Fight Clubs - Failed Attempts to manage anger
Nestled within the suburban Californian Inland Empire
town of Murrieta, police arrested several young adults
in connection with a "Fight Club" that investigators say
has graduated from boxing matches to violent crime.
This is not the traditional turf gang so to speak. The
club did not battle other
gangs.
The gang had members of various races, some of whom come
from affluent families.
The Murrieta Fight Club was formed during the 2004-05
school year by a group of football players at Murrieta
Valley High School.
The young men began injecting steroids to enhance their
performance on the field and started calling themselves
"Fight Club"
At first, it was simply a group of students who would
get together to fight and box. Some might say it was a
harmless way for the young men to blow off steam and
practice a home grown form of anger management but soon
the members evolved from fighting among themselves to
beating up other students at parties.
Many are of the opinion that violence is an appropriate
way to release tension and stress when in fact
aggressive behavior only releases more aggressive
behavior.
From there, the members' activities escalated to an
attempted home invasion robbery, the theft of two
vehicles, multiple armed robberies, one case of false
imprisonment of an acquaintance and more. They also are
accused of two arsons -- one of a vehicle and another of
stolen property.
The Murrieta group is among several fight clubs, modeled
on the 1999 movie of the same name, and exposed across
the country in recent months. In October, a teenager
died in Palm Desert after a day of brawling with a fight
club.
Other fight clubs were uncovered in the past year in
Washington state, New Jersey, Michigan and Texas.
Daybreak Counseling Service provides
anger management
classes for adults, teens and couples struggling with
rage and stress.
Assertive communication, increased emotional
intelligence, stress management and
anger management are
effective tools against unmanaged anger and aggression.
For more information call 310-995-1202
--- Shannon Munford is the owner of Daybreak
Counseling Service an anger management education
center in Los Angeles, California
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