Kick boxing, Muay Thai focus of Libby man's new business

A new Libby business is catering to those interested in kick boxing, Muay Thai and physical fitness.

Champions Corner is located on the top floor of Libby Gym and owner Brant Medina has started to put in the ground work with a few helping hands and has been able to open up for training and classes for kick boxing, boxing and Muay Thai starting from kids of most ages up to adult classes.

Medina was originally born in California where he was placed into the foster care system in San Fransisco until he turned 18, transferring to foster youth halfway house. Foster care halfway houses are intended for foster youths between the ages of 14 and 21 years old.

They are meant to help develop life skills young people need to make a successful transition into adulthood by assisting youth to achieve a long term healthy, self-sufficiency life style and obtaining future goals.

Once Medina was in the program he started working at a hydraulic company and one day a friend who lived in Los Angeles reached out to him and invited him to come stay with him and try out the area while he got on his feet.

Medina gladly excepted as he was wanting to leave the foster care program and needed a change of pace. When he arrived in San Francisco Medina started his journey into finding out about himself and heavily investing in his long term passions.

From there he joined a boxing gym in the city and started specializing in Mixed Martial Arts, boxing, jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai. He then reconnected with his mother who has primarily lived in Montana. It ulimately led him to Libby.

From a younger age, Medina had always involved himself in martial arts, it started with tae kwon do and later in his schooling years led to wrestling and as time passed he found himself investing time in boxing and kick boxing.

Then one day he came across Muay Thai and has studied it for the last three years. Medina has been able to gain status due to his training and that’s where he found his niche.

Medina's road to opening Champions Corner has been a remarkable accomplishment thus far in under a year. His steady work ethic paired with a desire to help younger generations have a healthy outlet within a gym community of this town that is a little more affordable for families on a budget.

The opportunity hadn’t presented itself with what to do with his vast knowledge and background in martial arts until he moved here from Los Angeles to help his mother renovate her home roughly six months ago. While he was here lending a helping hand to his mother he had been searching for a place to train during his downtime, but there wasn’t any location that specialized in martial arts or provided classes.

The only thing he had came across was Sparing Wars at the local Libby Gym. Sparing is a live-action simulation of a real fight. It’s commonly used to prepare fighters for boxing and competitions. Medina was inspired and saw an opportunity arise for a martial arts program for Libby after attending a few of the sparing matches held at the Libby Gym. A conversation with the owner led to an agreement to rent out the space upstairs.

With this opportunity he was able to get some helping hands and kick off Champions Corner. For about the last two months Medina has started hosting free classes on Monday nights to gain some following and potential customers. He says he started the free classes because, “no one should not be able to not receive the training they want because they can’t afford it.”

He has been able to help fast track some of his process from the local community of Libby, vendors and companies are lending their support for the new business, making it possible for Medina to start opening his doors and start training while still expanding the business.

Medina started applying for funding for the non-profit organization/business. He is also is in the application process to meet specific requirements.

While working and waiting on the non-profit funding he is improving on strengthening his social media platform to gain followers and help spread the word. Once a few of these goals are met, Medina plans to set up a kids program, building and supplying a martial arts convenient booth so customers won’t have to travel out of town or go online to buy well-made equipment.

In addition, he is working with a few local restaurants and caterers who want to help and donate for grab-and-go food options so people who come in for training sessions in the future. Customers can grab a healthy easy meal from one of refrigerators stocked with a variety of hydrating drinks as well as healthy meals consisting of high protein, high carb to paleo to even keto options.

Medina's overall goals for Champions Corner is to get it to a point where it is self sustaining, as it continues to grow and pick up he is hoping to be able to slowly hire people and offer steady employment.

From the beginning of this journey to now, Medina has invested all his own personal money into this business to get things in place and keep pushing forward with his future plans for Champions Corner.

Medina's main objective is to create an environment for people who all have a goal of wanting to improve, to create a community within the gym where even though it's a solo sport there are still have people supporting other's achievements as much as their own.

For more information about Champions Corner see their Facebook page or Medina's Instagram: championscorner_kickboxing for classes, times or upcoming events.