Every Wednesday morning walkers and joggers at Kidd Springs Park are getting a dose of what it's like to see men competing in a beloved Japanese form of wrestling. Just after the start of the new year, Corey Morrison began hosting sumo wrestling training sessions, called a keiko that is free and open to the public. 

"It's a lot of fun finding people that want to push each other around and knock each other down," said Morrison.

A group of about fifteen people have united, and now call themselves the Dallas Sumo Club. Twice a week group members meet to train indoors at 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu in Carrollton or outside around the Japanese garden at Kidd Springs Park in Dallas. 

"Now that everyone is out here and they get the gist of it, we can do sumo together instead of watching it on TV," said Morrison. 

The group founder has given members like Dallas native, Khalil Collins a new perspective on competing in a style of wrestling accommodating to all. 

"I read a manga called "Baki," and I saw bigger guys beating people up," said Collins. "Big athletic fellas and I was like you know what, I can do that."

Within the year, after learning the basic rules of sumo wrestling Collins competed in his first competition. He said he loves learning about how sumo wrestling arose from Japanese culture and has a lot of respect for the sport. 

"When they excel at it, it's really rewarding because I know that I've done my part to help spread the sport of sumo to places where it's not known," said Morrison. "You don't have to have any experience doing Sumo, we won't expect you will."

Morrison said sumo is all about focusing on your center of gravity to knock others out of the ring of competition. More than half of the members play leisurely, while a few others compete in actual competitions. Collins says thanks to Morrison's training, he won his first gold medal earlier this year.

"They told me to put the belt on and I was like huh, fighting in this, they wrap me up like a gordita man," said Collins. "I got in the circle and ran through my first tachiai, that's when we first smack each other, and I'm like ‘this is like football.’"