Great food, exercise, and a positive attitude are the perfect recipe for a healthy, happy person, and here at Pettit’s Green Thumb Farm, LLC we encourage and support this approach to life. We are proud to sponsor Portage County kickboxer, Dillon Davenport, as he showcases his amazing kickboxing skills on July 1, in the Akron Civic Theatre.

Davenport, age 22, has been practicing martial arts for ten years, six days a week, under the instruction of Ben Pettit, of the South Prospect Gym in Rootstown. Davenport calls the South Prospect Gym home because of its modern philosophies of sportsmanship and fighting, and their encouragement of students to always discover new pathways to success. Stylistic differences in everyone who trains there is encouraged and those differences guide students’ training. Davenport appreciates the “No cookie-cutter ‘do this my way or leave’ kind of training. “ The individualized training and mentoring has helped him to develop his skills through gaining the ability to change as needed, not just in the middle of a fight but as a person. He sharpens his skills through a regime of practice, a healthy diet and a positive approach to learning.

Davenport shares that what he loves most about fighting is the honesty of it, saying, “If you need to be a fighter, you will be in one way or another. If it's not in the cards for you - it never will be.” Kickboxing is a healthy, active sport with highly developed skillsets and mental focus, and pushes Davenport to continuously develop both professional and personal skills while doing something he loves.

Davenport will return to the ring on Saturday, July 1, at the Akron Civic Theatre. Ticket information is available by scanning the barcode under the snapshot.