Fighting a family affair for Atnips
Daniel Atnip shows his students proper grappling technique at his gym, Atnip's Rough House, in downtown Moses Lake.
MOSES LAKE - Beneath the Desert Plaza in downtown Moses Lake lies a different kind of gym.
The walls are lined with championship belts and pictures from cookouts and other get-togethers. Instead of rows of treadmills, a giant mat takes up about half the space where children and adults come to grapple.
Atnip's Rough House, located on Alder Street, is where mixed martial arts hopefuls come to hone their skills with the owner, Daniel Atnip.
Daniel runs the gym with the help of his wife, Brandie Atnip.
Daniel is a recently retired fighter who now focuses on his construction work, coaching his daughters' soccer team, and training his team.
Daniel has never shied away from a challenge, even competing in his first fight the same week he had his wisdom teeth removed.
Without any training and fresh off dental surgery, Daniel was able to win his first fight.
Brandie explained she was shouting words of encouragement from the sideline.
"I was screaming at him during the fight 'swallow your blood' because they'll call the fight," she said. "Amateurs, they don't like a lot of blood."
Daniel decided to open up his own gym in Moses Lake when his old coach moved away so he and the other fighters could still have a place to train locally.
"I never did this to make a career out of it or anything," he said. "But then when I got into it enough and I met a lot of these guys and then, like (Brandie) said, when my coach left town there was a lot of guys here that were training at the time and wanted to make a career out of it so that's the reason why I actually opened the gym was to help everybody else."
The name Atnip's Rough House may be misleading with such a familial environment.
"I got a lot of people I'm really close with because of this place," Daniel said.
His wife, Brandie, helps run the gym, and both of their daughters are constantly in the gym.
The families of other fighters are also welcome to show support during training sessions.
To him, Brandie is unlike other wives or girlfriends of fighters.
"I think she likes seeing me get hit," Daniel said.
Many women would cringe at seeing their significant other take any punishment, but Brandie only wants her husband and the other fighters to win.
"They put a lot of time into it," she said. "You watch them cut weight, you watch them suffer, you watch them... you know what I mean? Sometimes they're in here three hours."
Fighting is just another part of the Atnip family. Daniel and Brandie's two daughters were at his last fight in July and recently their oldest daughter approached them about training to fight.
"If it's something you want to do in life you've got to do it," Brandie said. "You only live once, right? I'm not going to tell [Daniel] he can't do it, I'm not going to tell my kids they can't do it."
Daniel's success in training his fighters stems from his involvement in their lives not just as a coach, but also as a friend.
"It's that Daniel honestly cares about them," Brandie said. "He knows what they're doing in school, he knows what video games they're playing, he knows what girl they're dating. You know what I mean? So, when they come in here they respect him because he's honestly into their life."
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