Ten-year-old T.J. Coloosey stands just over 4 feet tall, but when 58-year-old Mark McGee grabs his shoulder, T.J. isn't worried. After all, he has God on his side.
The small boy twists his torso and, using an open palm, slaps McGee's arm at the elbow and off of his shoulder. McGee grabs T.J. again, this time harder, and when the boy's first strike doesn't break the older man's grip, T.J. twists his body and delivers another open-palm strike, but this time to McGee's torso. The grip is broken.
T.J. isn't in any real danger; he is just practicing a basic karate move with his teacher at Grace Martial Arts, a weekly Christian self-defense class inside Seminole Heights Baptist Church. It may seem like an unlikely place to teach children to punch, kick and jab, but for the last two years, the church's reception hall has become a de facto dojo for dozens of men, women and children.
"If you study martial arts for self-defense, you have to be ready to use it and use it right," the tall and slim McGee tells the other children after his demonstration with T.J. "This is not a game or a sport. These are real-life situations."
On this Monday evening, seven adults and 11 children have shown up to take advantage of McGee's weekly lessons. They range from small boys like T.J. to wiry teenagers to barrel-chested martial arts professionals. No matter their size, each of them is capable of knocking an opponent to the ground. Even the 10-year-old.
And that's exactly how McGee likes it.
"It's a real violent world, and it's a dangerous world for kids," he tells me. "I'm trying to reach as many kids, their parents and women as I can."
McGee starts this week's class like every other: with an "Attention!" and a call to the participants to bow their heads in respect of the highest-ranking member in the room — God. After a short prayer, the class starts a warm-up, which includes twisting their torsos, flinging fists, elbows and knees, and practicing snap kicks.
After showing the smaller children various ways to escape the clutches of an adult, McGee calls two teenage boys to the large blue mat to demonstrate how to get out of a chokehold. Despite the seriousness of the topics, McGee keeps the class relaxed. Each time a student knocks him to the ground, all the students clap and laugh. You can see a smile on McGee's face, too.
The hour-long class moves quickly, but before the closing prayer McGee spends a few minutes taking questions from his students.
"What do I do if someone is sitting on me?" asks 10-year-old Tanner Fleeman.
McGee smiles and calls up one of his advanced students, 41-year-old Hoss Pollard, to come and sit on him for a demonstration.
"Why me, Lord?" the man quips.
McGee's history with martial arts goes back to 1961, the year he started taking judo at his local YMCA, and in the 45 years since, he's trained in judo, karate, kung fu, tae kwon do and tai chi. Before moving to Tampa in 2002, he studied and taught martial arts in three different states.
But it was a January 2004 surveillance video aired on CNN showing 12-year-old Carlie Bruscia from Sarasota being led away by Joseph P. Smith, who later raped and killed her, that convinced McGee to start teaching children how to defend themselves.
"When I saw the videotape, it broke my heart," he recalls. "I thought 'If only this little girl would have learned the things I teach in the first month.' I teach how to get out of that hold."
McGee approached the pastor at Seminole Heights Baptist Church, where he regularly worships, asking him if he could teach a Christian-based self-defense class for children in the community. The pastor agreed, and the first class started in July 2004.
Since then, McGee estimates he's taught more than 80 men, women and children how to immobilize an attacker and flee.
"We really emphasize compassionate defense versus harsh defense," he explains, which is different from other martial arts that teach students "to use your hands and feet to hurt somebody and not feel bad about it."
McGee says his first lessons focus on instructing children how to run and evade danger. Then he teaches a blend of martial arts called Yon Ch'uan ("soft fist") that allows a smaller, weaker individual to defend himself or herself effectively. As students advance from white belt to black belt, they learn about various biblical characters and how to live a more honest, patient and responsible life.
"That's not very different from martial arts," he says. "Martial arts to me is not only about self defense but being a better person."
But one question still nagged me: What about the oft-quoted scripture of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount that implores believers to turn the other cheek?
McGee says the passage refers to humility and accepting humiliation, rather than becoming a punching bag.
"There is nowhere in the Bible that Jesus says you have to be beaten up," he says. "If it's an issue of pride and it's not a matter of physical attack, forget it. There is no reason to strike that person."
Although the class is faith-based and missing many of the Eastern influences of other martial arts classes, McGee spends less time proselytizing than he does showing kids how to avoid a criminal swinging a lead pipe. It seems to be a winning combination in this inner-city neighborhood; almost every week a new family joins Grace Martial Arts. On this night, Tampa resident Alan Tucker and his three children decided to try out a class. Afterwards, they sign up —$5 per person for each class.
"It's one of the few activities you can do as a family together," Tucker says, "It's got the Bible-based part that we like, too."
As the rest of the children file out, T.J. sticks around while his sister Jessica, 22, starts McGee's second, more advanced, class. He tells me his sister wanted him to learn martial arts because of "the pedophiles in our neighborhood." When I ask him what his favorite part of class is, he lights up.
"I like the kicks," T.J. says, chin up and chest out. "And when I come here I feel like I could become more powerful."
Amen to that.
Grace Martial Arts holds public classes every Monday from 5:30-6:30 p.m. An advanced class is held from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Mark McGee asks for $5 each class to help pay for supplies. No uniform required. For more information, visit gmaf.org.
This article appears in Jan 24-30, 2007.