Ancient Ways Martial Arts proudly serving Bradenton

Our chief instructor and founder, Boon Brown grew up learning his family’s style of Irish stick fighting as well as European fencing. His love of the sword began at a very young age. In 1976 his family moved to Florida, and he left his fencing behind. Here, he took up the Japanese sword in Kenjitsu and Kendo and he was hooked. To expand his skills, his parents helped him find a school that taught Hapkido and Taekwondo, a self defense based school instead of a Olympic style school. He competed in tournaments and did a few amateur kickboxing matches as well. He dabbled in boxing, Muay Thai, Kenpo, Ninjutsu and even a little Kung Fu. He traveled overseas to increase his knowledge spending a summer in Korea, a few weeks in Japan and a summer in Hawaii. He also holds a degree in Education and a Master’s Degree in Recreational Therapy. He worked as a Rec. Therapist in a psychiatric hospital for several years where he had hundreds of real, hand to hand combat experiences. In his words, “My first night working there I realized I wasn’t going to survive on just what I had learned. I needed to adjust my skills and my mindset.” He changed everything he does and everything he teaches so it will actually work. He designed the whole system from striking, grappling, forms, weapon defense drills, take-downs, ground fighting and auto-response drills. It is reality based and not a sport. What his students learn is not based in tradition or on someone’s theory, but on reality. It is a very practical method of self defense that works, but he still teaches with some of the old, tried and true methods, combined with modern educational methods. He has taught in the area since 1982, and has helped hundreds achieve Black Belt and thousands find a path to self improvement through the martial arts. Ancient Ways maintains 300 students, half of whom are adults. It’s easy to fool kids that you know what you are doing, having this many adult students should tell you something. We are proud to be recognized by MAIA (Martial Arts Industry Association) as one of the top 2% schools in North America.