- April 25, 2024
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Students in Stan Lee’s summer camp learn self-defense techniques and life lessons.
BY ANDREW O'BRIEN | SPORTS EDITOR
Luke Fleischer had his sister, Madison, in a headlock.
But Madison, who stands slightly shorter than her brother, had her arms clenched around Luke’s right arm, a move that prevented her brother from landing any punches to her head.
At school or home, this scene might require urgent adult intervention. But on Tuesday, the supervising adult was watching the brother-sister duo intently as they smiled and worked on their self-defense techniques during Stan Lee’s United Martial Arts Summer Camp.
The Fleischers are two of about 12 campers who are participating this week; throughout the summer, the camp has taught self-defense skills and character education to dozens of children.
Stan Lee, chief instructor and founder of the school, has been practicing martial arts since he was 11 years old. At 45, he has been teaching the craft at his school since it opened in 1995.
During the summer camp, students undergo intense training compacted into short periods of time. The school opens around 7:30 a.m., and there are three classes throughout the morning and early afternoon. Later in the day, the students go on field trips, before getting picked up by their parents by 6 p.m.
The purpose of the trips, Lee said, is so the students can work on applying what they learn in the morning into real-life situations. And that doesn’t just mean front kicks and mounts.
“Students have 13 lessons over the course of the week, and to put that into perspective, a typical martial arts student attends training about eight to 10 times a month,” Lee said. “So if a student was to attend the final four weeks of our summer camp, that’s the equivalent of as much as six months of regular classes.”
It’s intense. No question about that, Lee said. But intensity’s a good thing.
“Retention of the information is better when they are seeing it so repetitively,” he said, adding that it takes about 5,000 repetitions for muscle memory to kick in — and that’s the most important component of martial arts and self-defense techniques.
One thing is for sure: The students get worn out. “Most children fall asleep in the car on the way home, which most parents consider an advantage, not a disadvantage,” Lee said, laughing.
At summer camp, there is a lot more than just self-defense techniques being taught, though.
“Our curriculum is not traditional in nature,” Lee said, as he called over a group of younger campers. “It’s not focused on what people did thousands of years ago. Instead, it’s focused on the typical self-defense situations that a child might be in.”
Rather than standing in traditional stances and practicing blocks that would only be effective against a traditional punch, Lee teaches his students how to escape a headlock a bully might put them in.
There’s also a balance between physical skills and life skills, Lee said, as the group of children huddle around him in front of a TV screen. A DVD plays on the screen: a character education system that Lee and his wife developed. Tuesday’s lesson was leadership.
“Leadership is setting a good example so that everyone can follow you,” he told the group.
The focus is a balance between the physical skills and life skills, such as self-discipline, concentration and respect.
“The best self-defense is having no enemies,” Lee said. “So if you learn to treat everyone around you respectfully, the odds of you needing physical self-defense go down a great deal.”
In addition to the summer camp, the school also offers after-school programs, which includes transportation from elementary schools in Ormond Beach to Stan Lee’s United Martial Arts. That program runs 2-6 p.m. Monday through Friday, during the school year.
Visit www.OrmondBeachMartialArts.com, or search “Stan Lee’s United Martial Arts” on Facebook.
