JACKSON — As a homeschooler who grew up in Forest Park, Cory Clark couldn’t participate in team sports. Instead, at the age of 8, he discovered martial arts. Today, Clark is a husband, father, firefighter, and owner of the Team Go For Broke gym whose goal is to help youth and adults use martial arts to focus and gain confidence.
“With team sports like baseball and football, you could be on the team and sit on the bench every game,” said Clark, whose gym is located just off Second Square. Street in Jackson. “I grew up watching Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, and I found my place in martial arts. In the fighting game, or EMS or as a firefighter, you have to think you’re the baddest and you almost have to be cocky to develop the confidence you need for the job.
Clark began studying Brazilian jiu-jitsu and competing in tournaments in 2008. By 2011 he had transitioned into Muay Thai and mixed martial arts. He began training with eight-time world champion Manu Ntoh. Life experiences put his training on hold, but he resumed it four years later with a new focus.
“I had an amateur/pro fighter career and I flipped a switch. Now I want to create a place where young people in the neighborhood can come and feel safe,” he said. “My team is full of nice, loving guys who just needed to find their inner confidence. Society teaches kids to do the minimum, and we teach kids to work hard and be great!
Clark describes each of the Go For Broke team members through the eyes of a mentor.
“I saw a man go to a tournament and hit the mat. He didn’t think that would happen,” Clark said. “But he came back to the gym the following Monday and started working even harder. Now there is a day and night difference in his level.
Clark has seen firsthand how martial arts training can help people overcome trauma, whether it’s a woman recovering from domestic abuse or a veteran struggling with mental illness. post-traumatic stress (PTSD).
“Sweating and working hard in the gym can release a lot of anger and help relieve anxiety,” he said. “Martial arts can certainly be an outlet, but it’s also a brotherhood.”
Clark experiences a sense of accomplishment in seeing others succeed.
“I want to help kids who come to the gym, but they don’t realize how much they help me,” said Clark, whose clients and team members are men and women ages 12 to 52. year.
Team Go For Broke’s competition team consists of Clark, Connor Athon, Colby Carnes, Daniel Cox, Gage Johnson, DJ Ogletree, Kevin Patterson, Zachary Puckett, Hunter Smith, Joshua Whitt, Jesse Wilkerson and Sam Woodall.
The team’s name comes from a line in rapper Eminem’s song, “Berserk”.
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Flovilla team member DJ Ogletree began studying martial arts at Clark’s gym just under two years ago. He describes Clark as his head coach, mentor, and best friend.
“Without him, I wouldn’t be as tough as I am,” he said. “He punched me in the face and I punched him in the face. But my goal in fights is to “stay pretty.”
An admissions assistant at Southern Crescent Technical College in Henry County, Ogletree is also an avid runner. Most days he wakes up at 4:30 a.m., runs 3 miles, hits the gym before work, and returns to the gym after work.
A 2017 graduate of Jackson High School, Ogletree, 24, has competed in three sanctioned fights and 10 “smoking” amateur bouts. He fights in freestyle or muay thai. In October, he competed in Jacksonville, Fla., and earned a first-round knockout.
“I was intrigued by martial arts when I saw a skinny, tall, lanky guy knocking out all the bigger guys,” said Ogletree, who is 6-foot-2 and weighs 170 pounds. Through hard work and dedication, Ogletree has lost over 125 pounds through exercise over the past two and a half years.
Like his trainer, Ogletree encourages others to try martial arts.
“I plan to continue training hard and using my platform to inspire others,” he said. “I see a lot of talented kids going down the wrong path. I want to give back to others as people have given back to me. We should always be bigger than ourselves.
He specifically mentioned being inspired by his mother, Beth Burns, who is the mayor of Flovilla, and Carlos Duffey, the mayor of Jackson.
Burns says that as a middle child, Ogletree was known as “the protector”.
“We always called him ‘Baby La Hoya’ after fighter Oscar De La Hoya,” she said. “He was the kid who would step in when other kids were fighting. But I’m still his mum and I don’t watch him fight.
For more information on Team Go For Broke, check out their Facebook page.
