The sounds of bodies slapping onto wrestling mats ricochet against the basketball court's metal roof and dart out to a quiet stretch of Tantalus Drive.

From the bleachers at the Papakolea Community Center, sprinkled with parents and onlookers, Lionel Wright watches the jujitsu practice like an attentive father, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees.

This fight club is his beloved brainchild. Its mission: to put fighting in its place. Its monthly enrollment fee: to give back to Papakolea, a 27-acre Hawaiian Homestead near Punchbowl with a waning, but persistent, tough reputation.

Since it started in December 2004, Wright says, the club has turned bullies into leaders and street fighters into disciplined jujitsu students.

And the "FIGHT Club" — which stands for "Friends Invested in Getting Healthy Together" — has also gotten grants from the state, hearty praise from community leaders and, more recently, special interest from other homesteads on the Island. Wright says he is meeting with homestead residents from Wai'anae and Waimanalo to set up similar clubs in those communities.

"They've heard what we're doing up here," Wright said on a recent Thursday night. "We've really changed the landscape and the mind frame of the kids. We've also had very few altercations in the community — a lot less than when we started the FIGHT Club."

Most of the 100 students in the club, who range in age from 5 to 43, live in Papakolea. At least once a month, but oftentimes more, they gather to volunteer at a community event or pick up trash in the neighborhood. This month, the fighters cleared a trail leading down a hill to Lincoln Elementary School.

Wright said he started the club to bring a sense of community pride and togetherness in Papakolea, especially among the young. The community, he said, has long been plagued by crime and its youth are easy prey for gang recruiters.

So the FIGHT Club provides a safe environment for students to act out their energy, without hurting others or risking arrest.

And by learning jujitsu — a sport rich in values and honor codes — students learn how to fend off aggression from others with pacifism first.

"In the community, the youth were getting into a lot of trouble. When we first started, there were no other programs in the community for youth, especially for the 18-to-24-year-olds," Wright said. "I felt if we brought in some training and discipline, we would change their ideas of the way they were acting out."

Wright, with the help of a jujitsu instructor, started the program slowly.

They didn't advertise, but got students by word of mouth. Soon, their enrollment surged and they decided to hold two classes, one for children and a second for adults. They got federal grants and money from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which helped pay for wrestling mats.

Money also came in from a few Native Hawaiian nonprofits.

Almost immediately after the classes started, Wright said, he saw a change in the students. They were more attentive, did better in school or at work and started avoiding the raucous, drunken gatherings that led to trouble.

Before a practice last week, as he hauled water coolers out of a van for students, Wright pointed out the absence of graffiti in Papakolea.

"There used to be a lot," he said, beaming. "Not anymore."

James Walker, who is in the program along with his three children, said the FIGHT Club has been a blessing for Papakolea. At the very least, Walker said, the next generation of homestead leaders will have an easier time avoiding trouble.

"This generation's got a better chance," he said, pointing to a group of adolescents and teens practicing high kicks and special holds on the wrestling mats covering the basketball court floor. "The class does a lot of good."

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.