Mike and Heather Winkeljohn created the IncredAble Adaptive MMA program in 2018 but planned its formation since 2017. The goal was to create a mixed martial arts program that could benefit the disabled and at risk youth and young adults. The concept has been to utilize the professional athletes at the Jackson Wink Academy, and to carefully select some of them to be coaches. Both Mike and Heather have witnessed the amazing and therapeutic results that mixed martial arts have brought to kids and young adults, who struggle with special needs and disadvantages. The Winklejohns have seen the profound influence in the life of their own daughter, Autumn. Autumn suffered a severe stroke at birth resulting in a brain injury and challenges with the right side of her body as well as Epilepsy. It wasn’t always an easy path for her to learn these skills, and there were frustrations along the way. She was sometimes thrust into a bustling, class of peers who didn’t understand her challenges.. The benefits are huge if MMA is learned under the right circumstances and in the right place. Who better to learn from, than the athletes who are local, and world renowned role models? For this reason, we have created an adaptive MMA program linked to the world renowned pro gym, Jackson Wink Academy. This program, unlike any other, links pro athletes and students with special needs/at risk kids, allowing them to benefit and learn from each other.
Our mission at IncredAble Adaptive MMA is to empower and provide youth and teens, as well as some adults, that face a variety of environmental, physical and cognitive challanges, the skills and benefits of mixed martial arts. We offer at risk youth and disabled youth the ability to participate in a sport they're often excluded from, and from which they can reap a vast amount of behavioral and physcial benefits.
www.incredablemma.org