With two elbows propped up on the table, two competitors, hand-in-hand, expend all their power to try and slam the back of their opponent’s hand onto the face of table.

This is the most basic version of arm wrestling, but junior Jack Che has a better idea of what arm wrestling should be.

In the new sports club Diamond Bar Arm Wrestling League, president Che and sophomore vice president Bryant Lu invite all students to learn about the many techniques of arm wrestling and compete against each other during club meetings.

After having a bout with the national arm wrestling champion Michael Todd in 2017, Che became  interested in the sport. He wanted to compete and to find more competitors and ended up creating the club with Lu.

“I got really interested into the sport, and that’s why I wanted to make the club, to pass on the interest to other people,” Che said.

During club meetings, Che teaches all members of the club techniques to use in arm wrestling matches. After he demonstrates a technique on one of the members, he asks each member to try it against another person.

For example, one of Che’s favorite techniques is the hook. To use the hook, he tilts  his arm over his opponents. Then, he would twist his wrist toward his body.

According to Che, performing the hook weakens the opponent’s wrist power, a key factor to winning an arm wrestling match.

Though the club is new, Che hopes to make the club more competitive and exciting.

“We plan to participate in local competitions and move toward events outside of our community,” Lu said.

So far, he has had difficulty finding stronger people to recruit and challenge. According to Che, the club has about 20 members.

“I love the sport and the thing that draws the most attention has got to be the hand control,” Che said.