Advertisement
It was 1991. I was in sixth grade. I was getting off the school bus and some kid hit me in the face with a snowball.
I punched him in the face, twice. Oddly enough, I used my left hand, though I’m right handed. Even more odd, I remember all that.
Last week, I threw a couple more punches, but not at anyone — there were no snowballs this time.
No, I took part in Ralph Monahan’s kickboxing class, and also practiced a bit with Jayson Detert and Nate Boebel at mixed martial arts.
For the last month, Detert has been coaching MMA to Boebel, 25.
About four times a week these two spar at Monahan’s Martial Arts Center on Third St., in downtown Winona.
Detert, 26, has been practicing the art for five years. He’s like a blur on the punching bag, and definitely grabs the attention of the rest of Monahan’s kickboxing class.
Boebel is ripped, seems a little crazy and, though he hasn’t exactly been practicing MMA, he’s been in his fair share of fights in his lifetime.
I’ll also say this about Boebel, who graduated from Onalaska Luther in 2001, he’s been married four years, and those fighting days are behind him, minus what he accomplishes in MMA and what his 3-year-old daughter Arianna puts him through in the living room. She’s undefeated, from what I hear.
“Every now and then they’ll wrestle on the floor and she’ll pin him and say she’s the champ,” Nate’s wife, Stefanie Boebel, said.
While watching Detert and Boebel spar, the two coaxed me into getting on the mat. It was an eye-opening experience.
First, it’s hard to imagine that while two guys mix it up, trying to put on submission moves, they’re also punching the snot out of each other.
Not that Detert, 5-foot-9, 155 pounds, and Boebel were punching each other — they just simulate punches during practice — but later, when they were hitting the punching bag, it was a little hard to picture that bag being my face.
Boebel, who’s 6-1, 170, is quite a bit bigger than Detert, but rarely gets the best of him.
“He’ll feel me do something and he can pop (out of) it that quick,” Boebel said. “Then I’m lying there, helpless. I got upset the other day because he got me (to submit) four times in a row in 10 minutes. I got him once, which was exciting, and he was excited for me.”
The two showed me a couple of these submission moves, and then insisted I get put in them. They’re not fun — probably why they’re called submission moves.
We went through the guillotine choke, a straight arm bar, and triangle choke and the Kimura.
The guillotine choke left me lightheaded for a few minutes. Boebel put me in the arm bar, but I think he took it easy on me, because, I later put Detert in it and he tapped out like it was nobody’s business.
I guess I didn’t really grasp the concept, because I came pretty close to hurting his elbow.
“That was good,” Detert said with an uneasy laugh. “It’s one of those things; it only takes five pounds of pressure to dislocate your elbow.”
After working on some moves, we headed into Ralph Monahan’s kickboxing class to punch and kick the bags for about 45 minutes with instruction from Monahan.
There were about 15 people in the class and everyone took turns learning punching and kicking combinations, while getting a pretty good cardio workout.
Detert and Boebel are in a league of their own compared to the rest of the class, and watching them do combinations and then trying to do them myself was humbling.
It was like I had two left hands and two left feet. Nothing felt natural — probably because I haven’t punched anything in 17 years.
Regardless, it was a good workout, and just having other people in the class going through the same steps, kept me working.
Detert has been working out at Monahan’s for five years. Boebel is just starting out, but MMA is a fulltime gig for him.
Boebel has always loved MMA and, finally, one day his wife Stefanie caved and said he could pursue his dream.
He’s in the weight room around 2 p.m. and he’s not done until about 6:30 p.m. Then it’s back home to his wife and two daughters, Arianna and Abigial.
As for me and my days of MMA, I’ve officially retired. I like my face.
