Fight team helps children

MOSES LAKE - The photographs on the wall of Daniel and Brandie Atnip's gym tell the story of the Irish Hit Squad fighting team.

Along one wall the pictures include fighters standing in cages, either before or after a fight, or a cage built for competitions at Pillar Rock during construction.

Along another wall, the pictures include children and adults smiling at restaurants or lounging around a pool.

"We are a family here. We do annual barbecues on the Fourth of July, the whole weekend, that we put on for all of the fighters," Brandie said.

The participants at the gym range from as young as 9 years old to a man in his 50s, Brandie said. About 15 people participate with the fight team, drawing participants from different backgrounds and interests.

"We have this picture and it literally looks like computer nerds and gangsters and they're all friends," she said. "They all get along at school now because of the fight team, they're all very close. They're all protective of each other. It's taken them out of their comfort zone too, and learn to accept people in different ways."

The team members can't be part of a gang and they can't fight outside of the gym, Brandie said. Many of the children who are part of the team spend their days in school before coming to the gym at 5 p.m.

"We have a lot of younger kids that have been associated with (gangs) in the past," she said. "They've given that up to train ... During the school year, these kids go to school until 3 p.m., they come here, they're here from 5 (p.m.) to 8 (p.m.) They're worn out. They're tired by the time they go home. They don't have time for that."

Word of mouth draws people to the gym and the team, Brandie said.

"We don't ever look for people. A lot of the high schoolers ... they see someone in school and they say, 'Oh, he's a fighter,' and they'll ask them to come down," she said. "Daniel tells everyone, 'Come down, check it out.' Puts them on the mat for the first day, to see if it's something that they like."

Parents have come in and had their children join to build confidence, Brandie said. Involvement in the team has kept a lot of people out of trouble.

"We have guys that were in jail that have not been in jail since they went to the gym. They have families now, have jobs," she said. "It's just a different atmosphere because we're all here for each other. All the fighters, all the fighters' kids and wives, we're all very close. We support each other thoroughly in the gym and outside of the gym."

Brandie said it's amazing to watch the fighters train, pointing out one child, practicing at the time, who is part of a wrestling team. They also signed up another 12-year-old child, who is a boxer.

"If you've got those two skills and you merge them ?- that's what it is in the ring," she said.

The team travels to fights during the weekends and has gone to Western Washington, Montana, Florida and Idaho, Brandie said.

The couple also started a non-profit group called Community Comes First to help fund the trips to fights.

"Daniel sponsors every fighter he has. He pays for their gas, their food, everything they need to get to where they need to go to be able to fight because most of them are underage," she said. "They can't really work and go to school and do this, and also if they start working then they start doing other things."

The group holds two events during the summer at Pillar Rock Grill. Brandie called the response to them amazing.

"Our fighters are just like praised over when they come out. It's amazing, and that's why we do it out here," she said. "We built our cage ourselves. We learned how to put them on by going to different shows ... All the money goes back into whatever we're putting on."

Chase Francis, 15, is one of the fighters practicing. He came down to the gym after getting into some trouble, he said. If he wasn't practicing, he would have been playing video games.

"He wasn't doing good in school (and) was making horrible decisions outside of school and now he can't because he's too sore to do anything bad," Brandie said.

Another fight team member, Sparky Rodriguez, shows up at about 6 p.m. The fighter recently won his latest belt on June 4. It's the third belt he's won. He came to the sport after learning boxing and wrestling when he was younger.

"I loved to fight, but fighting in the street is not good," he said. "I heard about the gym ... I joined one day and I loved it."

He described being in the cage as being the most beautiful thing in the world, saying he loves putting on a show and the crowd.

"When I'm walking out, I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, please let me have this win,'" he said. "Once you go out there, you know your opponent is good and you know what you've got. Once you go into the cage, you see who is better at it."

He said winning the belts is an accomplishment, but it's followed by needing to train for more title shots.

"I want to be the best, so that's what you've got to do," he said. "My training, it's hard. Sometimes you feel like quitting, but like I said, the coach will be pushing me. The whole team will be pushing each other."

Daniel is a fighter, and was trained by a man who came to Moses Lake and opened a mixed martial arts gym. When his trainer moved, Daniel decided to open a gym about three years ago. The couple invested their life savings into the gym when they opened it.

"He started with the fight team and he started letting others come in and train because it's a phenomenal workout," she said. "We started putting on the MMA fights here in town about two years ago."

Brandie urged people interested in the team and the gym to come to their location in the basement of the Desert Plaza between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday.