Rainier, Columbia County, and Cowlitz County have a champion in their midst, and he’s laser-focused on bringing his own flavor and philosophy to martial arts instruction to the area, especially the youth.
The new family-friendly Mather Martial Arts Academy is owned and operated by Sifu Mike Mather (Sifu means teacher or master). Mather aims to bring adult and kids Jujitsu, adult Muy-Thai Kickboxing, and other expanding classes to the area.
Mike Mather is no stranger to living “a martial life,” as he refers to it. He started his path with wrestling at the age of six and expanded to multiple martial arts disciplines by 13.
“You learn real quick that in life when things get tough you don’t give up. You learn how to overcome and adapt to the little things in life because we don’t stop. That’s what martial arts teaches you, that just because you get knocked down doesn’t mean you quit, you get back up. You just try not to get knocked down that direction again, you know, move instead of staying still,” Mather said.
And move Mather has.
Mather is a self-described combative and extreme martial arts stylist. He participated in the competition circuit for nearly 20 years from the ages of 13-32 while continuing his education in an ever-expanding range of martial arts disciplines and skill levels, training under many of the best martial artists in the world.
He has more than 30 national grand titles to his name, estimates he’s been in more than 2,000 organized fights, and has more than 300 trophies to show for it. Mather regularly speaks at seminars, holds trainings, and has spent time working with Military Special Forces and various other groups on controlled force and defense against weapons tactics.
His martial arts accomplishments are many and impressive. They include being ranked as a 5th-degree Master in Kyushu Jujitsu Karate, a 5th-degree Master in TaeKwonDo, a Master in Shaolin Kung Fu, a 3rd-degree Black Belt in Filipino combative martial arts, and a 5th-degree Black Belt in Wun Hop Kuen Do, among others. He was inducted into the U.S.A. Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 2013.
Mather also recently self-published his first book, “Jackal & Wolves”, an informative read that is part auto-biography and part step-by-step instruction on attributes that pertain to street defense and awareness, how to observe and see danger, and how to react.
The roots of Mather Martial Arts Academy were established in Warrenton in 1998, ultimately closing in 2014 when he moved back to Columbia County, where he grew up, to help take care of his family.
It wasn’t until the beginning of this year that the idea for opening a local academy took hold to the point of starting to look for space, ultimately moving into the new location in Rainier.
“We thought about opening another academy locally but it took some time to find the right place that would provide the overall safety we needed for children who joined,” Mather said. “We’re very much kid oriented. Kids you can mold and so we’re all about kids programs. We want to create world champions.”
Mather’s background in construction came in handy when it was time to customize the space, and he spent three months around the clock getting the new location ready to open at the beginning of July.
“Rainier, St. Helens, Scappoose, and this whole area is very much a wrestling community. We have a lot of kids that thrive on competition,” Mather said. “I told my business partner, ‘I think we’re gonna grow into one of the biggest schools around.’”
So far, he’s proving himself right. Mather shared that by the second week of being open, they were already at max capacity with 27 kids in one class.
“As an instructor, look at the gratification I get seeing the changes in all these kids. I’ve been teaching since 1993. I now have parents who were kids that started with me when they were three and now they’re calling me and saying ‘Sifu, we love you, and our kid needs a place to go, where do we take them? Teaching has allowed me to pass on my learnings to the younger generation,” Mather said. “The instruction you get here is world-class”.
Mather Martial Arts Academy currently offers classes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Kids over 8 are welcome to join the adult Muy Thai Kickboxing classes. There are forthcoming plans to offer self-defense classes, and the website lists weapons defense and opportunities to join a competition team.
“Everybody that steps in here, it’s like, people that step in here are in the top 10% of the human population,” Mather said. “Because if you step in here, that’s work. It’s not easy stepping in here and so right away you’re saying ‘I can’. If a person competes, they’re stepping in and standing up and saying ‘I am’. That’s 1%.”
Find more info at https://matheracademy.com/ or visit the academy at 75940 Rock Crest St. in Rainier.
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