Fighting for Change
By DIBIKWE, VALERIE HARRINGTON
What is a dream? Dreams are personal — it also depends on who you ask. And, more importantly, where you come from. For some, it could be a trip to a sun-kissed island, or that sports car. For others, a huge house with a swimming pool. All of us have a dream — big or small. Some of us, our children, our young people, our elders, and our families have very different hopes and dreams.
For some of us, a dream offers hope for the future. It builds strength and resilience to fight another day. It helps stop a feel- ing of isolation. It provides something to make everyday life more bearable. Above all, it inspires confidence, a sense of wellbeing, and it provides treasured memories that last long after the dream has come true. Those who find their dream are empowered, enriched, and able to see beyond their day-to-day routine. The experience helps them to focus on what they can do and often increases their drive and ambition to reach challenging and sometimes painful personal goals.
Our fellow Mille Lacs Band member Montana Davis is fighting for change and has reached a dream of his. As a child, he dreamed of training as an MMA fighter to learn how to protect himself from bullies. MMA is Mixed Martial Arts.
Montana grew up on the Red Lake Nation Reservation and the Mille Lacs Reservation. Growing up on the reservation, he didn't have many opportunities to achieve his dream. There weren’t many fighters televised that resonated with him, but it was his dream to train in a gym and learn MMA.
Despite the minimal opportunities to train on the reservation, he continued to dream. He watched UFC and studied all the fighters and he grew into much more than a fanatic: he wanted to train like them. In watching and learning he started to envision this as what he wanted to do. Unfortunately, he started making some poor choices and found himself in some legal issues. He never got into trouble before, and he quickly realized he needed help.
He sought that help and found himself living away from the reservation and a dream opportunity presented itself. He found The Cellar Gym, Minnesota’s premier mixed martial arts training facilities.
He was drawn to the gym. He immediately had this destiny moment and gravitated toward it. He signed a waiver, took a tour and realized he found his home. He started training every day. He went to the gym everyday, and the only time he missed was when the gym was closed. He started to live his dream.
His excruciating training schedule consists of showing up every day, even when injured, and even when you have a bad day you commit to a warm-up of pushups, sit-ups, squats, burpees, and running. After warm-up it’s drills, grappling, and kick boxing. The training took over his life.
“If it wasn’t for the gym and all the people involved, I wouldn’t be here. I look up to my training partners, team mates, coaching staff, front desk staff, and the owner of the gym. I thank all of them. They make me enjoy life way more,” Davis said.
He wakes up and works on drill techniques and he practices at home. Any opportunity he has, he practices his training, as respect at the gym isn’t given — it's earned. He has learned so much more than training.
He has developed his intelligence, will power, strength, personality, spirituality, mentality, physicality, and his commitment. He has become a different person, he speaks out more, shares his feelings, and is very humble showing humility. His respect and care for others is prominent: he respects people, is kind to others, and doesn’t want to hurt anyone. His transformation is definitely a fighting journey and has made him a better person, father, son, brother, and friend. Now that he reached this dream, he continues on his journey because for everyone, your journey is your own. He continues to focus on his training and evolving his game. He also has a new dream of giving back to our community and coming back to open a gym so fellow band members and community members can have the opportunities he didn’t have.
“I started to do this for myself and I continue to do this for my daughter,” Davis said.
Dreams empower. Dreams bring joy. Dreams give hope. Have you ever thought about your childhood dream? If you want to live the life of your dreams you must stop running from your purpose. You were created to live a life of meaning and purpose, and the only way to be at peace with yourself is to live the life you were created to live.
Montan Davis (top row, center) is proud to be standing with a group of athletes also training at The Cellar Gym.
