Warrior Way was founded in 1997 by three martial artists who had a dream of creating a school that focused on practical martial arts like Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and kickboxing. The school grew from only a few dozen students in a small building with most of the classes taught by one of our founders, Harvy Berman, and his two partners, to now, over 26 years later, with over 500 active members and more than a dozen instructors.
In 2003, we added a Muay Thai instructor, Matee Jedeepitak, with the highest accolades in the country to lead our kickboxing program. Alongside Matee is his top student Avan Bashi, who helps instruct the Muay Thai program. The lineup of Warrior Way's instructors includes Angelo Popofski and myself, Brandon McDaniel, who are two of Michigan’s most experienced Gracie Jiu-Jitsu instructors and competitors.
Our kids program began as a twice-weekly program that focused on teaching children Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai while focusing on character development. Today the program has grown to twelve classes a week and we are now able to separate students by age and experience. This allows us to give students more one-on-one attention while keeping the focus on using martial arts to teach children the importance of discipline, hard work, courage, and perseverance.
I am most proud of the amount of people Warrior Way has positively impacted. We have been able to grow over the years without losing sight of our mission, which is to “use the martial arts to improve people’s lives, through reality-based self-defense, fitness, mental clarity, and community.” Traveling throughout the Metro Detroit area, I constantly come in contact with past and present members of the Warrior Way community, and I know that we are having an impact.
If you think Warrior Way would be of interest to you, I welcome you to come out and observe a class, meet our highly qualified staff, and see how the Warrior Way community can benefit you.
Email warriorwaymartialarts@gmail.com or call at 248-960-4884 to set up a time to visit.