Southwick honored by national martial arts magazine

Feb. 23—Dale Southwick committed his life to martial arts.

Southwick was recently honored for his commitment. Southwick and his wife, Trista, traveled to Atlantic City, New Jersey, in January. He was inducted into the Action Martial Arts Magazine Hall of Honors at the Tropicana Resort and Casino.

The 2002 Maplewood graduate and former high school wrestler has a long list of accomplishments in the fighting realm.

He was a national and world champion kickboxer, a submission grappling champion, a continuous contact champion and is a Penn Foster College graduate with a degree in fitness and nutrition. Southwick is also a black belt in grappling, a seventh degree black belt in karate and a green level boxing coach.

"I dedicated my life to martial arts and I'm not done. I still have a lot more to do and conquer," Southwick said. "The next step is to perfect my level of kickboxing and grappling to a level beyond where I am at.

"My passion truly is kickboxing and that's what I want to bring to this area. It's coming back, it really is."

The 39-year-old got his start in martial arts in taekwondo near Titusville in the late 90s. He began sneaking out of his grandmother's house to attend classes and was quickly hooked.

Southwick was advanced for his age and eventually told by his master to move on and become a fighter.

"He told me to leave and find what to do with my life because I kept hurting black belts," Southwick said. "I didn't understand it them but now I do."

After graduating from Maplewood, Southwick enlisted in the Marine Corps. He then traveled the world for several years and did a lot of "dojo hopping." He fought in Britain, different European countries and did it all with the intention of honing his craft.

In addition to honing his craft, Southwick spent a lot of time training other martial artists, which is part of the reason why he was honored by Action Martial Arts Magazine. A lot of the fighters he's trained deal with issues beyond the confines of the mats. He works hand-in-hand with programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.

"Mental health is just as important as physical health and on top of that we throw some spiritual health in too," Southwick said. "A lot of people we deal with are broken beyond belief. We've been a big force in a lot of people's lives."

Southwick trains his fighters at Southwick Kickboxing and Grappling, 215 Lincoln Ave. The gym also offers classes that range from kids to adults wishing to try kickboxing for the first time.

Getting the gym up and running was not an easy task. The building was a condemned bar and required years of hard work and effort to get the gym ready for the public. After years of sacrifice, Dale and Trista purchased banners for a grand opening just in time for the COVID-19 pandemic to start, which delayed the opening.

To make matters worse during the pandemic, Southwick underwent a complete knee surgery to reconstruct his ACL, MCL, PCL and meniscus. He couldn't walk well for about a year.

As if that wasn't enough to overcome, Southwick was diagnosed with a rare disease last summer — trigeminal neuralgia. It is a chronic pain condition affecting the trigeminal nerve in the face. It impacts less than 200,000 people in the U.S. each year and can last for years or up to a lifetime.

Southwick described the pain as a 3 out of 10 nonstop and can go up to a 20 out of 10 when the nerve flares.

In addition to issues surrounding the gym and his health, Southwick is wrapped up in a custody battle in the court system. All in all, his mental and physical health have been tested.

Despite all of life's challenges, Southwick has focused on training his fighters and helping turn them into warriors. It is the reason for his induction into the hall of honors, he said.

Southwick was nominated by longtime friend, Jonas Nunez Jr., now the rank of Kyoshi, or a teacher of teachers, in the world of karate. Southwick is a Shihan, a title meant for experienced teachers.

"It was because of how many people I have lifted up. They have so many different awards and inductees. There are a lot of repeat inductees because we all try to build people up," Southwick said. "The world is harsh and cruel. Instead of doing things for me, I have buried myself in helping others."

"He (Nunez Jr.) believes in you and loves what you're doing," Trista said. "They don't want you to quit."

What's next for the longtime fighter?

The gym on Lincoln Avenue will continue to operate, but Southwick aims to open a new facility. He wants a fight gym twice the size of his current location with a ring and bags surrounding it. It would be specially tailored to fighters.

He is also working on building his YouTube channel, which has accumulated more than one million views since its creation.

Southwick also has aspirations of getting back in the ring and doing some fighting.

"Before the trigeminal neuralgia I talked about getting back into the ring because I didn't feel done. I still don't feel done," Southwick said. "My goal is to beat this stupid disease and step foot in there a few more times."

Alex Topor can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at atopor@meadvilletribune.com.