MORGAN PARK — Angel Lopez noticed a lot of kids running around the lobby of the Morgan Park Sports Center while his 10-year-old daughter was in gymnastics class.
The chaos sparked an idea for Lopez, a first-degree black belt in Danzan Ryu Jujitzu. He reached out to the managers of the facility at 11505 S. Western Ave. and proposed opening a martial arts school.
The idea was to give those children who weren't practicing gymnastics or ice skating something to do at the Chicago Park District facility. This notion ended up becoming the launching pad for the Lokahi Danzan Ryu School of Jujitsu.
Lopez, of Morgan Park, will introduce his martial arts school at an open house April 2. A free demonstration of what to expect at the jujitsu juniors class (ages 8-15) will be from 9:30-10:30 a.m. The adult/teen course (ages 16 and older) will be on display from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Lopez will teach all of the classes in the second-floor fitness studio, which opened Nov. 9, said Christine Rowan, assistant yoga and fitness coordinator at the sports center.
"People are really enjoying [the fitness classes], and we are basing them on what our members are asking for," Rowan said Monday.
Both jujitsu classes will be taught by Lopez over the course of eight weeks on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The one-hour kids courses cost $90, and the 1½-hour adult class costs $130. Both classes will be capped at 15 students each.
"I have been doing jujitsu for about five years now, but it has always been an interest of mine," Lopez said.
Lopez, 40, was initially turned away from several jujitsu schools because of his size. The former high school wrestler from in Lake Station, Ind., weighed 340 pounds when he began looking at martial arts schools along with his 12-year-old son, Sean.
A Chicago firefighter, Lopez eventually began training with Filberto Guitierrez of Danzan Ryu Chicago in south suburban Worth. The sensei took in the father-and-son team and eventually Lopez was training upward of four days a week.
"He didn't care about the size of a person," said Lopez, who lost weight in training and how tips the scale at 270 pounds.
Lopez said his style of jujitsu originates from Seishiro Okazaki, who immigrated to Hawaii in 1906. The founder later claimed that practicing martial arts resulted in his tuberculosis going into remission. His unique brand of jujitsu blends traditional Japanese methods with several styles, including a Hawaiian-style of martial arts known as Lua, Lopez said.
He said the style relies heavily on throws from the standing position — a different type of jujitsu than the ground-and-pound method popular in mixed martial arts. For kids, this style also takes the emphasis away from punching and kicking, Lopez said.
The first-time instructor is confident his school will find an audience in Morgan Park. He hopes the classes become popular, and students eventually train to the point where they too become jujitsu coaches.
"I am not training fighters. I am training teachers," he said.
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