermuth can join.

The Martial Arts Festival is the first one of its kind since fall 2010, which was the last time the clubs put the event together.

“It became pretty much martial arts showing off to martial artists, and that doesn’t really do anything,” senior and Hapkido Club Vice President and Tae Kwon Do club member Dan Scripter said.

He said he wanted to bring the festival back, but put a different spin on it.

“I brought it up as a way to build community within the martial arts groups, because it gave us a reason to come together and talk about what we were going to do,” Scripter said. “It was just a way to build community within the martial arts program and show IU at large what we do.”

The festival has been a work in progress, with the various clubs working to put it together since halfway through last semester.

Club members said they are hoping for a positive turnout and an excited response to their work.

“We’re trying to expand,” Masquelin said. “We’re just promoting our club, having a good time and hopefully the students that show up see how we’re having fun and they want to join us.”