Florida Youth Self Defense in St. Cloud, Florida

About Us

Qualified Instructors

About Coach Russell: Hailing from Virginia, Coach Russell has many years of martial arts training under his black belt. He and his son spent four years at The American Black Belt Academy, he’s trained under Grand Master Jhoon Rhee and also worked as a University Police Officer, even training other officers in self defense for unarmed combat. When he moved to Florida, he started working as an instructor for Florida Youth Programs. “I realized how much I miss helping kids grow. I love seeing the excitement in the students faces when they’re learning something new and when they get their next belt.” Shortly after, Coach Russell took over FYP. During the past four years, we have transitioned to Florida Youth Self Defense. Favorite Moment: “We had returned from a break in schedules and one of the younger kids came up and hugged me.” Favorite Quotes: "The Body Achieves What The Mind Believes, "You Can Be Anything You Want To Be," "Believe In Yourself"

Our Philosophy

Florida Youth Self Defense was created out of a strong passion, a shared vision and a ceaseless commitment to making learning easy and accessible. Since evolving over the past 10 years, we’ve had the opportunity to help countless students acquire foundational skills, develop new techniques and confidently move forward in their learning journey.

Believing that every child should have the opportunity to participate in extra-curricular activities, we have established partnerships with local City and County Parks and Recreation Departments, allowing us to provide quality programs that are both fun and affordable for all families. With keeping our class prices low, we are able to offer families the opportunity to have their children participate in programs that will help them build their self-confidence, teach them teamwork and respect for themselves and others, and provide them with a physical activity that gets them moving!